Top attractions at high risk of flooding
Analysis published by online flood report provider RiskCentral reveals that many of the UK’s inland tourist destinations are at a high risk, despite being located far from rivers and the sea.
Sites identified as “at risk” may surprise some, particularly recently built venues where the provision of stormwater attenuation would be an important part of the specification process.
Among the top destinations identified as being at risk are Buckingham Palace and modern developments such as the Emirates Stadium in London, Alton Towers Theme Park and Milton Keynes Shopping Centre.
Football stadia and other sports venues feature highly among the locations where Tubosider has supplied stormwater systems to reduce flood risk in the last decade, including Old Trafford, Brighton’s Amex stadium, White Hart Lane, Stadium MK and a huge state-of-the-art sports academy.
RiskCentral confirms that surface water flooding, which occurs when heavy rainfall saturates aged or existing drainage systems, actually poses a greater risk to British businesses and homes than any other source of flooding.
According to DEFRA, 2.8 million homes are at risk from surface water compared to 1.4 million from rivers and the sea. The company behind RiskCentral is Ambiental Technical Solutions, leaders in flood risk assessment and environmental risk modelling.
Ambiental’s managing director Justin Butler says: “We conducted analysis on 10 well known tourist destinations in the UK, to highlight the pervasive risk of surface water flooding to buildings across the country.
“With flooding now the greatest natural threat to businesses and homes in the UK, we want home owners and buyers to be more aware of the potential risks to their property.”
The publication of RiskCentral’s analysis follows the recent news that flood insurance pay-outs in 2012 were the highest for five years. According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), the cost of claims last year topped £1bn following the wettest year on record in England and Wales.
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Email: sales@tubosider.co.uk
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Original of this article here