The Environment Agency has launched a new campaign to raise awareness of actions Grimsby residents can take to prepare for flooding – 15 years on since the town flooded in summer 2007 and 70 years on from the east coast storm surge.

Image: flooded street in Grimsby during the floods of summer 2007

From today residents in the Lincolnshire town, which sits on the south bank of the Humber estuary, will receive information leaflets through their doors urging them to know what actions to take if the area was impacted by flooding, where to find help and support if needed and how to take action to increase their resilience to future flooding.

Advertisements will also be on display at key locations, including libraries, healthcare centres and leisure facilities in the surrounding area, and there will be digital content promoting the campaign on social media and online.

Ben Thornely, Environment Agency Area Flood and Coastal Risk Manager for Lincolnshire, said:

“We’re seeing more extreme weather due to climate change and in 2022 we had three named storms in a week impact the UK in February.

“We will also see an increase in the speed of sea level rise, which will increase tidal flood risk in Grimsby.”

Grimsby is still at risk of flooding - and risk is likely to grow as result of climate change

A graphic from the campaign showing the targeted postcode

Grimsby and the surrounding area is susceptible to a number of different types of flood risk: tidal flooding from the sea; fluvial flooding from the river Freshney and New Cut Drain; and surface water flooding in heavy downpours. It is likely that the risk of flooding will grow as the impacts of climate change increase.

Of the 75,634 properties in North East Lincolnshire, 46% (34,981) are already based within Flood Warning Areas and more could be at risk of flooding.

The Environment Agency’s campaign comes in the run up to the 70th anniversary of the devastating east coast tidal surge on 31 January and 1 February 1953, which saw 307 people die, 24,500 homes damaged or destroyed and more than 30,000 people evacuated.

December 2013 tidal surge saw 1,100 homes and businesses flooded along east coast

The most serious tidal surge in recent times was on 5 December 2013 where an estimated 1,100 homes and businesses were flooded along the east coast.

Last summer was the 15th anniversary of the 2007 flooding, which impacted many of the homes in North East Lincolnshire including those on Grimsby’s Willows estate and in parts of Immingham, Stallingborough, Healing, Great Coates, Humberston and Waltham. In total, more than 600 properties were flooded.

Tidal flood risk is managed by flood defences along the Humber coastline and at the port of Grimsby. The defences are managed by the Environment Agency, Associated British Ports and North East Lincolnshire Council.

Due to the enormous economic importance of the estuary and the scale of tidal flood risk, the Environment Agency and 12 Local Authorities from around the Humber, including North East Lincolnshire Council, are working in partnership to develop a strategy that will address the risk and enable sustainable growth now and for the next 100 years.

Millions of pounds of investment made in flood defences in the area

The Humber 2100+ strategy focuses on the area around the Humber where flooding from the sea is the main source of flood risk. Other strategies identify ways of managing different sources of flooding such as from overtopping of rivers and heavy rainfall.

Millions of pounds of investment has been made in flood defences in the area, including:

• Concrete wave walls installed around the port between 2013 and 2016, at a cost of £19 million
• River Freshney flood alleviation scheme which diverts water to a storage reservoir, away from people’s homes constructed in 2000, with improvements in 2012
• A £1.5 million rock groyne completed in 2017 to re-establish sand levels on the North Promenade beach in Cleethorpes and reduce impact of waves hitting the sea wall
• Since 2011, more than £1 million has been spent on reinforcing the coastal defences at the Humberston Fitties

In the last 15 years, North East Lincolnshire Council flood risk management works have reduced the risk of flooding to more than 1,800 properties

Grimsby is one of 25 pilot projects to receive a share of the £150 million Defra funded Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Project. The project will:

• Improve flood resilience within communities by constructing high quality sustainable drainage onto the existing highway network
• Work with schools and businesses and help local communities develop a good understanding of flood risk, and what mitigation measures that they can implement within their own properties to increase their resilience to flooding.
• Install in-situ monitoring and physical community infrastructure to reduce community flood risk working with communities
• Provide evidence on the costs and benefits of retrofitting SuDS in urban areas in the UK
• Generate learning that will be applicable across all LLFAs and can guide future resilient approaches to manage surface water and fluvial flood risk
• Demonstrate the effectiveness of sustainable drainage in terms of both flood risk management and cost benefit.
• Create a project-based resource to bring together the multiple organisations involved in flood risk management to form a ‘one stop shop’ that will feed the learning from the approach into future governance structures and organisational collaborative working arrangements.