Statements Based on Press Conference

A further press conference was held at Gloucestershire Constabulary's headquarters at midday today to provide an update regarding the flooding situation and detail the action being taken to alleviate problems.

Speakers were Chief Constable Dr Tim Brain; Dr Shona Arora, Director of Public Health for Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust; Alan Payne, General Manager Water Services for Severn Trent; Anthony Perry, Flood Risk Manager for the Environment Agency; Alan Raymant, Director of Operations and Asset Management for Central Networks and Brigadier Jolyon Jackson.
Dr Brain said: "Our sympathy goes out to those who have suffered loss or disruption in their daily lives and our thanks to members of the public for their continued patience and forbearance. If people continue to exercise common sense and good will I'm sure we can get through the next few difficult days.
"The critical situation at the Walham substation was held over night, that crisis was past just before midnight, and it has continued to function and supply electricity to the Gloucester area and beyond. Superhuman efforts were made by Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service, the military and engineers involved to make this possible.
"The emergency is not over, water is still high around Walham and there is a prospect of further peaks and the problem of retained water in the Severn basin is going to give problems for several days to come.
"With regard to the Mythe Water Treatment works, GFRS and engineers of Severn Trent are beginning the process of inspection and making the plant safe. This will be a two day process and the current prognosis of water supplies returning remains seven to 14 days.
"The situation we're now in is planning for the medium term and making sure the gains we have made and held in these critical hours are maintained for the next few days.
"Government is very strongly aware of our situation here and are very keen to help and assist.
"Bowsers have been distributed across the county and about two to three million litres of bottled water will be available in the county. There will be sufficient for everyone's basic daily needs but it's important to conserve water and not to panic.
"I must emphasise that we will be enforcing the law in the event of any crime and disorder associated with the current emergency. It's important that people continue to behave responsibly.
"We have only had seven confirmed incidents of crime or disorder related to this situation, such as damage or theft around abandoned vehicles, and that's very small considering we're five days into this emergency.
"The vast majority of the nearly 600,000 residents of the county are behaving very responsibly and with great community spirit.
"All the organizations represented here are working extremely hard to restore this county to normality and I want to assure all the people of Gloucestershire that we will continue to do so until we have succeeded.
"If people continue to show patience and forbearance and common sense and continue to conserve water supplies and listen to key message we will come through this successfully.
"I would like to thank all my officers and staff for their hard work on behalf of the people of Gloucestershire."
Alan Payne said: "140,000 houses are currently without water. We're doing everything we can to address that as a priority and we have two to three million litres of bottled water a day being delivered to Cheltenham Racecourse to be distributed by the military at 17 centres.
"We currently have 490 bowsers here and another 270 are on their way. We will have 900 here by 6am tomorrow. We are also prioritising the organization of tankers to replenish them. We currently have 80 tankers doing so on a 24-7 basis.
"The sewerage system is operating satisfactorily in many areas. Please refrain from flushing with bottled water.
"Water levels at Mythe have fallen slightly so we're now able to start our inspection. We can't say yet when we will be up and running so can't yet improve on the seven to 14 days quoted yesterday.
"A number of flood defence barriers are en route to the site and will be deployed to key areas.
"People in the south of Gloucester, fed from Mitcheldene and Worcestershire, are not affected directly but we are using water from here to supply the operation in Gloucester. We'd therefore urge people here to conserve supplies to support this."
Brigadier Jolyon Jackson said: "We have been supporting GFRS both at Walham and Castlemead and we will be distributing up to three million bottles of water a day until no longer required."
Alan Raymant said: "Yesterday 40,000 people lost power when the Castlemeads substation was switched off as a precaution because of flood water. We were able to switch about 25,000 people onto alternative feeds while the emergency services and Army worked to clear the water from the site. We restored most of the remaining customers at 2am. We have some repairs to carry out there still because of the water but only about 250 people are off supply now, the majority in the Tewkesbury area. We are working to restore those supplies and hope to restore the majority of those later today.
"There are a small number of properties where we won't be able to do this, however, because the properties are under water or we can't access the assets we need to do the work required."
Dr Shona Arora said: "Please do boil bowser water as a precautionary measure. It is drinking quality but this does ensure you kill off any bugs.
"For babies, boiled bowser water is the water of choice but bottle water can be used if this is not available. Ready made infant formula can also be bought as a safe alternative.
"Bowser water or bottled water should also be used for toothbrushing or cooking or anything else where you might ingest it.
"Think about your neighbours and see if people who might be having difficulty carrying water need any help.
"Sanitation is an important issue we're looking at. Please avoid flushing where possible and remember you can use 'grey water' such as from streams or rain or you can recycle water you have used for tooth-brushing or cooking to flush. Flood water can also be used but we suggest washing your hands with clean water and soap if you do come into contact with it.
"Please avoid putting human waste into bins. We're looking at alternative toilets such as portaloos.
"If sewerage flows into flood water it gets very diluted so the risk to human health is minimal and so far there have been no reports of infection but people are advised to keep away from flood water and anything that looks like raw sewage.
"If you have to go near flood water, wear protective clothing such as wellies and waterproof gloves."
Anthony Perry said: "Levels have peaked but rivers will remain very full for a while ahead.
"In Tewkesbury the level is receding at a rate of about 300 to 400mm per day (these figures have been updated since the press conference when they were 200 to 300mm).
"Working on the Met Office forecast we're not expecting rain later in the week to have much impact, what we will see probably though is the rate of receding slowing up a little.
"Our advice to people is to look out for flood warnings. We have flood plain maps and we want people to check them to see if they are in a flood plain and listen to those warnings.
"A lot of people have put in a lot of hours to deal with this situation and our thanks go to them all."