Protecting Your Home Against Flooding

Every year, thousands of homes in the UK suffer severe flood damage as heavy rain causes river banks to burst and flash floods to sweep through vulnerable towns and cities.

Not only does this cause untold distress to those affected, but insurance companies pay out billions of pounds to cover repairs and replacement of damaged goods, and this, in turn, pushes up the price of insurance — meaning householders are effectively paying twice for something that wasn’t their fault.

How to protect you home against flooding

Staying vigilant and alert to the risks and dangers of flooding is the key to protecting your home from flooding, so always check for weather and flood warnings in your area, particularly in spring and autumn. Make sure you regularly visit the Environment Agency website and sign up for its flood alert service.

Here’s what else you need to do:

· Pack an emergency flood kit — this is something to do right away before any flood warnings are issued. So gather up all of your insurance documents and place them in a waterproof container along with a torch, receipts for valuables, passports, a camera, warm and waterproof clothing. Make sure your phone is always as fully charged as possible.

It’s worth checking your insurance documents while you’re at it, to make sure both your building and its contents are fully covered, if you’re not, make sure you make the necessary amendments to your policy.

· Have an emergency plan — make sure everyone in the house is fully aware of what to do should the house start to flood, and store as many valuable and sentimental items as possible upstairs.

· Be ready to cut the power — make sure everyone in the house knows where the gas, electricity and water mains are and how to turn them all off. As water floods in through lower level doors, windows and airbricks, it can damage gas piping and plumbing equipment and cause further disaster.

· Check on your neighbours — if flooding is imminent, check on your neighbours, particularly any vulnerable ones, to make sure they’re prepared.

· Check on your pets — if a storm is on its way, get all pets indoors and keep them safe inside, preferably upstairs.

· Secure your home — hopefully, your windows and doors will all have flood proof seals, but shore them up with sandbags and cover up any air bricks. You can buy sandbags from Amazon and air bricks from Wickes. Also, make sure any keyholes and letterboxes are sealed up. If you’re advised by authorities to leave your property, make sure it is fully locked up and as secure as possible.

Preparation is the key to protecting your home from flooding and storm damage, and this can start well before there is even a threat of flooding.

If you haven’t already done so, consider replacing carpets in downstairs rooms with laminate flooring if possible, and move any power points and plug sockets higher up the wall.

If you’ve been unfortunate enough to suffer a flood, you might need to invest in a submersible pump to help drain the water, check out a supplier such as Colglo

Make sure all outbuildings, fences, roof-tiles and any other external fixtures are secure and in a good state of repair.