Minimising the cascading effects of flooding through property-level flood adaptation

Significant numbers of homes within the UK remain at risk of flooding despite significant investment on community=level flood protection schemes. Although community level flood protection schemes are the first line of defence for mitigating flood risk, not all properties are protectable. Property-Level Flood Protection (PLFP) provides those unprotected homeowners with an approach for protecting their homes from flooding. Although the level of take-up of such measures seems to have increased over the years, significant barriers still seem to exist preventing wider adoption. Government incentives have been identified as an effective method of encouraging property owners to adapt their properties and introduce flood resilience and resistance measures to their properties. The study seeks to discuss how such incentives have contributed towards property-level flood resilience and resistance measures being introduced by property-owners. Community perception of incentives and the likelihood of adapting if suitable incentives are available will also be investigated. An exploratory case study was undertaken to this end by conducting a survey of flood victims and at-risk residents in Worcestershire.