00:00The River Medway flows for 57 miles across the county but when weather isn't quite so serene
00:07it can pose a threat to nearby communities as Tombridge and Hildenborough know all too well.
00:14Flooding devastated here in 1968 and then again in 2013 so today's unveiling of expanded water
00:22storage is a welcome enhancement to the countryside. Any resident who remembers some of the big
00:28flooding events we've had whether that would be 1968 which resulted in the construction of the
00:34live flood storage area originally or at Christmas 2013 we'll very much appreciate all of the work
00:41that's being taken to best defend us from flood water. This structure and the one at Hildenborough
00:47that I'm intending to go through later are the facilities that we've really been looking for
00:53to protect those areas downstream from flooding. Here they monitor rainfall and decide when to
01:00open the storage area to mitigate any flood risk. The £42 million expansion has increased the amount
01:08of water that can be held here by 23%. This flood defence structure is one of the biggest of its
01:15kind in Europe. The amount of water it can store is actually equivalent to 3,000 Olympic-sized swimming
01:22pools. For the last three years the Environment Agency has been working with partners to actually
01:28replace all the gates here for this phenomenal flood storage area so that it's ready to operate
01:3424-7 going into the winter. This winter residents and businesses will know that they are going to be
01:42far better protected. Flooding is a threat and obviously the more we build the more we cover
01:49our land the less water gets back into the aquifer. So builders, farmers, local planners all need to bear
01:59this in mind. With climate change continuing to raise the risk of flooding in the county residents
02:05here will be hoping any concerns will be washed away as winter approaches. Chloe Brewster for KMTV
02:12in Tombridge.
