Information and advice regarding flooding.

If there is an immediate risk to life, please call the emergency services on 999.

Be prepared

If you live in areas prone to flooding or believe flooding is possible, it helps to be prepared.

Sign up to the Environment Agency flood alerts

These alerts will notify you about possible flooding in the area. There are three levels:

  • Flood alert
  • Flood warning
  • Severe flood warning

The Environment Agency also has more information to help be prepared for flooding.

Flooding from sewers

Contact Severn Trent Water online, see link at bottom of page or call 0800 783 4444. To assist them please have your postcode ready and record the incident number given to you. This may enable you to track your enquiry.

Flooding on roads

Contact Leicestershire County Council Highways online using the link at the bottom of the page or phone 0116 305 0001. The problem may be drainage-related or influenced by the capacity of Severn Trent Water Limited’s sewers serving the highway drains.

Protecting your home from flooding 

It is your responsibility to protect your home in the first instance. If you think that your home is at risk of flooding you need to protect your home with suitable flood defence products. More details on how you can protect your home may be found in your home insurance policy.

The National Flood Forum, is a charity set up to support those affected by flooding. They have a list of available flood protection products on their blue pages

Sandbags

We only have a limited amount of sandbags and they will only be issued to:

  • protect life, critical infrastructure and buildings, eg hospitals and substations
  • protect elderly, disabled and vulnerable residents
  • support the emergency services

We will not issue them to protect gardens and outbuildings and we do not have a statutory duty to provide residents with sandbags.

Please bear in mind that sandbags only provide limited protection against flooding and are most effective before flooding takes place.

It is also difficult to transport them when floods occur if roads are closed and we also only have a limited number of vehicles to transport them.

If you believe your property is at imminent risk of being flooded and want to request sandbags, please call 01509 263151 (Monday to Friday 9.30am to 4.00pm) or 01509 634567 (out on hours).

Other flood defences

If you know your property is prone to flooding, you may want to consider investing in other flood defence products. Blue Pages is the UK’s leading independent flood directory which is run by the National Flood Forum charity.

Report a flood

Depending on what has caused the flood you will need to contact different organisations. More information is available on the Leicestershire County Council website. The county council is the Lead Local Flood Authority.

Travel

Check before you travel – find live travel updates online, by listening to local radio or by following Area Traffic Control on Twitter.

Please do not to drive through flood water.

Charnwood Borough Council’s responsibilities

We have a responsibility to ensure watercourses on our land are flowing freely. We have a maintenance schedule to ensure that happens.

Leicestershire County Council is responsible for maintaining road gullies and brooks on its own land. Landowners also have a duty to ensure watercourses on their land are flowing freely. If you wish to report an issue, please visit the Leicestershire County Council website.

The Environment Agency is responsible for the maintenance of main rivers which are usually large rivers and streams such as Sileby Brook and Wood Brook in Loughborough.

Housing needs

If you need assistance with your housing situation, please contact our housing needs team on 01509 634567 or 0333 200 8811.

Refuse and recycling

If you have any issues with the refuse and recycling service, please report them via the website.

Council tax

To discuss any council tax issues, please call 03456 091258, visit www.charnwood.gov.uk/counciltax or email council.tax@charnwood.gov.uk.

Email alerts from the council

To stay in touch with Charnwood Borough Council news, including disruptions to services, sign up to our email alerts, visit www.charnwood.gov.uk/alerts

Other handy sources of information

Last updated: Wed 23rd November, 2022 @ 09:23