Dozens of emergency service personnel from police to the military gathered for one of the Isle of Wight's largest-ever multi-agency training exercises today (Wednesday).

Westridge Centre, Ryde played host to the Isle of Wight Council's LiveEx event.

Members of the Local Resilience Forum met to test the tactical capability of agencies on the Island and how they would respond in the event of a major incident.

The County Press also participated, after being asked to take part in a mock media briefing.

Isle of Wight County Press: From left: Sharon Betts and Cllr Karen Lucioni.From left: Sharon Betts and Cllr Karen Lucioni. (Image: Isle of Wight County Press)

Isle of Wight County Press: Responders looking at a map.Responders looking at a map. (Image: Isle of Wight County Press)

Today's hypothetical incident centred on adverse weather. Although it did not actually happen, responders had to react a fake scenario in which properties in East Cowes were evacuated ahead of heavy flooding. 

The mock test also threw in other incidents, including a loss of water supply in Ryde.

Darren Steed, Resilience Co-Ordinator for the council, told the County Press: "It's not necessarily people on the ground deploying sandbags and evacuating, it's about how we plan for that in the event of an incident, which today was adverse weather: storms, gales and catastrophic high tides.

"The reason we select that type of scenario is because that is what appears on the national risk register that we are encouraged by government to locally assess, plan for and train and exercise for."

Isle of Wight County Press: Darren SteedDarren Steed (Image: Isle of Wight County Press)

Isle of Wight County Press:

Three of our journalists quizzed Cllr Karen Lucioni, Cabinet member for Community Protection, and Sharon Betts, Director for Corporate Services.

We asked questions on behalf of the (hypothetically) affected residents, including what support was in place, how they could get help, how the council was tackling the incidents and the knock-on effects it could have across the Island.

Emergency services, including police, ambulance and firefighters, were in attendance alongside the council, utility providers, and the military.

Darren said: "What we're doing is validating our plans and making new relationships with the common outcome of protecting the Island and its residents."