When flooding occurs, local authorities and emergency services can respond to assist affected communities, but they might not be the first on the scene. There is a lot that can be done by volunteers in the community to help improve resilience to flooding before, during and after a flood event.
We are establishing a Flood Warden Scheme to help train and identify volunteers in communities affected by flooding. There is training for volunteers to complete before they will be recorded as Flood Wardens by the DCC Flood Risk Management team. They can then act as a vital link between the community and DCC and help to make their community more resilient to flooding.
The role of a Flood Warden
The Flood Warden is a voluntary role and there are no explicit responsibilities that a Flood Warden must fulfil. They should work to help make their community more resilient to flooding but will not be held responsible for any flooding that occurs.
A Flood Warden can take actions before, during, and after a flood event to make their community more resilient to flooding.
Before a flood:
- Help their community to create or update an Emergency Plan.
- Identify sources of flood risk, properties and infrastructure at risk, and vulnerable people.
- Monitor watercourses, culverts, and drains.
- Raise awareness of the risk of flooding and help others prepare.
- Promote communication channels that can be used during a flood event.
- Promote self-help through actions such as Property Flood Resilience (PFR) measures, creating household flood plans and preparing a flood kit.
- Familiarise themselves with the roles of the relevant authorities and where to get the right information.
During a flood:
- Enact the community emergency plan.
- Provide warnings and information to the community.
- Assist with cleanup or coordinate help from authorities.
- Encourage protective measures like deploying property flood resilience equipment.
- Gather information about the flood and relay information from and to authorities or emergency services.
- Check on vulnerable people and affected residents if safe to do so.
- Stay safe. A flood warden should prioritise their own safety and not place themselves at risk. By performing the role in a safe manner, they will be of most value to their community.
After a flood:
- Assist with cleanup or coordinate help from authorities.
- Collect information on who was affected and what support is needed.
- Provide information on recovery to their community and those affected by the flooding.
- Offer emotional and practical support and refer people to expert help.
- Review and improve the Community Emergency Plan based on lessons learned.
Joining the Flood Warden Scheme
Contact the DCC Flood Risk Management team by emailing floodrisk@devon.gov.uk and tell us that you want to get involved in the Flood Warden Scheme.
Training
A Flood Warden must complete four online training courses provided by Communities Prepared and attend one of their online live sessions.
On the Communities Prepared website, register as a volunteer if you are an individual or as a coordinator if you are leading on this for your parish council. You must then complete the online courses:
- Flood Volunteer
- What can a volunteer do to help?
- What happens during an emergency?
- Emergency recovery
Let us know you have completed the courses, and we will contact you with the next steps.
Support for Flood Wardens
We will provide you with a detailed role profile of the activities that you might carry out as part of the role. The Flood Risk Management team can provide ongoing advice on how to carry out the role and answer any questions.
We can assist you in creating a Community Emergency Plan through the Devon Community Resilience Forum. This provides some funding to help get the plan written and buy some equipment that is needed for the plan.
The training for the course is provided for free by Communities Prepared.
Once you are trained and registered as a Flood Warden, DCC Flood Risk Management team will add you to our register of Flood Wardens. You can contact our team on our email address floodrisk@devon.gov.uk to ask for any advice related to the role. During or after a flood event you can contact us to provide us with any information that you have gathered.
Insurance
For the Flood Warden scheme, DCC does not provide public liability insurance for this voluntary work. The Flood Warden scheme is mostly based on communicating, gathering information, and carrying out an Emergency Plan. Any practical work that is needed on the highway should be carried out by a Road Warden rather than a Flood Warden. Public liability insurance is provided to the Road Warden scheme.
Road Wardens
Flood Wardens and Road Wardens are different roles. You can become a Flood Warden to help make your community more resilient to flooding without also being a Road Warden, although the roles can support each other and be held by the same person.
Creating an Emergency Plan
You can visit the Devon Communities Together website: https://www.devoncommunities.org.uk/grant-funding-emergency-flood-resilience. From there you can apply to the grant scheme to get support with preparing a Community Emergency Plan.