Environment GroupExploring the Social Impacts ofFlood Risk and Flooding in ScotlandISSN 0950 2254ISBN 978 0 7559 6590 8Price 5.00www.scotland.gov.uk/socialresearchThe text pages of this document are produced from 100% ElementalChlorine-Free material.The paper carries the Nordic Ecolabel for low emissions during pro-duction, and is 100% recyclable.Astron B51242 3/07Exploring the Social Impacts of Flood Risk and Flooding in ScotlandB51242 SR ecover 375:SR environment 37528/3/0714:05Page 1EXPLORING THE SOCIAL IMPACTS OF FLOOD RISKAND FLOODING IN SCOTLANDAlan Werritty, Donald Houston, Tom Ball, Amy Tavendaleand Andrew BlackSchool of Social Sciences Geography, University of DundeeScottish Executive Social Research2007Further copies of this report are available priced 5.00. 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CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARYi CHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTION1 Background1 Objectives of the project2 CHAPTER TWOLITERATURE REVIEW 3 Introduction 3The impacts of flooding3Living with flood risk7 Summary 19 CHAPTER THREEMETHODS 20 Socio-demographic profiling of flood risk areas20 and selection of study areas Questionnaire survey of households in flooded/ 22flood risk areas Focus group discussions24 Semi-structured interviews with institutional 25 Stakeholders Data analysis 26 Summary 26 CHAPTER FOURHOUSEHOLD SURVEY27 Socio-demographic and residential characteristics of the sample 27 Characteristics of the floods30 The experience of being flooded31 Impacts of flooding32 Living with floods40 Summary 47 CHAPTER FIVEFOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS 48 Impacts of flooding 48 Living with floods 56 Summary 63 CHAPTER SIXINTERVIEWS WITH KEY INSTITUTIONAL 64 STAKEHOLDERS Aims and scope64 Flood warning to local authorities and key emergency responders64 Flood emergency planning66 Social aspects of flood emergency management71Flood alleviation and avoidance73 Insurance coverage in flood risk areas77 Summary78 CHAPTER SEVENDISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS79 Impacts of flooding79 Living with flood risk 81 What works in terms of living with floods?82 Recommendations87 REFERENCES89 Appendix A Maps showing locations sampled in HouseholdQuestionnaire Survey 98 Appendix B Tables from Household Questionnaire Survey105 Appendix C Questions used in Semi-Structured interviews133 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions made by the Project Steering Group: David Seaman Scottish Executive ERAD (Chair) Nuala GormleyScottish Executive ERAD Carolyn GirvanScottish Executive ERAD Hazel GallacherScottish Executive ERAD David FaichneySEPA Wendy KeynonMacaulay Research Institute Fiona MacTaggartSNIFFER Kathy CameronCoSLA in their advice on the project structure and comments on draft versions of the final report. Dundee, January 2007 ABBREVIATIONS ABIAssociation of British Insurers AVMAutomatic voice messaging DEFRADepartment of Environment Food and Rural Affairs EAEnvironment Agency EUEuropean Union FLAG Flood Liaison Advice Group GISGeographic Information System IFRCInternational Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies ISDRInternational Strategy for Disaster Reduction JBAJeremy Benn Associates NGOsNon-Governmental Organisations PTSDPost Traumatic Stress Disorder RECAPTayside Region Emergency Co-ordinating and Planning Group RPARisk and Policy Analysts Ltd SDPStrategic Drainage Plan SECG Strathclyde Emergency Co-ordinating Group SEPAScottish Environment Protection Agency SEERADScottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department SFVISocial Flood Vulnerability Index SNIFFERScottish and Northern Ireland Forum for Environmental Research SPP7Scottish Planning Policy 7 SPSSStatistical Package for Social Sciences SUDSSustainable Urban Drainage Systems TATerritorial Army WHOWorld Health Organisation WRVSWomens Royal Volunteer Service i EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.ThisprojectassessestheimpactsthatrecentfloodsinScotlandhavehadon people, their attitudes and behaviour and establishes what works in relation to flood preventionprogrammesandfloodwarninganddisseminationsystems.Italso identifiestheconsequencesoflivinginafloodriskareaforthosewithandwithout the experience of being flooded. 