FLOOD fighting specialists returned to Winchester on Friday (Sep 19) to trial a new command centre and hone their emergency response times.

An Environment Agency team practiced deploying a 20-metre flood barrier in a training exercise on the bank of the River Itchen, which burst its banks in February.

The steel and aluminium barriers were originally erected in Park Avenue, stopping water from flowing through the city centre.

Yesterday’s exercise also trialled a new mobile communications hub which will improve dialogue between emergency services deployed to fight flooding and pollution.

The Incident Command Vehicle is equipped with satellite phones, laptops, radio and secure internet access to connect emergency response teams when extreme weather threatens communication lines.

A webcam on the top of the truck will feed live video of flood sites to command centres and other emergency services, and could in future be broadcast to the public.

But the truck covers the entire south of England and would only serve Winchester if it was the area in most danger.

Mike O’Neill, environment manager, said: “It’s good to come out and practice with this in a big space. We can try things out. It gives us more opportunities to give information back quicker so we can make quicker decisions and a more co-ordinated response.”

Winchester MP Steve Brine, who observed the exercise in North Walls Recreation Ground, said: “We did so much right in Winchester with the floods but there was a huge demand for information from the public. This communications hub will help with that.

“It’s a positive lesson learnt from what was a very difficult situation last year. Practicing with this vehicle will help us do even better if the worse happens again, but I hope we don’t ever have to see it.”