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Australians urged to prepare for summer disaster season

Emergency Management Australia (EMA) has completed its annual disaster season briefings with states and territories and has urged Australians to properly prepare for the upcoming summer disaster season, which officially commences this month.

Minister for Emergency Management David Littleproud said that local, state, territory and federal agencies are well prepared to support communities through natural disasters, including from the initial response and relief phase through to long-term recovery.

“Since the horrific bushfires last summer, the Government has been working to bolster Australia’s ability to respond to and recover from crises including natural disasters and the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Minister Littleproud said.

“The next challenge is to make sure we are all prepared for the disaster risks facing us over the coming season.

“Significant grass and vegetation growth over winter combined with higher than average temperatures across the southern part of Australia means we are looking at the very real potential for a bad grass fire season.

“In the north, La Nina conditions risk bringing a worse than average storm, cyclone and flood season.”

Over the past two weeks, Emergency Management Australia has been holding operational briefings with police, fire authorities and emergency service agencies in every State and Territory to prepare for the disaster season.

“The Australian Government works with communities to prevent, prepare, respond and recover from disasters – from disaster mitigation initiatives, and community awareness and warning measures, through to disaster relief and recovery support,” Minister Littleproud said.

“We have invested more than $2 billion to help communities recover from last summer’s bushfires and have already committed significant funding to better prepare for the future including in bushfire research, aerial firefighting and telecommunications.

“We are investing more than $26 million annually in the National Aerial Firefighting Centre to improve Australia’s aerial firefighting capability, and more than $27 million to strengthen telecommunications resilience in bushfire and disaster-prone areas so that communities can stay connected during emergencies.

“There’s also been an important step in streamlining aid and support from the Australian Defence Force ahead of the 2020 2021 summer season with the Department of Defence and Home Affairs, through EMA, undertaking a comprehensive review of the Defence Assistance to the Civil Community (DACC) arrangements.

“While we can work with authorities to properly prepare, it’s also critical families, households and individuals do what they can to prepare themselves.

“By planning ahead, people can reduce the risk of injury and damage to property.

“Information on how to prepare for disasters is available through state and territory authorities.”

The Royal Commission into Natural Disaster Arrangements will deliver its Final Report to government on 28 October 2020, which we look forward to receiving and carefully considering as part of our ongoing work to ensure Australia’s natural disaster capabilities are as effective as possible.

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Flood Risk Management Scheme ongoing in West Cumbria

The Environment Agency continues work on a Flood Risk Management Scheme in Egremont that consists of flood walls and embankments, which will create storage areas for flood water as well as helping to better protect a number of properties through flood resistance measures.

Stewart Mounsey, Cumbria’s Flood Risk Manager at the Environment Agency said:

“We have been working really closely with the community of Egremont from the start of the consultation process in order to help reduce the impact of flooding in the future. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all partners involved in this partnership project, it’s great to see this scheme progressing with construction ongoing.

We are looking forward to the completion of the Skirting Beck and Whangs Beck Flood Risk Management Scheme and the benefits this will bring to reduce flood risk.”

Following planning application approval from Copeland Borough Council in October 2019, the Environment Agency have completed works in the Croadalla Avenue area of the town. Other completed works consist of property level protection (PLP) to 43 properties in Croadalla Avenue and Church View. Culvert works have also commenced in this area with piling works completed. The scheme involves the creation of flood storage areas at West Lakes Academy and Falcon Club, Whangs Beck and How Bank, where some enabling works have started, in readiness for the main construction works.

Over the next weeks and months, works will continue to construct flood storage areas and pre-cast units will be installed over the piled wall at West Lakes Academy and the Falcon Club. Works will commence on habitat and recreational space for the community to enjoy, and approximately 800 trees will be planted.

Councillors from Copeland Borough Council visited the site on Monday 20th July 2020. Environment Agency project leads Graham Stanger and MBE Glyn Vaughan gave a tour of the scheme and discussed the various elements of the construction.

Pat Graham, Chief Executive of Copeland Council, said:

“We welcome the progress that is being made on this vitally important scheme for the town of Egremont.

“When the works are complete, it will make a significant and lasting difference to the community; many of whom have suffered the trauma that flooding brings over many years.

“It has been an outstanding collaborative effort from ourselves, the Environment Agency, Cumbria County Council, partners and the community to get to this point, and we look forward to seeing the scheme continue to progress towards completion next August.”

The help and cooperation of local residents, West Lakes Academy, Falcon Club, schools and nurseries has helped l this scheme come to fruition.. Thank you to the community of Egremont, and for our partners for their ongoing support and community spirit.

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