Andrew has provided the following update on Facebook today.
"I met the Flood Minister yesterday to discuss our recent flooding but before I set out what we agreed, just a quick update to say that residents might notice pumps being moved from Carlton Bridge today. This is because the levels there do not allow further pumping, so the pumps will be utilised elsewhere on the Snaith Ings.
The Floods Minister, Rebecca Pow MP, and I had a good meeting yesterday where I pressed her on some additional support which we may require locally. In short though, the Government has now agreed the following -
* £500 Flood Grant to flood victims to help with immediate costs (see previous posts). A business grant has also been made available.
* Up to £5000 of Government funding will be provided to flood damaged homes to build in flood resilience measures as recovery works take place (flood gates, raising electrics etc etc). This will be managed by the East Riding but should be co-ordinated with insurance companies to make it as easy as possible for residents to access.
* Funding for Flood Defences will be doubled nationally from £2.6 billion to £5.2 billion.
* An immediate amount of £120 million is being made available to repair any damage caused to current defence banks. The Lower Aire banks will be inspected. I have asked the Minister to ensure maximum flexibility with this funding to allow other immediate action which might reduce flood risk.
* The Government has also triggered the Bellwin Scheme which will see the Govt reimburse the Council and others for the costs incurred responding to the floods.
Investigation and Inquiry.
* A formal Investigation into the flooding has now been launched as required by law by the Lead Flood Authority (East Riding Council). This is called a Section 19 Investigation and will look specifically at the flooding in our area, it will look at why warnings were issued when they were, what decisions were taken, response by the authorities, impacts etc. It will be open to the public and the report findings will be public. All of the agencies will be required to take part.
* Both this and other investigations will help us to understand what can be done into the future to protect against a repeat. As our MP, my job will be to fight to get us the resources needed to fund any solutions.
How You Can Help?
Whilst there is a lot of data around about what the River did and did not do, the truth is that having never seen such amounts in the system, it did not do as was expected.
As such, real time information, photos, videos etc, from residents will be vital to ensuring there is a proper understanding of how the event unfolded. Can residents please keep photos and videos as these will be useful in building a proper picture. Videos and photos are normally timestamped so will be very useful as it will inform exactly what was happening at a specific time.
Even if you don't have this, jotting down your experience with rough times, explaining how quickly the water came in, levels etc will all be useful.
More info will be provided in the future on what to do with this but getting the evidence ready now will be very useful. Thanks."