2.The report comprises a literature review (Chapter Two) followed by an outline ofthemethodsusedtocaptureandanalysethedatainselectedlocationsacross Scotlandandanassessmentofthesocio-demographicprofilesoffloodriskareas when compared with Scotland as a whole (Chapter Three).The main findings of the projectarederivedfromahouseholdsurveyinwhichfloodimpactsandattitudesto managing flood risk are assessed (Chapter Four), a series of focus groups which add a humanfacetothematerialonfloodimpactsandcontrastingattitudestomanaging floodrisk(ChapterFive)andinterviewswithkeyinstitutionalstakeholderswho manage flood risk both nationally and locally (Chapter Six).The report ends with a discussiononthesefindings,asummaryofwhatworksandaseriesof recommendations for future policy development and further research (Chapter Seven). Methods 3.Questionnaires were delivered by hand to 2,085 households in seven locations (Brechin,Edinburgh,Elgin,Forres,Glasgow-Shettleston,HawickandPerth)andby postto236householdsinscatteredruralandcoastalcommunities.Therespective responseratesforhand-deliveredandpostalquestionnaireswere1,154(55.3%)and 69 (29.2%) respectively, giving an overall response rate of 52.7%.Within the 1,223 returnedquestionnaires,633were from households which had been flooded and 590 from households not flooded but located within areas that had been flooded over the period1993-2005.Focusgroupswereconductedwithrespondentsfromthe household survey at five locations.Structured interviews were conducted with senior stafffromeleveninstitutionalstakeholdersdrawnfromlocalauthorities,SEPA,the ScottishExecutive,ScottishWaterandtheinsuranceindustry.Socio-demographic profilingofthefloodriskareasyieldedaslightover-representationofsingle pensioner households and a slight under-representation of lone parents with children, butinothercategorieslowersocio-economicgroupswerewell-representedwhen compared with urban Scotland as a whole. The experience of being flooded 4.Inthesurveyedlocations,riversovertoppingtheirbankswasthemost common cause of flooding (85%) followed by surcharging sewers and overland flow (pluvialflooding10%)andcoastalstorms(5%).Thefloodwaterswerenearly always contaminated with mud and/or sewage. 5.Of the flooded households surveyed 42% received some kind of warning, one thirdofwhichprovidedmorethan3hoursnoticeoftheflood.Themostcommon formofwarningtothosefloodedwasfromneighbours(32%)andjustover51%of ii flooded households had received an official warning (official phoning or knocking on door,loudhailerorautomatictelephonemessage).Approximatelyathirdofthose who had been flooded and a fifth of those living in flood risk areas now use SEPAs Floodlineasaninformationsource,butthisleavesasignificantmajorityofthoseat risk in the surveyed locations unaware of the service.Nearly 80% of those using the service found it helpful or very helpful. Receiving a warning increased confidence ingettingasufficientwarningnexttime,butthiswaslessenedbytheactual experienceofbeingflooded.Directmethodsofdisseminationwerestrongly favoured, particularly officials knocking on the door, and media messages. 6.Themostcommonimmediateresponsestoawarningweretoremove possessionsfromthegroundfloor,deploysandbagsorfloodguards,movevehicles andvacatetheproperty.Neighboursandfriendsprovidedmostoftheemergency assistance with local authority and Fire Service staff assisting around 20% of flooded households.Only 5% of those forced to leave their homes used an Evacuation Centre but45%ofhouseholdsrequiredtemporaryaccommodationfor6monthsormore.Themainprovidersoftemporaryaccommodationwerefriendsandrelatives(44%) and the public and private rental sector (52%). 