The early periods following major flood crises are important opportunities to determine longer-term policy responses at local and national scales. How problems, such as flooding, are described and interpreted (i.e. in terms of causes and solutions) has significant implications for the type of responses that are put forward for consideration. The research examines where emergent policy ideas come from, identify the agents of these ideas, and explain how they are institutionalised and re-embedded into existing political arrangements. Responsibility for flood management is wide ranging, there are numerous policy makers within central government (e.g. the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), a broad array of governing bodies (e.g. the Environment Agency, Internal Drainage Boards, Local authorities), and those directly affected by flooding on their land, in businesses, and in their homes.

The project will inform policy and contribute to the development of robust, long-term responses to floods that are attuned to the values and perspectives of the different people affected.

Increasing flood risk is one of the principal causes of concern associated with changing climate in the UK. Floods have high political and policy relevance and urgency, yet there remains much uncertainty regarding which factors increase social resilience to flooding (a key adaptation strategy specified within the National Adaptation Programme). The impacts of floods also represent an issue of land use planning and other policy measures at various levels of government and involve additional economic costs of social disruption.

In part two, the project will explore the mechanisms by which flooding affects psychological well-being and stress at the individual and household levels, including an assessment of secondary stressors. In addition, we will investigate the determinants of resilience at the community level that will provide evidence for the development of measures to maintain or enhance community resilience in flood risk areas. An important component of the research will be to develop better outcome measures for individual and community resilience for future research, and contribute to regional and national policy concerned with increasing individual and community resilience to flooding.

Research Methods

The project used both qualitative and quantitative methods across three distinct phases to explore themes related the causes and solutions of flooding in the UK, the impacts of flooding on everyday life, drivers of individual and community resilience and to what extent flood events are seen to provide opportunities to determine regional and national policy responses.

• Download an in-depth description of the projects methodologies: Full report (.pdf)
• Download a map showing the projects study sites: map of study sites (.pdf)

Phase One

In-depth Longitudinal Interviews with Stakeholders and Members of the Public

Somerset (n=60) and stakeholders with a professional interest or responsibility for flood risk management across local, regional and national scales (n=52).

Themes discussed included the causes and solutions to flood events in 2013/14, the impacts on well-being of flood events, and the role of individuals and institutions in reducing future flood risk.

Initial interviews were held in July-October 2014 and repeated in April-May 2015 to explore how perceptions, experiences and processes of response evolve over time.

Phase Two:

Telephone Survey

This phase explored the saliency of the themes arising from the interviews across a broader population of people in regions affected by the 2013/14 winter floods.

The survey sampled from the UK counties of Somerset (n=500) and Lincolnshire (n=500); topics included views on the causes of floods, the acceptability of flood risk reduction schemes, and a quantitative assessment of how well-being is affected by flooding and the subsequent recovery period.

Phase Three:

Deliberative Workshops with Stakeholders and Members of the Public

Two deliberative workshops were held with participants from the stakeholder and public interview cohorts (n=32).

The workshops were designed to explore some of the initial findings from the project. The format of the workshops encouraged participants to comment on the major themes arising from the interviews and reflect on future flood risk management.

Presentations:

Adger, W.N. et al. (2016). Sharing the pain: Perceptions of fairness affect Private and Public responses to Hazards. Download

Adger, W.N.  (2016). Place, well-being and fairness shape priorities for adaptation to climate change. Download

Presentation by Dr Catherine Butler and Dr Kate Walker-Springett entitled 'Social and Political Dynamics of Flood Risk, Recovery and Response'. Given at the project findings launch event, London, 2016.

Presentation by Dr Catherine Butler, Dr Kate Walker-Springett and Prof. Neil Adger entitled 'Community, resilience and wellbeing in the context for floods'. Given at the National Institute for Health Research Science Workshop on Flooding, Resilience and Public Health in the UK, London, 2015.

Presentation by Dr Kate Walker-Springett, Dr Catherine Butler and Prof. Neil Adger entitled 'Community Resilience, well-being and emotional support'. Given at the Flood and Coast Conference, Telford, 2016

Presentation given by Dr Catherine Butler entitled 'Floods in a changing climate: Understanding the role of crisis in policy change'. Given at the European Sociological Association Conference, Prague, 2015.People and Politics in the Aftermath of Floods', 2015.

Presentation by Dr Catherine Butler entitled 'Exploring the dynamics o change in the aftermath of crisis: The case of the 2013/14 winter floods'. Given at the Royal Geographical Society's annual conference (with IBG), Exeter, 2015.

Presentation by Dr Kate Walker-Springett, Dr Catherine Butler and Dr Karen Parkhill entitled 'Flooding and Farming: exploring institutional responses across different challenges'. Given at the Royal Geographical Society's annual conference (with IBG), Exeter, 2015.

Presentation by Dr Kate Walker-Springett, Dr Catherine Butler and Prof. Lorraine Whitmarsh entitled 'Changing attitudes towards rivers implication of climate change risk on river conservation'. Given at the Biennial Environmental Psychology Conference, Groningen, 2015.

Presentation by Dr Catherine Butler and Dr Kate Walker-Springett entitled 'Resilience and Change in the Aftermath of Floods: The case of Somerset'. Given at the European Climate Change and Adaptation Conference, Copenhagen, 2015 and at the World Water Congress, Edinburgh, 2015.

