Flooding booklets
Following the Floods of June 2007 and the floods during 2009 Rotherham MBC Emergency and Safety Team produced a Multi Agency Flood Response Plan to address any future major flooding events in the Borough. It was agreed that as part of the planning process communities living in areas of the borough prone to flooding would be provided with important information to help them to be better prepared for any future flooding events which we have been informed by climatologists may happen.
The borough of Rotherham is susceptible to flooding both due to the overtopping of rivers and surface water flooding from drainage systems and watercourses. There are three main rivers in Rotherham which are the Rother, the Don and the Dearne. The River Rother flows from the Pennines through Chesterfield and into the borough of Rotherham at Rother Valley Country Park; it then passes through Catcliffe before feeding into the Don in the Town Centre. The River Don flows from the Pennines through Sheffield and into the borough of Rotherham at Templeborough; it then flows through the Town Centre and out to Doncaster. The Dearne flows primarily in Barnsley and only touches the northern tip of the borough.
Surface water or 'flash' flooding occurs when there is a period of intense, localised, heavy rainfall, often of short duration, which is unable to soak into the ground or enter drainage systems quickly enough to prevent a build up of water, to the extent that it remains in situ or flows across the land surface. Development in urban spaces often leads to there being little open ground to absorb rainfall and hence it quickly runs off the concrete and other impermeable surfaces into drains and rivers. These high rainfall events can, on occasion, exceed the drainage capacity in an area leading to flooding of property and possessions where the surface water flows and collects. Surface water flooding can also originate from rural areas where high intensity rainfall can run off fields without entering the land drainage systems.
Significant work has been carried out in the borough since 2007 to alleviate future flooding however by its very nature surface water flooding is very difficult to predict and pinpoint and hence future flooding cannot be ruled out completely. In addition, climate models are predicting that there is likely to be an increase in the frequency of heavy precipitation as a result of climate change. Surface water flooding has the potential to affect every urban area in the UK. Since the floods Rotherham MBC and the Environment Agency have undertaken a number of flood prevention works, including the flood alleviation works at Templeborough and have begun preparing surface water management plans so that any future flooding events won't have such a devastating effect on Rotherham communities.
Booklets have been produced for each of the high flood risk areas in the borough which are:
- Aston-cum-Aughton/Swallownest
- Catcliife and Treeton
- Dinnington/Laughton Common
- Rotherham Town Centre, Ickles to Rawmarsh
- Swinton/Kilnhurst/Hooton Roberts
- Wath upon Dearne
- Whiston
A Community Flooding Booklet suitable for anyone with concerns about flooding is also available.
The booklets provide advice and guidance about what to do before, during and after a flood together with details of flood warnings, what individual agencies are doing to assist communities and businesses and some important telephone numbers and can be downloaded from this website. Alternatively hard copies of the booklets are available for you to collect in libraries and other public buildings across the borough.
Last update: 23/08/2011