UK government launches Flood and Drought Resilience Taskforce ahead of winter

Centre · 2The UK government has launched a new Flood and Drought Resilience Taskforce to assess how prepared the country is for extreme weather, including flooding, this winter. 1 2 Centre · 2Defra minister Emma Hardy will host its first meeting on Wednesday, bringing together the Met Office, the Environment Agency and mayoral authorities, as well as the farming, water and insurance industries. 1 2 Centre · 2Hardy said: "We're facing extreme weather, with flood and drought intertwined but the government is taking decisive action", and that the work would "put communities and businesses at the heart of our work". 1 2

Centre · 2The Met Office has described a "heightened potential" for wet, windy, stormy weather in the coming months, and its seasonal outlook suggests wetter than average autumn conditions, partly due to El Niño, which it says is likely to be the strongest in living memory, with a peak not expected until the end of the year. 1 2 Centre · 2The Environment Agency says approximately 6.3 million homes and businesses in England remain at risk of flooding. It says flooding is not guaranteed but the odds of repeated storms, prolonged rain and saturated catchments are higher than average this winter, and it has urged households to check their flood risk, sign up to alerts and make a flood plan. 1 2 Centre · 2The announcement follows a summer of record temperatures; the BBC reports summer 2026 was the UK's hottest on record, and the Evening Standard also cites widespread drought. Last winter brought four named storms (Bram, Goretti, Ingrid and Chandra) and England received 42% more rainfall than its winter average, according to the Met Office as reported by the BBC. 1 2

Centre · 2The government has committed at least £10.5 billion up to 2036 to protect homes, businesses and critical infrastructure from the growing threat of flooding. 1 2