Start preparing today before a flood happens. Follow these simple steps:
- Check your insurance cover
- Know how to turn off your gas, electricity and water mains supplies
- Prepare a flood kit of essential items - water, blanket, torch etc.
- Know who to contact and how
- Think about what you can move out now
- Think about what you would want to move to safety during a flood
For a detailed explanation of how to carry out these steps read the Environment Agency advice - before a flood.
How to protect your home
Use the following methods to help minimise flood damage to your home:
- Use plastic covers to seal airbricks
- Fix floodboards to window and door frames
- Lay ceramic tiles on your ground floor and use rugs instead of fitted carpets
- Raise the height of electrical sockets to 1.5 metres above ground floor level
- Use lime plaster instead of gypsum on walls
- Fit stainless steel or plastic kitchens instead of chipboard ones
- Position any main parts of a heating ventilation system, like a boiler, upstairs
- Fit non-return valves to all drains and water inlet pipes
- Replace wooden window frames and doors with synthetic ones
Useful websites
The Environment Agency and other bodies publish advice on their individual websites:
See our Borough Alert page for information about flooding and other emergencies in the Borough.
