Flood Warnings inform the public about an imminent risk of flooding to their home or business and help people make decisions about how to respond.
There are 3 types of message, Flood Alert, Flood Warning and Severe Flood Warning. Each can be triggered by particular weather or river conditions which cause flooding.
The Environment Agency provides this service across flood warning areas, each of which represents a discrete geographical area where a community is at risk of flooding.
In Boston, a new flood warning area has been created to cover the South Forty Foot Drain. This means 139 properties are able to sign up to the free service and they will be notified when river levels are high and when they need to act.
Between Boston and Lincoln, 5 flood warning areas that cover the River Witham have been split into 21 new ones. The improvements mean the Environment Agency can inform people of overtopping and breach risk. Previously they were only alerted to high river levels. These changes will benefit 380 additional properties and 11,500 original properties.
In Market Rasen and Middle Rasen, 331 additional properties have been added to the flood warning area that covers the River Rase from Market Rasen to Bishopbridge and the River Ancholme down to Bishopbridge.
In Grantham, the River Witham Flood Warning area has been split to ensure better accuracy. Data from the January flooding showed that people were receiving Flood Warnings but then were not impacted by flooding, meaning they were unnecessarily disturbed. 90 properties close to the river remain unchanged. 850 have been moved to a new flood warning area labelled as ‘Wider area at risk from the River Witham in Grantham’.
These improvements help the Environment Agency’s Flood Warning Service to be as timely and as accurate as possible. The changes also mean less chance of inaccurate warnings to those less likely to be affected.
David Manby, Flood Resilience Team Leader, at the Environment Agency said:
We have been working hard to improve the accuracy and the reach of our Flood Warning Service to better protect people. These changes have been made since the January flooding. We make sure we learn from every incident and improve our flood modelling. To benefit, residents must make sure they are signed up to our free Flood Warning Service here: https://www.gov.uk/sign-up-for-flood-warnings. If you are already signed up you don’t need to take any action.
Residents are encouraged to prepare if they receive a Flood Alert. This could mean packing a bag with medicines, insurance documents and anything else they wouldn’t want to lose if flooding were to take place. A Flood Warning calls on people to act now, which means turning off gas, water and electricity, and moving family and pets to safety. A Severe Flood warning means there is a risk to life and that you are in immediate danger so you must follow advice from emergency services.
To check if your home is in a flood warning area visit: Check for flooding – GOV.UK
To sign up to the Flood Warning Service, the Environment Agency is encouraging people to register directly by calling Floodline on 0345 988 1188, or visit Sign up for flood warnings – GOV.UK where you can register yourself or vulnerable family members/friends.
Notes to editor
The Environment Agency has also teamed up with Hello Lampost to make it easier for the public to get information about what they should do to prepare for a flood. Members of the public are invited to ask their questions here:
Market Rasen
Lower Witham
North East Lincolnshire
