Flooding advice
If you have a problem or are seeking assistance on a flooding or drainage issue then there are five statutory organisations who may be able to help you.
Unfortunately the law and operational activities undertaken by these organisations is not yet properly integrated for flooding and drainage issues. However this section of the site seeks to assist you to find the appropriate organisation to contact.
In Somerset the five organisations with flooding and drainage interests are
- Environment Agency
- Local district council or unitary authority
- Local drainage board
- Wessex Water
County Council Highways Dept if your local council is a district council If you have heard of the possibility of heavy rain and need to find out if there is a flood warning in force for your area then please look at the Environment Agency's website via the link on this page or call the Environment Agency. It is only the authority who can provide flood warnings although they are not yet able to provide warnings for every area.
If you are seeking general information about a watercourse (large or small) and who might maintain or manage it, firstly there may be information on this website that helps you to identify the organisation to approach. If it is still not clear then a call to the Environment Agency local office or this Consortium should provide access to staff who will be able to help.
In emergencies or out of office hours the Environment Agency and the local water company (in this areas it is Wessex Water) have the best capability to deal with problems or reports of flooding with their 24 hour incident rooms. It is helpful to report flooding incidents as it helps the authorities concerned to build up a proper picture of flooding, to understand why it has occurred and to justify spending money to carry out improvements.
Seeking assistance to stop flooding of your house in a flood event is usually unsuccessful. The best way to reduce one's risk of flooding is to be prepared. There is not much in the way of temporary work that will stop flooding in an event. Sandbags are ineffective except to divert shallow depths of running floodwater. Look at the Environment Agency's website as they have lots of information about products that can be installed and procedures to follow. All of which will help to reduce damage to your property or belongings if thought about in advance.
When there is flooding on a public highway that occurs as a result of heavy local rainfall then it may have been caused by blocked or inadequate road drainage or sewers that are overloaded. Flooding from sewers will usually have the greatest impact on properties and a call to the local water company is the best start. Any problems or improvements required will be examined and promoted by the water company or County Council (or Unitary Authority if there is no County Council in your area).
Road flooding that occurs as a result of water overtopping the banks of a river or rhyne is difficult to prevent and although the County Council may provide warning signs during the flood event, they would usually have to work with the Environment Agency to undertake improvements.
Flooding that is overtopping the banks of rivers, watercourses or rhynes will be matter for the Environment Agency, the Drainage Board or the District Council. If it is a river or a larger watercourse like the Rivers Parrett, Tone, Brue, Axe or Yeo they are classified as Main Rivers and incidents should be directed to the Environment Agency as a start. If it is a rhyne or smaller watercourse and it is on the floodplains of the Somerset Levels and Moors then call the Drainage Board. If it is a smaller watercourse outside of the Somerset Moors and Levels call the District Council.
Flooding incidents out of hours should be reported to the Environment Agency on 0800 807060
Information about flooding contact Floodline: 0845 988 1188 (24 hour)
