What happens in an emergency

If you need to be evacuated

There may be incidents where you are asked to evacuate your home. Please cooperate with the emergency services who are evacuating you, as they are doing this for your own safety. 

Friends and family

You may wish to stay with friends and family as it is likely to be more comfortable – if you do, please let the emergency services or the Council know how to contact you when you are able to return to your home. 

Emergency centre

The Council is able to open up an emergency centre to accommodate people who have been displaced by an emergency - this is likely to be a public building and will be a place of safety and a source of information for the duration of the emergency. While every effort will be made to ensure that you are comfortable and your needs are catered for, it will be communal and may be crowded depending on how many people have been evacuated.

Temporary accommodation

You can also check to see whether your Home Insurance covers temporary accommodation. If your property is managed by a housing association/ private agent, ultimately they are responsible for providing you with temporary accommodation.

Power cut

Power cuts can happen for a variety of reasons, including severe weather. There are certain things you can do to stay safe if your electricity goes off:

• Keep your freezer door closed. Freezer foods can last up to 24 hours
• Turn off and unplug any non-essential electrical equipment, leaving one light on so that you know when power is restored.
• Keep warm by staying in one room and wearing several layers of clothing
• Keep an eye on any elderly or ill neighbours.
• If you live in a residential tower block above the sixth floor, it is possible that you may lose water pressure or supply as the pumping systems will fail during a power cut. This means that as well as not being able to get water from a tap, you will also not be able to flush your toilet.

Severe cold weather and snow

Bins and recycling

We will try and keep to scheduled collections where it is safe to do so, but the severe weather have made many collections difficult. we update a map of known missed streets daily.

If your bin hasn’t been collected, please leave it out and it will be picked up as soon as it is safe to do so. If your recycling box/recycling box lid/ food caddy/ refuse bin has gone missing in the snow, you can order a new one online  (or by calling 020 8726 6200).

Clearing snow

You can find information about how to clear snow from a road, path or cycleway here (the snow code) on the Met Office website.

Frozen pipes

If you are a Council tenant, due to the severe weather conditions, there is exceptional demand on the repairs service. Many of the issues relate to frozen condense pipes, you can find advice and help on our housing repairs pages.

Gritting

You can find information on gritting (including our routes and locations of grit bins) here.

Libraries

Libraries may have shorter opening hours - please call before visiting and you can also find more information here. You will not be expected to pay fines on overdue items if a library has had to close due to snow. If the library is open but you cannot get to it due to snow, you can renew your library books online. You can also ring the library to renew or visit another Croydon library to return your books if it is easier for you.

Parking

If there is snow on the ground and road markings cannot be seen then no penalty charge notice (PCN) would be issued. If your vehicle is issued a PCN whilst there is snow, you have the right to appeal. If you can’t get to Access Croydon to renew your parking permit, you can now renew or apply for a parking permit online at parking permits services.

Schools

For the latest information on all schools in the borough, please check your school's social media accounts, visit the OpenCheck website, or contact the school directly. OpenCheck is provided through the London Grid for Learning and is updated by schools themselves.