Clarity surrounding the roles and responsibilities of those involved in flood operations (during the intial response phase but equally during the recovery process) is important before any floods occur. For example, the recent floods in the UK showed that whilst the Coast Guard has responsibility for rescuing those at sea, there is no overall policy on who/which organisation has responsibility for rescue and evacuation by boat in the event of flooding. The fire and rescue services in the UK generally have boats but their role is to rescue people falling into ponds etc and they don't have responsibility for evacuation of people from their flooded homes/offices etc. (although they frequently do undertake this task).
