5-Jul-2006
- Members of the Flood Incident Management team
from the Environment Agency will be at Rochdale
Mega Mela this weekend offering advice on how
to prepare for flooding.
Rochdale and Littleborough have
a history of flooding. Eleven events have been
recorded since 1960, the most significant being
in 1967 and the most recent being 2002.
Despite this, only 22 properties
out of 74 that lie in the flood risk area in Rochdale
are signed up to Flood Warnings Direct, a free
service which automatically sends messages by
phone to the properties at risk when forecasting
and river level gauges suggest that flooding is
likely.
Flood Warning Officer Claire
James said: "The Rochdale Mega Mela is a
huge annual public multicultural event, attracting
over 18,000 visitors last year, so we thought
it would be a perfect opportunity to raise awareness
of flooding.
"People will be able to
find out if they are at risk of flooding and if
so how they can prepare to protect themselves
and their properties."
For more information join the
Environment Agency at Spring Park, Bolton Road,
Rochdale on Friday 7 July from 12 noon to 5pm
and Saturday 8 July from 11am to 4pm.
Notes
Flood warning information
and advice is available 24 hours a day from the
Environment Agency’s Floodline, 0845 988 1188,
or at www.environment-agency.gov.uk/floodwarning.
Details are updated every 15 minutes.
For facts and figures on flooding the North West,
and more information on the Environment Agency’s
role in flood warning and flood risk management,
please visit www.environment-agency.gov.uk/nwenvironment
and click on ‘Flooding’.
Alix Bell