Presentation by Prof. Neil Adger as part of the Sydney Ideas public lecture series hosted by the University of Sydney, entitled 'Private response, public response and climate futures', 2015.

Webinar by Dr Catherine Butler entitled 'People and Politics in the Aftermath of Floods'. Given to the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Network, 2015.

Presentation by Dr Catherine Butler entitled 'Transitioning Societies: Crisis, Art and Social Change'. Given to the to the Plymouth Arts Symposium, 2015.

Events:

The Many Faces of Flooding: Policy, Science, and Art
A panel debate and exhibition held on Wednesday 2^nd September 2015

This was a public event, as part of the Royal Geographical Society’s annual conference (with IBG), which took place at the University of Exeter in September 2015.

Panel Debate

This panel debate explored how we might effectively and fairly build resilience to future flood events.  The panel members each provided a unique perspective on the 2013/14 winter floods and commented on UK adaptation to future floods.

Chair:

• Neil Adger, Professor of Human Geography, University of Exeter

Speakers:

• Daniel Johns, Head of Adaptation, Committee on Climate Change
• Sarah Curtis, Professor of Health and Risk at Durham University
• David Wilkes, Associate Director at Arup UK
• Steve Guilbert, Devon Maritime Forum Coordinator at Devon County Council
• Nick Haigh, Head of Water and Floods Analysis, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
• Sarah Diacono, Somerset Rivers Authority, Somerset County Council

Artists

The panel debate was preceded and followed by an exhibition of work from two artists commissioned to reflect on and respond to research conducted by the ESRC funded Winter Floods project

• THEY – a filmic art piece by Emma Critchley
• Submerged: Portraits from the Levels - a photography exhibition by David Mansell-Moulin

Written Material

1. Social and Political Dynamics of Flood Risk, Recovery and Response: A Report on the Findings of the Winter Floods Project (.pdf)

2. Social and Political Dynamics of Flood Risk, Recovery and Response: A Report on the Findings of the Winter Floods Project Supplementary Materials (.pdf)

3. Short piece written by Dr Catherine Butler and Dr Kate Walker-Springett for the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Network blog, entitled People and Politics in the aftermath of floods (.pdf).

References

Adger WN, Brown K, Butler C, Quinn T (2021). Social Ecological Dynamics of Catchment Resilience. Water, 13(3), 349-349. Abstract.

Barnett J, Graham S, Quinn T, Adger WN, Butler C (2021). Three ways social identity shapes climate change adaptation. Environmental Research Letters, 16(12), 124029-124029. Abstract.

Quinn T, Adger WN, Butler C, Walker-Springett K (2020). Community Resilience and Well-Being: an Exploration of Relationality and Belonging after Disasters. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 111(2), 577-590.

Landeg O, Whitman G, Walker-Springett K, Butler C, Bone A, Kovats S (2019). Coastal flooding and frontline health care services: challenges for flood risk resilience in the English health care system. J Health Serv Res Policy, 24(4), 219-228. Author URL.

MacBride-Stewart S, Butler C, Fox NJ (2019). Editorial: Special Issue on Society, Environment and Health. Health (London), 23(2), 117-121. Author URL.

Butler C, Walker-Springett K, Adger WN (2018). Narratives of recovery after floods: Mental health, institutions, and intervention. Soc Sci Med, 216, 67-73. Abstract.  Author URL.

Walker-Springett K, Butler C, Adger WN (2017). Wellbeing in the aftermath of floods. Health Place, 43, 66-74. Abstract.  Author URL.

THEY – a filmic art piece by Emma Critchley

The Somerset levels floods of 2013/14 left many people living semi-aquatic lives for months on end. Once familiar family homes were transformed and the levels became the subject of a story which drew attention from across the UK and around the world. Despite the overwhelming buzz of media attention, it was an experience that left many feeling isolated; caught in an otherworldly displaced space, where time stood still. The floods sparked great controversy about how and why they occurred and who was to blame for their scale and duration. Why ‘they’ let it happen and the way ‘they’ handled the situation became the subject of contentious debate and confrontation. THEY responds to stories collated from interviews of those affected; it reflects on the accounts people gave which brought to view a sense of forced adaptation to an otherworldly existence; on view yet disconnected from the outside world.

Submerged: Portraits from the Levels - a photography exhibition by David Mansell-Moulin.

Floods are both a private and public affair. They are debated vociferously within media and other public fora, and public institutions have responsibilities for their management. But the experience of flooding is also deeply private, bringing the destruction of our most personal artefacts, our photographs and memories, our homes, our security. These are times of heightened stress which tends to manifest in frustrated and highly charged contestation and confrontations between those affected and those in positions of authority.

Responding to research undertaken in Somerset following the winter storms of 2013-14, this exhibition seeks to engage with the human experience of flooding. Presented in a series of large-format colour photographic portraits, it portrays those directly affected by the floods, alongside those involved with flood management and the response. The images are accompanied by quotes from the participants reflecting experiences from different perspectives. The exhibition seeks to prompt reflection on what can be learnt from these events.

Submerged: Portraits from the Levels can be viewed as a powerpoint presentation.