The Environment Agency (EA) has issued a warning that persistent rainfall could cause river and surface water flooding on Saturday and Sunday. The heaviest rain will fall across parts of Lancashire, Greater Manchester and the western parts of Yorkshire.
“Environment Agency teams are monitoring the situation and will issue flood warnings and alerts as required,” it said in a statement.
A Yorkshire Water spokesman told Utility Week the company has “robust emergency plans” in place should flooding occur, and UU said the flood risk is low, but it would keep an eye on the forecast.
The company was forced to draft in support from fellow water companies – Wessex Water, Northumbrian Water, and Welsh Water – to help it battle floods that occurred over the Christmas period.
From the afternoon of 25 December, when the rain started, it took until 9 January for Yorkshire to get customers back to normal levels of operation.
The company is currently in discussion with its insurers as to the exact cost incurred, but could face a bill of up to £55 million.
The government has pledged to review flood defence spending, but the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) told Utility Week it still has “no plans” to review water companies’ roles on flooding.
Yorkshire Water was recently invited to give evidence at a meeting of the newly set up Floods Commission in Calderdale, and Calderdale council leader Tim Swift told Utility Week he believed the company could “play a bigger role” through better management of land and control of reservoir levels.