§ Mr. David PorterTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make it his policy to organise with all interested bodies and people affected a full-scale exercise of evacuation procedures in the event of river and sea flooding in the eastern counties; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. CurryThe Department is responsible for ensuring that adequate warning procedures exist and are able to operate smoothly in the event of potential river or sea flooding. The National Rivers Authority holds regular reviews of emergency procedures and mounts exercises with the police and local authorities to test contingency plans and operational procedures. If the police and local authorities wished to test their emergency evacuation procedures in the event of flooding in a particular area this could be done in conjunction with an NRA exercise. However, a full-scale evacuation exercise involving members of the public in all the areas potentially at risk in508W the eastern counties would be extremely expensive and would not necessarily provide information that would be helpful in an actual emergency.