A Week and a Bit in the Life of a Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) Officer

Inspired by Ben Kathrens , here's a week and a bit in the life of a Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) Officer...

Thursday - the day starts like any other with a check on the Met Office Hazard Manager (https://hazardmanager.metoffice.gov.uk/ ). Spoiler alert - it looks wet!

Spend part of the morning organising checks of known areas susceptible to flooding, inspections and clearance of our "Severe Weather Culverts" to ensure they are in the best possible condition to accept peak flows and confirming weekend availability for emergency call-outs. In between, pop in on the Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru / Natural Resources Wales Green Infrastructure Forum organised by Pete Frost and with a presentation by Kevin Barton FLI - check out the video at https://youtu.be/FI_usM8d41g?si=yz_BHSYwiYLQn3CQ .

Then attend a meeting with Llywodraeth Cymru / Welsh Government about proposed changes to grants for flood alleviation works.

In the afternoon, attend a site visit alongside our internal Contractors and Parks teams to have a look at some partly completed Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) and review a few snagging issues. Then back to the office for workshops in relation to the Council's need to save ￡45m of running costs - read more at Mobilising Team Caerphilly .

Friday - Another weather check... it's not getting any prettier, but the crews organised on Thursday are already out doing the checks.

Then a full day of interviews for an Assistant Engineer to help accelerate our programme of flood alleviation works as we start to work towards delivery of our draft Local Flood Risk Management Strategy .

Saturday - the phone is on (has been all night just in case) and the laptop also goes on for a few hours. The Flood Forecasting Centre trial Rapid Flood Guidance gives an extra level of detail as to where impacts are most likely... the bad news is we could be in the pathway of some of the thunderstorms.

Rattle through a few emails and pop some responses in the outbox timed to send on Monday... just because I'm working Saturday, doesn't mean I expect anyone else to do the same.

Sunday - fortunately for us, the main impacts of the storms have shifted, but storms are extended into Monday.

Run through a couple of Service Request reports and put together further responses and updates ready to be sent on Monday. Review a business case report for a flood alleviation scheme and send off to Llywodraeth Cymru / Welsh Government for their review / approval. Mid afternoon get a call from a resident concerned about flooding and relay to the Duty Officer. Feedback from the Duty Officer is that the weekend has been busy, but not exceptional... for us at least. Other parts of the country haven't faired so well. Hop in the car and swing past a few sites on my way to collect my nephew, who lives with us but has had a weekend away.

Monday - Receive the Duty Officer log for the weekend and review for any follow up actions needed. The overall feeling on Monday is one of relief for us and our residents, but also sympathy for those people and areas who've been more badly hit this time round. The Met Office update us with a gradually improving picture and a bit of respite for the wetter areas. We're now outside of the warning areas.

Have a catch up with our Housing team to review their forward work programme and discuss their ongoing SuDS schemes both in construction and in development, followed by an update session with our external consultants WSP in the UK on one of the flood alleviation schemes they are assisting us with.

Tuesday - my favourite day of the week! You may have noticed I worked part of Saturday and much of Sunday. The best thing of working for Caerphilly County Borough Council is their flexibility towards the needs of the individual. I generally don't work on a Tuesday, but spread my hours through the rest of the week. So... school run morning and afternoon for my nephew and a treat day for me and my eldest son.

Wednesday - back at it... sit in on a Sustainable Drainage Approving Body (SAB) pre-app meeting to offer some support to our Senior Technician. I don't do many of them these days and he doesn't really need me there, but it is quite a complicated site with a lot of constraints. Also joined by colleagues from Torfaen County Borough Council as this site is in their area and we're reviewing it under our Service Level Agreement with them.

Thursday - finance today, so spend a fair amount of the day reviewing where we are against budgets, but guess what? Thursday night looks wet and the weekend forecasts are... worrying. Although a fair amount of uncertainty in where storms will hit this far out. Still, hope for the best, prepare for the worst. It's a bit like groundhog day as part of the day is given over to preparations for the weekend.

Spend a few minutes clearing leaves from the drainage channel at the base of the retaining wall in my garden. The house was flooded internally a few years ago when the elderly former owners weren't able to keep up with the maintenance. It's a relatively simple exercise, but this time of year needs regular attention... the same can be said of a lot of drainage inlets. If you spot leaves on a gully (grated highway drainage inlet) and it is safe to do so, kicking the leaves off the grating and down to the lower side can be a big help. If it's not safe to do so, report to your local Highways authority (for us - Report a highways issue).

I've got a lasting legacy of the previous flooding... my household insurance is around ￡200 more expensive because of it and when I recently looked at renewal costs, the cheapest insurer quoted at the higher rate but then had an exclusion for flood risk... so not only were they taking a higher premium because of the risk, they weren't even covering me for it!! I recognise quite a lot of the points raised by ‘My home is a flood risk — no insurer would touch me’ ( thetimes.com ) earlier this week.

Friday - team meeting and a review with Welsh Government International | Llywodraeth Cymru Rhyngwladol on progress with our Natural Flood Management (NFM) schemes.

For anyone impacted by flooding over the past week, check out Mary Long-Dhonau OBE 's blog on Be Flood Ready and her recovery guide on Floodmary.com .

Wish us luck... it could be a long weekend.