People from a wide range of backgrounds, with various levels of experience have joined us across all areas of our Flood Risk Management work. In their words, this is what they do and why they chose the Environment Agency to further their career.

Increasing sea storms. Heavier rainfall. Rising sea levels.

Russell Turner
Flood Risk Manager

‘I joined the Environment Agency after graduating in Environmental Management in 1993. Part of my degree course had included a year with the Agency and they took me on afterwards. In under 12 years I've gone from being a technician in one of the smallest offices in North Wales to a Flood Risk Manager in Thames Region.

I started in various team member roles in Wales getting a good grounding in investigating flooding problems, looking at river maintenance and small improvement works and dealing with landowners and developers. I've done spells in development control and catchment planning which has helped broaden my knowledge of wider environmental issues.

I focused as a technical specialist in flood warning, mostly in the South. I helped turn the region around from one just worried about droughts to realise the big flood risk along the south coast. I managed the expansion of the flood warning service from being able to contact 600 people to over 60,000 in times of flooding. I know the work we did on improving the publics' understanding really helped save lives in the dramatic flooding of Autumn 2000 which saw 3,000 properties flooded in the Region.

During this time I became a team leader, responsible for the Regional Flood Forecasting Service. It's really rewarding building a great team of people who are fired up to improve the service we provide to the public. A big part of this was to set up a number of projects to improve flood forecasting, working across the country with numerous institutes and the Met Office. One project I am really proud of is the joint Agency & Met Office Weather radar project, which installed two new radars in the South East – the first new site for 15 years – and went live in Autumn 2005.

I became a Flood Risk Manager in Thames in 2003. My roles have included Area Flood Risk Manager where I was responsible for the Lower Thames and South London. This was a really testing time for the Area, following the major flooding of January 2003 and the first operation of the £110m Jubilee River Scheme. We had a lot of public attention, lots of letters and meetings to attend and really was the sharp end. After this role I led the investigations into the Jubilee Rivers performance, co-ordinated improvements on the ground, and improved how it was to be operated and monitored.

Currently I am project managing the reorganisation of the Flood Risk Management function in the Region. We've introduced new structures, built new teams and are changing the way we do things. We now talk of Flood Risk Management rather than flood defence, meaning simply we don't just reduce the chance of a flood happening anymore, but look at how best to manage the rivers and coast for people and the environment. It also means working with communities to help them prepare for flooding.

In Britain, we are obsessed with the weather but hardly ever prepared for it. Working in flood risk management is a real chance to help change the way people think and help them prepare for flooding. I know that every year I've been with the Environment Agency gets busier and this is the way it's going to be with climate change. If you want to make a difference and get involved, get in touch.’