The aim of the Thatcham Flood Forum is to:

• Offer flood protection information/advice to residents
• Represent the various needs of Thatcham residents on measures/initiatives to reduce the risk of future floods

There are a number of steps that residents can take to reduce the risk of flooding or cope with flooding.

The forum represents the town on measures such as:

• Blocked drains
  
• Monitor drainage provision on new developments
• Monitors existing work programs
  
• Assists in highlighting additional remedial work which might be necessary

Details of past meetings can be seen here

Recent and forthcoming events

The forum would like to thank these sponsors for their support.

Why is flood protection important?

In 2007 heavy rainfall led to severe flooding in a number of parts of Thatcham. There have been a number of other incidents of flooding since then.

These areas were most affected – map showing affected areas using zones

This had a number of serious effects:

• Over 1,100 households affected
• Severe hardship to residents including having to live in temporary accommodation and cars needed to be replaced. Some residents had to
• Some drivers had to write off their cars because of flood damage
• Traffic was disrupted because of the flooding and then cars that had been abandoned
• Economic losses to businesses/organisations because staff were unable to come to work while they dealt with the cleanup/insurance

How likely is it that the flooding could happen again?

A number of steps have been put in place to reduce the risk of flooding.

Flood defenses have been , or are being, built.

The defenses can reduce the risk and scale of flooding but they cannot remove all the risk.

The likelihood of flooding is expressed in the number of years between events.

The water followed the lines of natural watercourses that are mostly culverted under the town. Elements of the drainage system were partially blocked so there system was not working at full capacity.

The rainstorm on 20th July 2007 was a rare event. The Environment Agency evaluated it as a 1 in 169 year event.

This does not mean that there will be 168 years before this level of rainfall occurs again. Similar quantities of rain could fall before then. It is important that the additional measures are delivered to reduce the risk of future flooding.