Planning a development in a flood zone

When a development is proposed in flood zones 2 and 3 (determined by the Local Strategic Flood Risk Assessment) and the developer's Flood Risk Assessment supports the evacuation of occupants, there needs to be suitable provision in the event of a flood for however long occupants could potentially remain evacuated.

This provision should include information warning of the dangers of using appliances such as portable heaters and candles during potential utility failures.

Advice for planners and developers

If access roads to a development may be inundated, the following advice and information should be considered:

• Fire and Rescue Service vehicle design and crew safety considerations has resulted in vehicles being unable to operate in water deeper than 20cm.
  
  
• In any event where working in water is required, the Crew/Incident Commander must carry out a dynamic risk assessment to confirm the situational risk versus benefit before adopting tactics involving working in water.
  
  
• Due to the nature and scale of tidal flood events, a dynamic risk assessment may determine that resources are unable to respond normally along flooded routes. This may prevent or delay emergency response. Strategic and tactical risk assessments and resource limitations may also cause response times to vary.
  
  
• Fire hydrants may be rendered unserviceable due to flooding.
  
  
• New development proposals should consider the provision of a suitable and appropriately installed fire sprinkler system in order to:
• enhance occupant safety by reducing the effects of fires during flood events which may result in evacuation and restrict the capabilities fire responders
• limit fire damage and environmental impact of any fire in the new property
• reduce additional burden of risk for emergency responders attempting to use best efforts responding to the new property for life critical incidents