Third drought in five years: the taskforce meeting on Wednesday
What happened
The government has set up a new Flood and Drought Resilience Taskforce. It was announced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in a release published on 11 October 2026. The Floods and Drought Minister, Emma Hardy MP, will chair it. Its first meeting is on Wednesday 14 October 2026. The taskforce brings together representatives from more than 50 organisations. Those include the Environment Agency, the Met Office, mayoral authorities, Fire and Rescue Services, and the farming, water and insurance industries. Community-based groups will also be brought in through direct engagement, so that the experiences of affected communities shape future policy. Its job is to share expertise on understanding risks, assessing how prepared the country is, and supporting a longer-term resilience strategy for both floods and drought. It sits alongside an existing body, the National Drought Group, which continues to coordinate the day-to-day drought response. The two will keep strong links rather than replace each other. The agenda for Wednesday's first meeting is fairly concrete. Members will assess preparedness for possible winter flooding, which the government says is better than last year. They will review how members have improved their response, discuss lessons from the ongoing drought, and identify improvements to resilience against both flooding and drought. Emma Hardy said: "We're facing extreme weather, with flood and drought intertwined, but the government is taking decisive action." She described it as "a smarter, more joined-up approach to manage the nation's water" and said it "will put communities and businesses at the heart of our work".
Why this matters
The word in that quote worth stopping on is "intertwined". Flood and drought sound like opposites. In practice they are two symptoms of the same problem: too much water arriving at the wrong time, and not enough stored for when it is needed. Hard, dry ground does not absorb heavy rain well. So a long dry spell followed by a downpour can produce flash flooding on land that was parched a week earlier. Treating the two as separate problems, run by separate groups, misses the connection. That is really what this taskforce is for. It is an admission that the old split did not match the weather we are getting. For households, the connection is closer than it looks. Flooding affects insurance premiums and whether a home can be insured at all. Drought affects hosepipe bans, water bills and food prices. Both affect whether services get to you: a flooded road stops a delivery van, an ambulance and a bus just as effectively. There is also a public health side that rarely makes headlines. Flooded homes mean damp, mould and months living in temporary accommodation. The health effects of a flood last long after the water has gone. And the scale of this is no longer unusual. The country has faced its third drought in five years. That is not a run of bad luck any more. It is a pattern.
What the evidence actually says
The figures behind this announcement are worth setting out plainly, because they are the strongest argument in it. This summer brought the driest July in almost two centuries. That is a long baseline, and a striking result against it. On spending, at least £10.5 billion is committed for flood defences from 2024 to 2036. Within that, £4.2 billion is allocated for existing and new flood defences, and £1.4 billion is being spent in 2026/27 specifically on building and repairing them. Farmers received a £65 million funding boost to build resilience. The most persuasive single number is this one: every £1 invested in flood defences prevents around £8 in economic damage. That eight-to-one figure is why flood defence spending is unusual in government. Most spending is a trade-off. This is closer to a straightforward return, which is also why under-spending on it is expensive rather than thrifty. On drought, the government points to holding water companies to account to reduce leaks, and changing rules to make it easier to build on-site reservoirs. Now the honest caveats. A taskforce is a coordinating body, not a building project. It shares expertise, assesses preparedness and supports strategy. It does not itself construct a flood wall. The useful question in six months is what it changed, not that it met. The claim that winter flood preparedness is better than last year is the government's own assessment. It may well be right, but it is not an independent verdict. And the longer-term resilience strategy it is meant to support does not exist yet. This is the body that will help shape it. Meanwhile the drought is described as ongoing, not over. The Environment Agency declared drought status in Yorkshire on 9 October 2026, and granted a drought permit to support Wimbleball Reservoir on 8 October. The practical situation is live, not historical.
Qurexa perspective
We deliver prescriptions and groceries across Lincolnshire, a county with a great deal of low-lying land, a long coast and a lot of water management history. Flooding is not an abstract risk here. What we have learned is that the part of a flood that catches people out is rarely the water itself. It is the week afterwards. Roads closed. Pharmacies shut or hard to reach. Repeat prescriptions due. Someone who needs insulin, or heart medication, or an inhaler, suddenly cut off from the route they normally use. So the single most useful thing we can offer is not dramatic. It is a suggestion: if you live somewhere at risk of flooding, keep a few days' buffer on your repeat medicines rather than running to the last tablet, and keep a written list of what you take and the doses. That list matters more than people expect. If you have to leave home quickly, or be seen by a clinician who does not have your records, a list in your bag answers questions nobody can answer from memory under stress. We plan our rounds around road closures when flooding hits, and we would rather customers never needed us to. A buffer in the cupboard is better than a fast delivery in a crisis.
Practical advice
Check your flood risk. You can look up the long-term flood risk for any address in England on GOV.UK, and sign up for free flood warnings from the Environment Agency by phone, text or email. It takes a few minutes and it is free. Sign up for warnings even if you think you are not at risk. Flooding from surface water and small watercourses catches out plenty of homes that are nowhere near a river. Make a short flood plan. Where would you go? Who would you call? Where are the stopcock, the fuse box and the insurance documents? Keep a grab bag too, with medicines, a list of your prescriptions, spare glasses, chargers and copies of key documents. Talk to your insurer before you need to, especially if your home has flooded before. Ask specifically about Flood Re, the scheme designed to help make home insurance available for properties at high flood risk. On drought, follow local restrictions. Fixing a dripping tap, shorter showers and using a watering can rather than a hosepipe are small acts that add up across a county. And if you want communities represented in this work, the taskforce says it will bring in community-based groups directly. Local flood action groups are the usual way in.
What to know
Defra has launched a Flood and Drought Resilience Taskforce, chaired by Floods and Drought Minister Emma Hardy MP, with representatives from more than 50 organisations including the Environment Agency, the Met Office, mayoral authorities, Fire and Rescue Services and the farming, water and insurance industries. Its first meeting is on 14 October 2026. The reasoning is that flood and drought are connected problems, not opposites. The UK has had its third drought in five years, and this summer brought the driest July in almost two centuries. Key figures: at least £10.5 billion committed for flood defences from 2024 to 2036; £4.2 billion for existing and new defences; £1.4 billion in 2026/27; £65 million for farm resilience; and around £8 of economic damage prevented for every £1 invested in flood defences. The taskforce coordinates rather than builds, and the longer-term resilience strategy it supports is still to come. The current drought is ongoing, with drought status declared in Yorkshire on 9 October 2026. The most useful household actions are free: check your flood risk, sign up for Environment Agency flood warnings, and keep a short written plan and a buffer of essential medicines. Sources: Defra (GOV.UK), 'New taskforce to boost Britain's resilience to flooding and drought', 11 October 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-taskforce-to-boost-britains-resilience-to-flooding-and-drought; Environment Agency (GOV.UK), 'Environment Agency declares drought status in Yorkshire', 9 October 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/environment-agency-declares-drought-status-in-yorkshire; GOV.UK, 'Check the long term flood risk for an area in England', https://www.gov.uk/check-long-term-flood-risk. This article is for general information and does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified healthcare professional. If flooding has affected your home and you are worried about damp, mould or your medicines, speak to your GP practice or pharmacist.
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