Pioneering flood alarm offers hope for residents
BBCA new flood warning system aiming to give communities faster, more localised information is being trialled across Lincolnshire.
Remote sensors, which act as "river alarms", have been installed at 66 locations in the county in what developers say is the "first hyperlocal flood alarm system" in the UK.
Julie Leighton, from Billingborough, which suffered heavy flooding in January 2025, said: "This gives you an early warning, you know how bad a flood is going to be, whether you need to move stuff upstairs and how quickly you need to act."
The system, which is run by Lincolnshire County Council's Project Groundwater team and supported by government funding, is free to use for residents.
Julie's home was one of 97 properties in the county that were flooded in January 2025 during Storms Henk and Babet. Up until recently, she had been living in a caravan on her driveway.
She said there were a number of small streams near to her newly repaired home that now had water level sensors fitted.
"This makes everyone in the village a bit more aware of the risks," she said.
"When the rain came a couple of days ago we were all having a look [at the alert system] to see which watercourses were highest and we could see that we didn't need to worry."
Vicky Jones, flood resilience programme co-ordinator on the council's Project Groundwater team, said the scheme was designed to "enhance" the existing Environment Agency (EA) flood warning system, which covers broader geographic areas.
"We've targeted local flooding hotspots and at the moment we've got 66 towns and villages with these devices in place, with 35 other communities about to join," she said.
The river sensors use the cellular network to transmit readings to an online portal that is accessible on phones and computers.
The project's first sensor was installed in the village of Heighington, near Lincoln, which was badly flooded in the winter of 2023.
Jones said: "The school here was devastated by the flooding, not only surface water but water coming up from the ground inside the school and that gave us the idea to put the device in to monitor groundwater levels so they could be better protected."
She said the project offered hyperlocal data that previously did not exist and this gave a more accurate assessment of flood risk.
"The EA system does a great job on the large rivers but there are lots of ordinary, smaller, water courses that aren't monitored that can cause localised flooding issues, so we've now got our devices installed on them," she added.
The scheme is being funded by Defra as part of its £200m Flood and Coastal Innovation Programme, which is aiming to improve flood resilience and adaptation to climate change.
Krys Szokalo, from The Billingborough Flood Group, has also welcomed the trial.
He said that the system not only served to offer warnings but could also be a reassurance for residents worried about a recurrence of the floods from 2025.
Krys said the new technology was being complemented by "lots of good work" taking place to reduce the threat of flooding in the community.
"Our objective in the group is to try to tackle the root causes of the problems," he said.
"We are looking at ways of holding water back to the west of the village, clearing watercourses and dealing with drainage problems in the area."
The 66 locations include areas that have previously been prone to flooding or had risks in place, such as Fiskerton, Grantham, Market Rasen, Boston and Ruskington.
Councillor Danny Brookes, executive member for environment at the county authority, said that many people had already signed up to the EA flood alerts and warnings and that this new scheme was in addition to those.
"This doesn't replace those flood alerts, but takes this great idea and goes that bit further, to better prepare local communities which have suffered flooding in the past," he explained.
Brookes said community drop-in sessions were helping to guide residents through the technology and he was encouraging people to sign up by registering their interest at innovative.resilience@lincolnshire.gov.uk.
An EA spokesperson added: "We know the devastating impact that flooding can have, which is why protecting people and communities is our top priority.
"We are pleased to see this project come to fruition as it will provide increased flood resilience for communities in Lincolnshire."
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