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Flood Preparation and Management for Councils and Community Groups

Quick “How To” Prepare

  • Check your flood risk for your parish, both fluvial and pluvial
  • Sign up for flood warnings
  • Develop your knowledge base: see list of useful links
  • Gather a working party of interested residents
  • Inform and prepare your residents with guidance for householders and businesses/community facilities
  • Advertise and encourage take-up of free training from Communities Prepared
  • Set up a “flood action day” with sandbags and/or gauge interest in surface water pumps etc
  • Prepare (or update) a Community Emergency Plan
  • Encourage a buddy/street warden system or WhatsApp group

Reminders During a Flood Event:

Communicate, communicate, communicate

  • Remind residents to help to prevent combined sewer overflows by altering your actions during flood events to discharge less water into drains
  • Remind residents to exercise caution when driving through flood water, for themselves and for other properties
  • Remind residents to consider unnecessary journeys or lift share
  • Remind residents to think forward in emergencies (e.g. schools closing, pets at home) for alternate routes and pick-up points, try Families Prepared training
  • If you are running through a Community Emergency Plan, keep your residents advised of action being taken and ask them to be eyes and ears
  • Appoint a lead comms person for Facebook/social groups to
    • communicate actions taken and keep a log if possible
    • advise of latest on travel and road closures, accident, business/school closures
  • Top tip: follow up with a survey whilst events are still fresh to help inform future planning and response

Quick “How To” Manage/Prevent

  • Use Flood Action Week (dates to be confirmed) to be Flood Aware: Plan and Prepare
  • Create or support a Flood Action Group, see section below
  • Consider prevention measures, including nature based solutions, drains clearance, see Slow the Flow for Work/school/public spaces
  • Promote take up of household measures: leaky water butts, rain gardens, permeable surfaces, green roof, see “Slow the Flow” at Home
  • Raise awareness of householder responsibility on wet wipes/kitchen roll/sanitary products and other food/paint/etc down the drains, see UnBlocktober and drainage habits survey
  • Be informed on and communicate about Local Authority maintenance and responsibilities, e.g. WCC and drains clearance
  • Be informed how your council and community can “do it yourselves”, see Great Alne Drain Guardians
  • Look at training volunteers or employing a lengthsman, see Warwickshire County Council
  • Be informed on invasive non-native plant species and ensure appropriate response is taken (e.g. Environment Agency, floating pennywort, Himalayan Balsam, Japanese Knotweed etc )
  • Many rural properties use independent septic tanks and sewage processing systems; public health risks and ground contamination should be considered.

Why nature-based solutions are key

Suggestions for actions that use the power of nature to address societal challenges and provide benefits for people and the environment included:

  • Green spaces in urban areas to mitigate urban heat island effect, improve air quality and provide recreation opportunities e.g. parks, urban forests, green roofs and walls, etc.
  • Tree planting to mitigate heat, absorb carbon and improve air quality.
  • Natural water storage solutions to help prevent droughts and floods and support biodiversity e.g. SuDs, scrapes, swales, rain gardens, etc.
  • Wetland restoration to provide natural buffer against floods, improve water quality through filtration and support biodiversity.

How individuals can help at household level

Residents can help to reduce strain on emergency services by preparing at household level for floods, before during and after. Although not all properties are directly affected by flooding, more households will be indirectly impacted with road, school and businesses closures.

Residents can also take action at home to help prevent flooding in the first place.  Planting, water butts and permeable surfaces help to “slow the flow” and create a more climate resilient landscape. (Reminder needed to reduce loads on drains and our combined sewers)

Download the presentation: Climate Adaptation in Warwickshire 25 November 2024

Further reading: Warwickshire Resilience Forum- What is the risk of flooding to Warwickshire

What can we do to prepare?

To find out if you are at risk, Government guidance suggests:

Household guidance:

Business guidance:

Community Guidance:

Top tip: Let the Environment Agency know when you’ve completed your flood plan by calling Floodline on 0345 988 1188

Training: Get Flood-ready

A Free training is available from the Communities Prepared website.

Setting up a Flood Action Group

Ten steps to success, based on A Guide to Forming a Flood Group from The Flood Hub:

  • Gather committed residents and support
  • Choose a name and clarify purpose
  • Set clear aims & objectives
  • Assign roles and meet regularly
  • Engage in community awareness and planning activity
  • Formalise (constitution, funding, insurance) if needed
  • Partner with RMAs and agencies
  • Monitor, log issues, and maintain communication
  • Act during flood events with wardens and planned responses
  • Have a debrief meeting to review, learn and adapt if necessary

Sustainable Drainage Systems

From the Flood Hub: Download the toolkit.