7.Directeconomiclossesforhouseholdsaveragedaround32,000fordamage to buildings and around 13,500 for damage to contents.Around 10 days of time off work(paidandunpaid)wasneededtodealwiththeimmediateaftermathofbeing flooded. Flood impacts 8.Respondentstothehouseholdsurveywereinvitedtorank20potentialflood impactsandtheoutcomescodedonafourpointscale:0notapplicableorno impact, 1 mild, 2 serious and 3 extreme impact.When all 20 potential impacts weregroupedintothreeclassesandthescoresaggregated,intangibleimpacts (relatingtonon-materialand/oremotionallosses)registeredmarkedlyhighervalues thantangibleimpacts(relatingtomateriallosses),andimmediateimpactswere generally higher than lasting impacts.Intangible immediate impacts (overall score of 1.81) included the stress of the flood itself, the anxiety of being out of ones home, thediscomfortoflivingintemporaryaccommodationandthetimeandeffortin dealingwithinsurersandbuilderstoreturnhomeassoonaspossible.Intangible lastingimpacts(whichfocusonthetimeandefforttoreturntoanormallife)were more sustained and included fear of future flooding, strains within the family itself and loss of sentimental/irreplaceable items.Collectively these scored 1.29 overall, lower thantheintangibleimmediateimpacts,buthigherthanthetangibleimpactswhich scored1.12overall.Oneimmediateconsequenceofthesefindingsisthatthecost-benefitanalysesforfloodalleviationschemesshouldconsiderincludingintangible social impacts. 9.Impacts on surveyed households were also examined in terms of respondents takeupofinsurance,theiroccupationalstatus,householdincome,housingtenure, whetherawarningwasreceivedandthefrequencyandnatureoftheflood. Households with insurance registered higher stress levels, in part as a result of dealing withlossadjustorsandbuilderswhilstlivingintemporaryaccommodation.iii Households with an annual income of less than 20,000 also reported higher levels of stressandanxietyandmoreadversehealthimpacts.Tangibleimpactswererated more highly for households with a skilled or semi-skilled highest earner compared to those with a professional or managerial highest earner.Pluvial floods with little or no warningandfloodswithhighlevelsofsewagecontaminationgeneratedhigher tangibleimpactsandstrikinglyhigherlastingintangibleimpacts.Greaterflood depthsmarkedlyexacerbatedthestressofthefloodanddisruptionoflivingin temporaryaccommodation.Repeatedfloodingaddedtoanxietiesoverfuture floodinganddecliningpropertyvalues.Floodswiththemostsevereimpactswere those in Elgin (1997 and 2002) and Glasgow-Shettleston (2002). Managing flood risk 10.Intermsoflivingwiththeriskofflooding,nearlytwothirdsofthoseinthe householdsurveywhowerefloodedregardfuturefloodingaslikelyorvery likely,butthisreducestoaround40%forthosenotflooded.Mosthouseholds gainedtheirknowledgeoffloodriskfromneighbours,friendsorthelocalauthority.The experience of being flooded does not improve householders confidence in what to do in a future flood. 11.Contentsinsurancecovered91%ofhouseholdslivinginfloodriskareas, reducing to around 75% for social tenants.84% of flooded households had contents insuranceofwhich37%weresubsequentlychargedahigherexcess.Knowledgeof pay-with-rent contents insurance is known about by 37% of council tenants and the take-up13%.However,giventhataround75%ofsocialtenantswhohavebeen floodednowhavecontentsinsurance(witharound10%usingpaywithrent schemes),furtherpromotionofsuchschemesshouldaddressaffordabilityandthe reluctanceofsomeinsurerstoprovidecover.Oversixintenfloodedhouseholdsin the survey have some degree of flood proofing (removable flood guards or sand bags, sometimesprovidedbythelocalauthority)andhavemovedirreplaceableitemstoa safe place. 12.Wheninvitedtostatepreferencesforfloodriskmanagementbyfarthemost popularmeasureswerestructuraldefencescloselyfollowedbyafloodwarning service and upstream storage in reservoirs.Payments to rural landowners to increase upstreamstorageoffloodwatersanddemolitionofthemostthreatenedproperties, with compensation or relocation of residents, attracted much lower levels of support.In terms of where protection from flooding should lie, respondents assigned the main responsibilitytolocalauthorities(58%)followedbytheScottishExecutive(42%); SEPA,ScottishWaterandhome-ownersorlandlordsallregistering