Flooding can devastate communities. It can leave people homeless for months, even years, and impact on relationships and work.

We are more prone to floods at this time of year, although as we know it can happen at any time. “Historically, we are moving into the flood season, but with thunderstorms and summer floods we are on alert all year round,” says Colin Atkinson, team leader in flood incident management with the Environment Agency (EA).

Being prepared is vital if we are to effectively manage flooding and measures are in place to help us learn when and where floods may occur, and how we can help each other.

Information on weather conditions and river levels collected from telemetry sites across West and South Yorkshire is fed to a special EA incident room in Leeds.

The agency has 28 river-level gauges on the River Aire and its tributaries upstream of the Bradford district. Twelve are available for the public to view on the agency’s website. Data is also sent from seven rain gauges in the same area.

“This gives us details of predicted river levels, and we can issue flood warnings based on those,” says Colin. “If any river rises to alarm level we alert the local authority and police, and then there is much multi-agency planning. Everything is geared up to responding quickly.”

Similar information from the River Wharfe is sent to the agency’s York office.

Colin’s team works closely with the Meteorological Office, which has a national flood-forecasting centre. “They look ahead for five days for heavy rain and issue a daily guidance statement,” he says.

The EA alerts other agencies to any warnings. It is wise for members of the public, particularly those at risk, to make plans, adds Colin. “We want people to understand their risk and plan what to do if they receive a warning.”

Anyone living in a flood warning area such as a flood plain, or who has dependant relatives living there, can sign up for the service.

Take-up of the service is low in some areas – only 30 per cent of people in Shipley are registered. Further up the Aire Valley in Stockbridge, where around 300 homes were flooded in autumn 2000, 75 per cent of households are registered.

A number of community flood warden groups operate in the upper reaches of the River Aire and the EA would like to encourage more. “It is a challenge to maintain the interest of existing groups during long flood-free periods,” says Colin.

Bradford Council is a lead local flood authority called upon to maintain, develop, apply and monitor a strategy for a local flood risk management plan. It includes the drawing up of flood risk and hazard maps.

This year the authority – which carries out flood prevention work – submitted a flood risk assessment to the Government, identifying areas of flood risk, excluding main rivers which are overseen by the EA.

Following extensive research using historic data and in consultation with other organisations such as Yorkshire Water and West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, the authority produced a map detailing vulnerable areas.

“We looked at it in detail – surface water, including becks and culverts, and ground water, including cellar flooding,” says Tony Poole, Bradford Council’s principal drainage engineer. “We are looking at where we need to prioritise. We are looking at areas where we may need to do more work to reduce the flood risk.”

Flood defences in the district mainly consist of river washlands in low-lying areas such as that bordering the Aire Valley railway line near Cononley. This natural flood plain has been enhanced to hold back water.

The authority has plans in place to tackle flooding from main rivers. “We put people on standby and bring in the resources we need such as sandbags to help protect places in vulnerable locations. With warnings, there is usually sufficient time to mobilise people,” says Tony But not all flood hazards can be accurately predicted. “The weather forecast gives general information but does not always tell us where rain will fall.”

Tony stresses that households at risk should be prepared and have sandbags in store.

To view the real-time river levels, visit environment-agency.gov.uk. Click on the home and leisure section, and the link to river levels.