Being prepared and resilient to flooding

Weather:

UK weather warnings - Met Office. An accessible version is also available - UK weather warnings - Met Office.

(Advice to help you deal with severe weather - Advice - Met Office)

Flooding:

Check for flooding - GOV.UK. This service allows you to search by location to check:

• current flood warnings or alerts
• river, sea, groundwater and rainfall levels
• flood risk in the next 5 days

If your home or business is at risk of flooding (Check the long term flood risk for an area in England - GOV.UK and Aurora), it's a good idea to make a flood plan, even if you've never flooded before. 

This will ensure that if you receive a flood warning, you'll know what actions to take to best keep you, your family and your belongings safe. By considering these actions in advance, not only will you be better prepared to respond in an emergency, but you will be better equipped to recover from it in the long-term. 

Personal flood plan - GOV.UK - This is a link to two documents, both called 'Personal Flood Plan':

The first, the HTML file, is a breakdown of the below checklist - Flood Plan components:

1.    Before a flood

2.    Getting help

3.    Prepare a flood kit

4.    Immediately before a flood

5.    When a flood happens

6.    After a flood

The second, the PDF file, is an empty flood plan template, that you can print off and fill out (an accessible version is also available).

To tailor the above personal flood plan to your business, see Prepare your business for flooding - GOV.UK.

Additionally, Resilico is a very useful app for all things flood resilience/preparedness. It allows you to create a personal flood plan on your mobile devices, stay aware of flood warnings/alerts and weather warnings in locations of your choosing, and much more!

Even if you have never been flooded, make sure that you are adequately covered for damage from flooding. This will normally include both buildings and contents cover for private householders, which may need to be acquired together or separately. If you live in rented accommodation your landlord will probably handle the buildings cover.

Make sure to ask your insurance company if they are part of the 'Build back better' scheme - Build Back Better | Property Flood Resilience (PFR) Funding | Flood RE:

 - 'Build Back Better offers householders the chance to install property flood resilience measures up to the value of £10,000 when repairing their properties after a flood. This way the next time the area floods, their home will be better prepared to keep as much of the water out as possible.  Measures can also be installed so that when water does enter it is easier, quicker and safer for families to clean up and move back in – often in a number of days rather than many months.'

If you make changes to your property so it's more resilient to flooding make sure you let your insurance company know as this might result in a reduction in excess charges or premiums, depending on your insurer.

For help with acquiring flood insurance see the below links:

• What is Flood Re? | About The Flood Re Scheme and also Participating Flood Re Insurers | View Our Insurers List | Flood Re
• Prepare for flooding: Get insurance - GOV.UK
• Floods | Flooding | What shall I do when there's a flood? | ABI 
• Buildings/Contents: Flood Zone Brokers – BIBA - This British Insurance Brokers' Association (BIBA) tool, may be of use for residential and/or commercial property owners.

Following a flood, contact your insurance broker or company as soon as possible to begin your claim. You should check with your insurance company what is covered by your household/building and contents policy (these may be a single or separate policies) and enquire whether it covers "extra" costs, such as costs of temporary accommodation, drying apparatus, and electricity/gas inspections. Do not throw anything away or undertake work until you have made contact with your insurance broker or company as it may prejudice your claim and before moving/repairing anything take photographs or video footage of all damage if possible and mark the water levels on the walls for the reference of the insurers.

To read stories of peoples experiences with insurance etc. post flood and how they have successfully adapted their properties (and more) off the back of it, see - Property Flood Resilience free eBook - Flood Mary (we recommend downloading and opening the document at the bottom of the page, then pressing the 'Ctrl' and 'F' keys at the same time, and searching for 'insurance' by typing in the pop-up bar).

Useful information and guides on what to do following being flooded:

• What to do after a flood - GOV.UK
• CIRIA: Repair and restoration of buildings following floods (See 'What to do >' on left)
• Recovering from a flood | ABI 
• Householder's guide to Flood Recovery - Flood Mary
• Polygon - Essential Guide To Flood Planning & Preparation
• Understand basic flood recovery procedures - BDMA (British Damage Management Association) - BDMA (British Damage Management Association)
• Flood Damage Repair | Post-Event Advice for Homeowners