The Environment Agency website has advice for households on:
- making a personal flood plan
- preparing your property for flooding
- adaptations to homes to reduce interior damage from floodwater (see below)
- buying flood protection products
The Environment Agency also has advice on preparing a flood plan for your business.
Adaptations to your property that will reduce interior damage from floodwater
The Environment Agency recommends adaptations to houses at risk of flooding, to reduce interior damage from flood water, and make drying out and cleaning up quicker and easier:
- Shelving: keep irreplaceable or valuable items on high mounted shelves
- Home entertainment: fix your audio-visual equipment such as your TV and hi-fi to the wall, about 1.5 metres above floor level
- Skirting: fit water-resistant skirting boards or varnish wooden ones
- Walls: use horizontal plasterboard or lime-based plaster to dry-line, instead of gypsum. Get a special draining system for cavity walls
- Floors: lay tiles with rugs rather than fitted carpets
- Internal doors: fit synthetic or waxed doors, or make sure wooden doors are easy to remove before a flood
- External doors and windows: install synthetic or waxed windows and doors, or varnish wooden ones
- Kitchen and bathroom: use water-resistant materials such as stainless steel, plastic or solid wood rather than chipboard. Where possible raise fridges and other appliances on plinths
- Electricals: raise electrical sockets, fuse boxes, controls and wiring to at least 1.5 metres above floor level. If re-wiring, bring cables down the wall to the raised sockets so cabling isn’t affected by flood water
- Large items: buy extra large, sealable bags that you can use to protect items that are difficult to move such as electrical goods and sofas
If you are having repairs to your house after flood damage, builders can put these measures in place as part of the repairs – instead of just putting things back the way they were before.