Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 implementation: report to the Scottish Parliament - 2020

1. Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) Progress

SEPA have wide-ranging responsibilities within flood risk management and have made several advances within keys areas in 2020. Despite the impacts of the Covid-19 situation and the cyberattack on SEPA systems on 24 December 2020, SEPA has maintained its flood forecasting and warning service without any interruption, including the maintenance of its network of rain gauges and river water level monitoring stations.

1.1 National Flood Maps

SEPA continues to develop Scotland's flood mapping with ongoing advances in:

• Flood map method development
• Improved survey data
• Flood modelling improvements
• Map updates
• Improved access to data

A further update to the national flood maps was completed in November 2020. These reflect improvements in map quality in a number of locations across Scotland, mostly focussed on the river flood maps. SEPA also received the outputs of the North East Coastal study and has reviewed them in preparation for inclusion into their national coastal flood mapping.

In December, SEPA launched a new Beta version Flood Map Viewer. This Viewer is designed specifically for a public audience and provides a 'check your flood risk' service. In addition to a new format and easier access to flood risk information, the Viewer for the first time includes climate change flood maps that represent predicted flood risk in the 2080s based on a high emissions climate scenario. This information will support flood risk management and actions including land use planning.

The impact of SEPA's cyber attack is likely to inhibit map updates in 2021 although SEPA will still progress the commencement of a project to deliver new surface water flood maps for Scotland by 2023/24.

1.2 Flood Forecasting and Warning

There are 319 flood warning areas across Scotland, where vulnerable communities benefit from SEPA's local early warning service. Receiving a flood warning allows people to take action including moving cars, moving possessions upstairs or installing property level protection.

The Scottish Government has invested significantly in improving, and supporting the continued development of Scotland's flood warning service. This includes funding to help SEPA and the Met Office operate a Scottish Flood Forecasting Service. This service ensures flood forecasting and warning information is made available to the public and emergency responders throughout Scotland. For example;

• A daily Flood Guidance Statement is issued to over 900 emergency responder contacts. This provides an understanding of current and forthcoming flood risk and locations, and advance notice of potential flooding to aid planning and coordination of appropriate emergency response
• SEPA's Floodline direct warning service sends notifications with regional Flood Alerts and local Flood Warnings to those signed up to the freely available service
• The Flood Warning Development Framework (2017-2021) sets out plans to enhance the coverage and delivery of flood warning, including 14 new flood warning schemes that have been strategically identified, and prioritised, as part of the first round of flood risk management strategies.

These services, and the new developments and improvements that underpin them, are critical elements of SEPA's role in warning and informing responders and the public of flood risk, and the need to take action to prepare for flooding.

Two new flood warning schemes were launched in November 2020: Eilean Siar coastal flood warning scheme (Western Isles), which directly covers over 1,000 homes and businesses affected by coastal flooding, and the Aberfoyle flood warning scheme (Stirlingshire), which warns against river flooding and benefits more than 650 properties. Both schemes were successfully activated during flood events in November and December 2020.

The forecasting and warning systems are in constant development to expand and improve the service. Developing a new public flood forecast product for Scotland is one of the commitments in SEPA's Flood Warning Development Framework 2017-2021. Recent research showed that many view flood alerts as too confusing and generic. To combat this, SEPA and the Met Office are to develop a new product in 2021 that will provide a public-friendly version of the daily Flood Guidance Statement. This will to promote preparedness and support decision making during flood events.

SEPA are also working on a Discovery Project to support future climate ready infrastructure by working with transport network operators to understand future capabilities.

1.3 Public / Community Engagement

Public awareness, participation and community engagement are essential components of sustainable flood risk management. Public participation can raise awareness of flood risk, inform decisions that contribute to the successful implementation of actions and ensure that the public know what actions they can take themselves.

The Scottish Government, SEPA, local authorities and other partners support a number of initiatives that help to improve community engagement and increase community resilience.

In 2020, SEPA concluded a formal consultation on their draft One Planet Prosperity: Our Flooding Services Strategy. Responses were received from a range of partner and stakeholder organisations. SEPA have reviewed the responses and will prepare a consultation digest before updating the Strategy to reflect the comments received.

Whilst not specifically highlighted here, local authorities engage with communities through a variety of local initiatives, as well as direct engagement as part of delivering the actions set out in the Local Flood Risk Management Plans (LFRMP's). In 2021, SEPA and local authorities must carry out a consultation process to allow stakeholder and community input to next FRM Strategies and Plans.

1.4 Flood Risk Awareness Raising Initiatives

Since 2011, SEPA has delivered live flooding information direct to the public through their Floodline service. Registered customers have increased to over 32,500 with nearly 3000 messages issued in 2020 – including 3 severe flood warnings.

Every year hundreds of thousands of people access SEPA information digitally and they continue to develop communications for specific weather situations.

As part of the Eilean Siar coastal flood warning service launch in November 2020, SEPA, alongside Comhairle nan Eilean Siar ran three "virtual" classrooms that reached 250 primary pupils in the area to promote the new service with the communities affected and raise awareness of coastal flood risk with young people.

In partnership with Scottish Flood Forum, SEPA continued to engage with flood risk communities such as Alyth, Blair Atholl and Menstrie to raise flood resilience and awareness through their RiverTrack community flood alerting project. RiverTrack is a local flood alerting tool that uses low cost sensors to send accurate information to members of the public about water levels at their local watercourse.