Case Studies

Storm Babet, Surveyors Record Vital Flood Levels

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The Background

Date: December 2023

Client: Arup

Storm were contracted by ARUP to work alongside them to help identify wrack marks that indicate the peak height of the flood water caused by Storm Babet across various sites around the Midlands. Storm deployed three teams of surveyors alongside two ARUP representatives and an Environment Agency representative to work through the catchments and capture the high value data.

Process

Challenge

The most significant challenge for the surveyors was the logistics of splitting up the sites between the teams and establishing a time frame to work within. There were a significant number of sites and distances between them which calls for a logistical mind to get the right people, equipment and vehicles to each location in the most efficient manner.

Surveyors encountered some difficulty in finding the evidence required to measure the peak levels owing to the length of time between the storm and the time of survey. This is because flood damage in some instances had been fixed, cleaned, or worn away in the time since the event. Thankfully the colleagues from ARUP and the EA had been to the locations during the flooding and had a database of photos and locations from EA representatives and members of the public from during the event. Because of this the site work was efficient as surveyors could easily identify and survey the wrack marks, allowing the surveyors to finish the project on time.

Process

Results

The survey data was collated into an excel spreadsheet containing site names, photo times, locations and elevations of the recorded water marks. In addition topographic drawings of all wrack marks were provided with background mapping for visual representation.

All data was surveyed using Trimble S5 Total Stations and linked to newly or previously installed control stations local to each site.

Sadly Storm Babet has not been the only weather event to cause flooding over the 2023/2024 winter period. Storm surveyors are now on standby alert to capture more peak event flood levels throughout effected areas of the UK.