Flooding

Reporting a flood

Leicestershire County Council is the lead flood agency for the county and have a wealth on information about flooding and how to report it on their flooding webpage.

You can also go direct to their flood report form.

Preparing for a flood

Whilst it’s not possible to remove all risk of flooding, there are some actions that you can take to help protect your property and those who live there:

• Sign up for flood warnings
• Sign up to weather warnings
• Check the long term flood risk to understand how likely it is that a place could flood in the future, what factors could contribute to future flooding and where to get information about managing your flood risk.

Protecting your home from flooding

It is your responsibility to protect your home in the first instance. There is lots of useful advice online of how to be prepared and have a robust flood plan in place.

If you think that your home is at risk of flooding and believe you need to protect your home with sandbags, it is a good idea to buy some from DIY outlets ready to use in case of a flood.

Remember though, sandbags are only a short term fix and may not be appropriate or effective in some flood risk circumstances.

Check your household building or contents insurance covers flooding – FloodRe may be able to help if you need support.

Check your home is ready

• Check your home and garden drains - are there leaves or other waste trapped in there? This could stop rainwater from draining away, so make sure you pull anything out.
• Check your flood protection equipment – ensure that any flood defences are working properly and ready for use.
• Drain your water butt – before wet weather comes, make space in your water butt by using water in the garden or to wash the car. Creating more room will help prevent too much rain getting into the sewers at once.
• Make sure you know how to turn off your water, gas and electricity supply.
• Prepare a flood kit in case you need to leave your home.

Council sand and bags

We keep a limited amount of sand and bags to help protect houses and critical council infrastructure in emergency situations. We do not supply these to protect other property such as gardens/ garages/ outbuildings.

When flood warnings are in place, the sand and bags are available on a first come first served basis at our depot off Wigston Rd, Oadby, Leicester. LE2 5JE. Residents are advised to bring a spade/shovel to fill the bags.

Residents with properties susceptible to flooding are strongly advised to have preparations and plans in place for flooding and not to rely on last minute supplies of sandbags.

Useful contacts:

• For general advice, call the Environment Agency’s 24-hour flood hotline on 0345 988 1188.
• The National Flood Forum has a helpline that provides general support before, during and after a flood, including home resilience and insurance. Contact the charity on 01299 403 055.