Sustainable drainage systems, or ‘SuDS’, are ways of managing surface water locally by mimicking how water naturally drains through the environment. Unlike traditional drainage networks which rely on underground pipes and sewers, SuDS slow the flow of water and allow it to soak into the ground, be stored, or used by vegetation.

Sustainable drainage systems refer to a wide range of features that manage surface water in different ways. These can include rain gardens, swales, green roofs, permeable paving, detention basins, and more. SuDS can be integrated into gardens, housing developments, roadsides, and public spaces.

Local examples

  • Stratford District Council: rainwater harvesting
  • Warwick District Council: rain gardens

Learning resources from a recent Ashden Adaptation Network webinar include:

What if we don’t own land?

Residents can all help to adapt/alleviate, through

  • Tree and hedge planting
  • Rain gardens
  • Leaky water butts
  • Rainwater harvesting
  • Permeable surfaces

Your community group can help by:

  • Seeking external funding for projects
  • Collating information for residents and creating a comms pack
  • Organising public space SuDS planting
  • Creating a flood warden network and comms group
  • Regular litter picks to ensure drains kept clear, prevent pollution
  • Invasive species control e.g. balsam bashing

Your council can help by:

  • Responding to planning applications, sharing local knowledge of flood risk and requesting implementation of SuDS where applicable.
  • Calling multi-agency meetings, do not accept developers “better than before”, negotiate for the “best for our community”
  • Funding a community flood tool shed, equipment and “Road Closed” signage.
  • Providing public liability insurance for organised events

Case studies

  • Shipston Flood Action Group
  • Great Alne Drain Guardians
  • Severn Trent water butts trial
  • Snitterfield Trash Screens (and Twitter feed)

Local flood groups

National Resources:

The Flood Hub has been designed to be a one stop shop for flood information and resources to support householders, businesses and communities across the North West in becoming more flood resilient. Multiple sources of relevant guidance are included in a Knowledge Hub to give an overview of flood resilience and its many related topics.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Flooding and Flooded Communities aims to discuss further flood prevention across the UK to minimise the impact of flooding on the public and businesses. The APPG aims to represent flooded communities, provide a forum for debate, access to specialist information, and help shape future policy to support those most impacted by flooding. The National Flood Forum provides the secretariat for these meetings. Read the minutes

National Flood Forum: Charity to help, support and represent people at risk of flooding

Communities Prepared: Equips Community Emergency Volunteers (CEV) and Flood Warden groups with the knowledge and confidence to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a range of emergencies, from flooding and severe weather incidents to pandemics.

National Association of Local Councils: Emergency Planning Parish and town councils can play a key role in supporting and coordinating local efforts.

Flood Re: Helps property owners at risk of flooding find affordable home insurance

Building Research Establishment: Flood Resilient Repair House

DEFRA: Avon Warwickshire Management Catchment

Environment Agency Flood Blog

Slow the Flow: Charity working to advance the education of the public in Natural Flood Management, Sustainable Drainage Systems and other renewable methods of managing the environment

Severn Trent: Your Guide to Sewer Flooding

Local Organisations:

Warwickshire County Council: Lead Local Flood Authority

Warwickshire Resilience Forum: Partnership of public, private, and voluntary sector organisations, including Warwickshire’s emergency services, Warwickshire County Council, and the county’s five Borough and District Councils.

CSW Resilience: Ensure Coventry, Solihull & Warwickshire Councils can respond to emergencies that occur with their area.

Canals & Rivers Trust: Invasive species

Warwickshire Wildlife Trust: Natural Flood Management

Additional resources:

NALC and ACRE launch flood resilience survey for parish and town councils

NALC blog: Stradford Parish Council: Building Stradbroke’s Community Emergency Response

Sustainable Warwickshire podcast: Flooding in Warwickshire: How Communities Can Prepare and Respond

Snitterfield Culvert Bypass Scheme

Nottinghamshire Community Resilience: Community Emergency Plan (helps to identify skills and vulnerable register) and corresponding guidance – recommended by NALC

Central Bedfordshire: Community Flood Kit Guidance

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