Advice on what to do to stay safe in a flood and clearing up afterwards.
Will I receive a flood warning?
We offer a different flood warning service depending on where you live. In some areas we give flood warnings using:
- Floodline Warnings Direct - if you are registered to our free 24 hour flood warning service you can receive a flood warning direct to your mobile, work or home phone, by text message, email or fax. If the flood warning service is not available for your property, you may be able to receive a flood alert which will tell you about possible flooding to the wider area.
- Loud hailers - a vehicle will drive around repeating the flood warnings.
- Sirens - usually a wailing sound that is activated when a flood is about to happen.
Other places where you can get the latest flood update:
What should I do when I receive a flood warning?
Four codes are used for flood warnings. They can be issued in any order, usually ending with an 'all clear'.
Stay alert to flooding from surface water
We use our flood warning service, Floodline Warnings Direct, to warn you of flooding from rivers and the sea, but there is some flooding we can't predict.
Surface water flooding can happen when:
- drainage systems are unable to cope with heavy spells of rainfall;
- sewers overflow;
- drains burst or become blocked.
Due to the nature of these types of floods, it is much more difficult to predict where and when they will occur. We cannot warn you about these types of flooding but we can indicate when rainfall might cause them.
Flood water is dangerous
- Avoid walking or driving through it. It only takes six inches of fast-flowing water to knock over an adult or two feet to move a car. Flood water may hide other dangers such as open manholes.
- Keep children away from flood water.
- Wash your hands thoroughly if you touch flood water as it may be contaminated with sewage.
- Do not stand on bridges, or cross a river or stream during a flood unless told to do so by the emergency services. This can be extremely hazardous as bridges can become unstable and even destroyed.
