When my business flooded I wasn’t sure who to call or what route to take and as unfortunately flooding seems to be becoming part and parcel of our lives, and an added stress to business who may be affected, I though we might be able to use this advice.

It’s something that we can do nothing about and some will never experience it while others may be unfortunate enough to have multiple experiences of it

The below is taken from advice issued by Natural Resources Wales

Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru / Llifogydd (naturalresourceswales.gov.uk)

Natural Resources Wales / Flooding

Spotlight – What to do in a flood.

This is based on a domestic scenario but can be very easily changed to a business setting.

Don’t wait for bad weather to think about what you would do if it happened to you.

Knowing what you would do if your property is about to flood can help you to take action in an emergency. Especially as flooding can happen really quickly. However, if the worst does happen, here is some advice about what to do if your property is about to flood or is already flooding.

• Get your flood kit
• Prepare to move people and pets in your property to a safe place
• Turn off gas, electricity, and water. Do not touch plugs and other sources of electricity when standing in flood water
• Help stop water entering your property
  • Put flood gates and other protection equipment in place
  • Check pumps and other permanently fixed protection equipment
  • Block water entering through doors and windows with pillowcases or plastic bags filled with soil or heavy objects
  • Cover airbricks and vents with plastic covers, cloths or towels
  • Block sinks, baths and toilets and weigh down with heavy objects
  • Unplug washing machines and dishwashers and disconnect them from the water supply
  • Block water inlet pipes with towels or cloths
• Reduce damage if water does enter your property
  • Move important, sentimental and valuable items to a higher place (upstairs, on top of furniture or shelves) or put in waterproof storage containers
  • Move rugs and lightweight items of furniture
  • Throw curtains over the rail out of reach of flood water
  • Lift items you can’t move with bricks or a pallet and cover the bottom with plastic
  • Empty and move contents from kitchen base units and other low storage cupboards, to worksurface level or higher if possible
  • Consider moving contents from your fridge or freezer to a higher place
• Move your car to higher ground or outside the flood risk area
• Move or weigh down any large or loose items outside or in your garden

You can find more practical information and advice on how to prepare for flooding and what to do in a flood on our website. This includes a personal flood plan template for your home.

More information is also available from the 24/7 service Floodline. Call: 0345 988 1188 Type talk: 0345 602 6340

There area also paper versions of advice that we can email or post out to you.

Get in touch if you’d like more information befloodready@naturalresources.wales

You can visit naturalresources.wales/flooding for advice and information or please feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions.

We will try to answer any queries you may have. If your query needs to be answered by one of our partners, we will do our best to get those answers for you but please bear with us, as there may be a delay. Answers will be based on information available to date, as investigations continue.

It’s also a great help if you can provide us with information so we can improve our own understanding of flooding events, and our Flood Warning Service for the future. For example:

• Do you have dated photos with specific locations taken during or after the flooding, that you would be willing to share?
• Were there any actions from your flood plan, where you realised that you needed to make changes? Would you be willing to share anything you’ve learnt?

Get in touch

There are a number of organisations involved in managing and responding to flooding across Wales.

If you need to report a flood or risk of flooding, you should report the incident to:

• Natural Resources Wales if it is from
  • a main river
  • the sea
  • within an Internal Drainage District
  • an unknown source

Call 24/7 incident line 0300 065 3000 or report online at naturalresources.wales/reportit

• your local authority if it is from
  • surface water
  • an ordinary watercourse (e.g. stream, brook, non-main river)
  • roads including blocked drains
• your water company if it is from
  • water mains
  • sewers
• Traffic Wales if it is from
  • motorways and trunk roads

            Call 0300 123 1213 or report online at traffic.wales

RM Podcast Launch.

NRW has launched a 10-part podcast mini-series focused on how it manages flood risk in Wales against the backdrop of a changing climate.     If you’ve ever wanted to go behind the scenes of our Flood Forecasting team or understand how the Flood Warning and Informing teams work, this is a great opportunity to hear directly from them about their day to day work to forecast flooding and ensure that people receive warnings and alerts.

The podcast series is available from all major podcast providers, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and more. Just search for Cyfoeth: The Natural Resources Wales Environment Podcast to listen.