During and after a flood

Floods can be very dangerous - if you experience flooding, make sure to protect yourself before your property!

If flooding poses a risk to life, get to a safe place and call the emergency services on 999.

As the lead authority for the borough, all instances of surface water, groundwater or ordinary watercourse flooding must be reported to us.

You can also follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook where, in event of flooding in the borough, we will post regular updates and messages.

Key flooding messages:

• Listen to the local news and to the emergency services who will advise if evacuation is necessary.
• If possible, check on elderly relatives or neighbours in flooded areas and make sure they are all right.
• Always avoid walking, cycling and playing in or near floodwater. Accidents can happen very quickly in floodwater - six inches of fast flowing water can knock you over.
• Don't try to drive through floodwater - two feet of water will float your car.
• Keep out of the floodwater as it may contain dangers that you cannot see such as manhole covers, tree branches or pollution.
• Don't walk by riverbanks or cross river bridges if possible - they may collapse in extreme situations or you may be swept off by large waves.
• Please do not lift manhole covers to get rid of water. This can cause problems further down the system.
• Don't dump rubbish into ditches as this may end up blocking trash screens.
• Don't sweep rubbish and leaves into gullies/drains and this blocks them.

Please do not clear trash screens. This is highly dangerous and should only ever be carried out by trained professionals. If you think a trash screen needs clearing please report it

Sandbags

It is a property or business owner’s responsibility to protect their premises from flooding. Sandbags are often used as a way of protecting property from flood water. The council does not provide sandbags in the event of flooding. Sandbags are readily available from builder’s merchants. 

For other key information and contact details to help during a flood visit the GOV.uk website - flood pages.

Flooding and health

Flooding presents a number of risks to health. Read the Public Health England advice on what to do during and after a flood.