In our latest blog post, Senior Community Development Officer, Rachael Brown, shares her knowledge on flooding, helping you understand the risks it poses.
Unfortunately, flooding is in the news again and is unlikely to go away in the long term. With increasingly wetter winters and heavier rainfall events, it is important to understand the types of flooding which could affect you and the risk level to yourself and those you care about.
Types of flooding
- Rivers (Fluvial): These floods are caused when heavy rainfall, snow melt or blockages make water levels in a river rise, causing it to flow out of its channel. Most rivers have this potential.
- Surface Water (Pluvial): This flooding occurs when the ground or drains cannot soak up and transport away rainwater. Hence a property can be at risk of flooding even when it is not near a river. Some Cambridgeshire locations are known “wet spots” and are prone to surface water flooding e.g. areas of Cambridge, Huntingdon, March, Histon, St Neots, Girton and Impington.
In Cambridgeshire, considered a landlocked area, coastal flooding is not seen as an issue but tidal surges (high water level rises due to storms, higher than normal astronomical tides) up the River Nene and/or Great Ouse can cause floods, with the potential of groundwater flooding (heavy rainfall seeping into the ground, causing springs to overflow), particularly in the south of the county. So, what should you do?
Check your long-term flood risk
Property flood risk levels can be checked on the Environment Agency’s Check Your Long-Term Flood Risk website. Search by postcode or by using the map, a map search shows the risk to each property from river and surface water flooding in detail. Warning – you have to zoom in on the map to get the details to show, as initially it will appear to be blank. It is also possible to request a flooding history of your property from the EA, the EA may charge for this and they may not have all the relevant data for the area.
It is not a good idea to base the flood risk level of a property on exclusively what Flood Zone it is in; Flood Zones do not consider surface water, ground or reservoir flooding, nor do they consider predicted sea level rises. A Flood Zone is a planning term used for deciding where development should go, this EA website explains this further and can be used to find the Flood Zone of a property if interested.
Be aware of your immediate flood risk
The EA Check for Flooding service gives the current flooding situation in an area, including the flood warnings in place and a map to see where flooding is predicted or occurring. Anybody can sign up to the EA Flood Alert system to receive warnings by phone, email or text (or call Floodline on 0345 988 1188). Residents in medium or high flood risk areas should definitely do so.
Report floods
A flood should be reported to the organisation/agency responsible for it – a list can be found here.
Contact a local flood group
Locations which frequently flood may have help available through a local flood group. These groups vary in activities, but most can give information about make sure at-risk residents know about flood warnings. A list of Cambridgeshire Community Flood Groups can be found here.
Other sources of help and information
Cambridgeshire County Council Flood and Water: This is the main website with all the relevant links.
Cambridgeshire Surface Water Management Plans: Detailed plans for individual “wet spots” across the county.
Cambridgeshire County Council Flood and Water Newsletter (July 24): Latest news, including sign up ability to receive future newsletters.
National Flood Forum: A charity supporting those at risk from flooding.
Flood RE: Joint government and insurance company scheme to offer house insurance to high-risk locations.
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