The creation of new flood relief channels and water storage areas to reduce flood risk in Gissing village and surrounding areas.
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Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of rainfall. This, coupled with the alterations that humans have made to the landscape, causes rainwater to enter our river systems much quicker than it would do naturally.
The South Norfolk village of Gissing experienced flooding in December 2020, following a heavy rainfall event, which resulted in 6 properties being internally flooded.
We joined forces with River Waveney Trust (RWT) to proactively protect the village of Gissing from flooding. We used low-cost, nature-based solutions known as ‘Natural Flood Management’ (NFM) to make the landscape more climate resilient and provide wider benefits, such as improved water infiltration and better water quality.
Stream banks were lowered in strategic places to allow high water to escape onto the surrounding floodplain. We also installed a leaky dam, reconnected a dry, historic channel and created scrapes to slow and store water.
The NFM intervention faced its first significant test during the arrival of Storm Babet. The deluge of rain, resulting in high volumes of surface water, found refuge in an adjacent meadow, where it could be temporarily stored and released gradually to reduce the flood peak. Since then, a further 7 named storms arrived over the winter of 2023/24, with no flooding reported.
These installations have demonstrated that natural solutions can effectively protect communities from the fast-increasing risk of flooding. They should be considered alongside hard flood defences when planning flood management strategies.
This initiative was made possible by a partnership between WWF and Aviva, who joined forces in 2021 to develop projects that work with nature to help reduce the effects of extreme weather, particularly flooding, on communities in the UK. Additional funding was received from the Environment Agency and Garfield Weston Foundation.
With thanks to the landowners for enabling the work to take place on their land.
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