Two flood experts will be visiting Sierra-Leone to share vital knowledge on how the area can better protect itself against flooding.
Hull City Council’s city planning manager Alex Codd, and flood risk planning manager Rachel Glossop will be heading to the region to educate planning and disaster management teams on how to better protect, invest and prepare for flood risk.
In August 2017, hundreds of people were killed in mudslides and flooding near Freetown, the capital of Sierra-Leone. The area suffered widespread devastation with thousands of residents left homeless as a result of the heavy rains.
City planning manager, Alex Codd, said: “The flooding in Freetown was an incredibly unfortunate event, and it is important that we can support our sister city in any way possible.
“We are all too aware of the devastating impact extreme flooding can have on a city, and is one of the reasons we established a dedicated flood risk management team to lead on a series of flood defence schemes.
“This opportunity will allow us to share a wealth of information with officials on what we have learnt since the 2007 floods in Hull, including ways in which they can engage local communities to better prepare for natural disasters.”
The pair will fly out to Sierra-Leone on Tuesday 18 September, before kick-starting a week’s worth of environmental workshops and community visits to understand and share practices to build a resilient city.
Earlier this year, Hull was selected alongside Miami, Cape Town, Amman and Mexico City to contribute to the development of a new City Water Resilience Framework (CWRF). Developed by Arup with support from The Rockefeller Foundation, the CWRF will help cities better prepare for and respond to shocks and stresses to their water systems.
