Firstly, as this October is Somerset Flood Awareness Month, there are numerous events coming up across the county.
Fourteen libraries are hosting displays, posters, flood-themed book collections and various forms of practical information that can be taken home. Libraries taking part are Chard, Crewkerne, Ilminster, Wincanton, Taunton, Priorswood, North Petherton, Bridgwater, Burnham-on-Sea, Nether Stowey, Minehead, Williton, Porlock, and Frome.
Special sessions in libraries, mostly with members of the SRA’s community team, will include advice drop-ins in Frome, Wincanton, and Taunton; flood-themed children’s activities in Taunton, Porlock, Priorswood and Chard; and Lego Flood Challenge meetings in Taunton.
The Lego Flood Challenge is centred on library Lego clubs but open to all Somerset residents aged 16 or under (depending on challenge category). There are four £50 prizes. The deadline for entries is 30 November. Participants are invited to imagine and build a home that could withstand a future flood. It might be raised on stilts, use plants and nature to help, be fitted with watertight doors, or packed with gadgets to keep water out. Many homes across Somerset are at risk of flooding: great design could help the county be better prepared for future emergencies.
For dates and more info: https://www.somersetriversauthority.org.uk/events/
Other activities this month include the Environment Agency’s Flood Action Week, 12 to 18 October. As part of this, the Agency is launching a new flooding website: Home – Flood Action
The annual Somerset Prepared Community Resilience Day is on 21 October at Millfield School in Street. This year’s event will be the biggest yet. A few tickets are still available at the time of sending you this. To book (if you or your councillors or flood wardens have not done so already), please visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/somerset-prepared-community-resilience-day-2026-tickets-1990766160175
From 26 October there will be a re-hang in Taunton Library of the recent SRA-sponsored children’s art exhibition Seeing Through the Rain.
Finally, Somerset Council has produced a new Flood Reporting form – scroll down to see How to report flooding: During flooding
One reason this has been created is that following the torrential flash floods that hit Glastonbury on 22 June this year, many people affected said they were unsure about where and how to report flooding. After various points were explained at a meeting in Glastonbury, more than 10 reports were submitted. This triggered the commissioning by Somerset Council of a Section 19 report into that flooding, which in turn may help with moves to reduce flood risks in future. Generally speaking, reporting flooding provides Flood Risk Management Authorities such as Somerset Council with the real details they need to seek greater funding for flood resilience and taking action.