Storms Amy and Benjamin have already flooded homes, closed key A-roads and rail links, and overwhelmed ageing culverts and combined sewers, exposing how far UK drainage and flood defences lag current rainfall intensities. Early-season events are overtopping river embankments and bypassing 1-in-100-year design standards in several catchments, forcing emergency pumping and temporary barriers in urban centres. For civil and geotechnical engineers, the message is tighter design margins, more storage and conveyance capacity, and accelerated retrofit of surface water systems before peak winter storms arrive.

A levee breach on the Desimone levee along Washington’s Green River near Tukwila occurred under atmospheric river rainfall, with river levels peaking near 22 feet after a rapid 15‑foot rise in one week, exceeding six decades of recorded stages. The failure, a vehicle‑sized opening caused by internal erosion under prolonged high hydraulic loading, triggered flash flood warnings and evacuations for more than 45,000 residents in low‑lying areas. Emergency works using large sandbags and temporary fill stabilised the embankment, but saturated foundation soils and elevated groundwater leave wider regional levee and slope stability at risk from further storms.

A £500 fine has been imposed on McGrath Building & Joinery Contracts Ltd after HSENI found serious asbestos management failings during refurbishment of the Sacred Heart Chapel in Boho, Co. Fermanagh in November 2023. Investigators concluded the principal contractor did not adequately plan, manage or monitor works under Regulation 13(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016, particularly around identifying and safely removing licensed asbestos. The Enniskillen Magistrates’ Court conviction signals continued regulatory focus on CDM-compliant asbestos surveys and licensed removal on small refurbishment projects.