Living with the fear of 'what if we flood?'

The Whiteheads live in what Selena calls a ‘funny, quirky house’. It dates from 1850, and Selena, husband Peter, and children Lucas and Kizzy love living there. “It would never occur to us to move,” Selena said.

But there’s a price to pay. The house is near the River Ouse - and it has a history of flooding. It flooded in 2012 - and then again on Boxing Day, 2015.

“The flood water was about a metre high each time, reaching the top of the fireplace in the living room and the second drawer in the kitchen,” Selena said.

The Whiteheads' house after being flooded

“We had an old Victorian floor and, in the first flood, it basically popped. We had insurance and they had to replace it with a modern, flood resilient floor. The same thing happened with the living room floor the second time we flooded.

“The first time it was really distressing seeing a huge pile of wrecked stuff. We thought we’d saved things because we’d put them on top of the sofa, but that was floating around the living room.”

Perhaps as distressing as the flooding itself were the long, frustrating waits for their home to be repaired. “We moved out for six months each time,” Selena said.

The first time, the loss adjuster sent by the insurance company appointed a builder. “So the builder didn’t answer to me and I was tearing my hair out, it was so frustrating,” Selena said.

Having learned the lesson, the second time the Whiteheads flooded, Selena asked the loss adjuster if they could manage the recovery process themselves. “This meant that I was able to be on the builder’s case and hassle them relentlessly about when we could be back in,” she said.

The Whiteheads' fridge floating following a flood

But it was still difficult. The first time, the family moved into a city centre flat while their home was being repaired.

“But the children found it hard because there was no outdoor space,” Selena said. “The second time was horrendous; we tried to find somewhere near the children’s schools and friends but it didn’t work out that way and we all really struggled with it.”

Having twice been flooded out, Selena and Peter decided, after the family finally moved back in, that they had to do something.

“Something that was supposed to be a once in a 100-year thing had happened to us twice in three years!” Selena said.

They began to look at the possibility of making their home more ‘flood resilient’- ie, better able to withstand the flood waters and easier and quicker to clean up afterwards.

They did some research. And since that second flood, they have introduced several ‘resilience measures’ - some out of their own pocket, some with the help of grants from the Environment Agency.

They include washable wall tiles, a flood-resistant stainless steel kitchen, raised electricity sockets, tiled floors, internal pumps, and removable flood barriers.

Hinged wall panels as normal (left) and when lifted (right)

Perhaps most innovative of all is hinged panelling on the lower part of walls. The panelling can be raised up if a flood threatens; aluminium legs allow it to stand above the level of the floodwaters, making a handy surface to place things on.

The stainless steel kitchen was expensive, Selena admits. “But we decided we’d rather spend extra money on a kitchen that doesn’t result in a whole load of waste further down the line - because it will happen again. I’d lost two kitchens in four years. From an environmental point of view, it felt criminal throwing away that amount of stuff.”

Their newly flood-resilient home hasn’t been put to the test, yet – though there have been false alarms.

“Last February, we had a horrendous month, with multiple flood alerts,” Selena said. “It was an emotional rollercoaster, although it never actually flooded. We’ve also had a flood alert this year.”

But the family have decided that they just have to get on with life. “We don’t live with that perpetual fear of ‘what if we flood?’,” Selena said. “You have to be able to put that to one side and knowing that we have flood resilience measures in place definitely makes it easier.”

The Whiteheads' flood-resilient stainless steel kitchen

There are countless homes in York still at risk of flooding, of course – despite the various flood defence projects being carried out by the Environment Agency.

In order to help make homeowners more aware of measures they could take to protect their homes and make them better able to withstand the floodwaters, a new project called Yorkshire Flood Resilience was launched at the start of last year.

Funded by Defra and led by City of York Council, the aim of the project was to raise awareness of property flood resilience measures and their benefits among home and business owners across Yorkshire.

Originally the idea was to hold face-to-face meetings with communities across Yorkshire. But then Covid struck. The project team, led by York council’s flood risk manager Steve Wragg, changed tack - and instead of meeting people face to face decided to set up an advice website.

It includes everything from animations explaining what flood resilience is, how it works and what the benefits are, to suggestions for how to protect your home and real life case studies from across Yorkshire. There’s also an educational game for children and a series of online training modules.

The team then blitzed social media channels. Between December 2020 and July 2021 alone, they reckon they reached almost two million people across Yorkshire. As lockdown restrictions began easing this year, they were then able to do other things - including attending the Great Yorkshire Show and holding two ‘climate café’ events, one in York, one in Hull.

The project formally came to an end yesterday. A team of national project evaluators will now spend three months evaluating it - and will aim to pick up on any useful lessons that can be shared with other local authorities.

Yorkshire Flood Resilience project leader Steve Wragg

But perhaps the project’s main legacy is that all of those resources are still there online.

“We want people to be aware that it is possible to protect yourself, your home and your business against the stress, worry, disruption and cost of flooding,” said Steve Wragg.

So if, like the Whiteheads, you’d like to make your own home more flood resilient, why not check it out?

FLOOD RESILIENCE TIPS

If your home is at risk of flooding,Yorkshire Flood Resilience estimates that every £1 spent on flood resilience measures saves around £5 in damages to your home.

Its website contains information about a host of flood defence measures you can install in your home. They include:

• movable flood barriers or panels that slot into a frame outside your door to form a watertight seal
• airbrick covers you can use to seal off airbricks (those bricks with holes in them that increase the ventilation in your home) during floods to stop water getting through
• flood-resilient wall sealants
• flood doors, which look like ordinary doors but form a watertight seal when locked
• water-resistant floor tiles
• flood-resilient wall coverings - paint is more resilient than wallpaper
• sump-pumps
• flood resilient kitchens
• raised electrical sockets

The website also includes a question-and-answer section, imformation about how to assess the flood risk to your property, and video training on how to best make use of various flood resilience measures.

To find out more, visit yorkshirefloodresilience.co.uk