READ TO FIND OUT

AM I AT RISKOF FLOODING?

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Over 5.5 million prop-erties in England and Wales are at risk of flood-ing from rivers, the sea or surface water. That’s one in six, which means there’s a high chance one of these properties is your home or business.So how do floods form? Flooded areas of land usu-ally start off as very dry land. Floods are caused

by heavy rains that pour to much water into riv-ers and other waterways. Making these natural channels unable to carry all the water. Rising water flows over or breaks the banks to the waterways causing the surrounding land to be flooded. Dif-ferent causes of floods can come from masses of snow melting of tidal waves.

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25 % OF BRITISH HOMES ARE

STILL AT RISK OF FLOODING

66% OF FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN VEHICLES

A MERE 2 FEET OF WATER CAN FLOAT A LARGE

VEHICLE AND EVEN A BUS

JUST AN INCH OF WATERCAN CAUSE A COSTLY

DAMAGE TO YOUR PROPERTY

A CAR CAN EASILY BE CARRIED

AWAY BY JUST TWO FEET OF FLOODWATER

IN A HIGH-RISK AREA, YOUR HOME IS

MORE THAN TWICE AS LIKELY TO BE

DAMAGED BY FLOOD THAN BY FIRE

A MERE 2 FEET OF WATER CAN FLOAT A LARGE

VEHICLE AND EVEN A BUS

JUST AN INCH OF WATERCAN CAUSE A COSTLY

DAMAGE TO YOUR PROPERTY

MOST HOMEOWNERS INSURANCES DOES

NOT COVER FLOOD DAMAGE

FLASH FLOODS OFTEN BRING WALLS OF WATER 10 TO 20 FEET HIGH

IN A HIGH-RISK AREA, YOUR HOME IS

MORE THAN TWICE AS LIKELY TO BE

DAMAGED BY FLOOD THAN BY FIRE

FLOODS ARE FLOODS OCCUR IN THE UK EVERY YEAR

SERIOUS ! When many people try to imagine the dangers posed by floodwaters, they tend to think of drowning. People can certainly drown during floods - - there’s no doubt about that. But drowning is not necessar-ily the most common cause of death in a flood. Even if you’re a phenomenal swim-mer, rushing floodwaters pose a danger to you. The sheer force of rushing water can be quite strong; it can knock you off of your feet, toss you around, throw you against ob-jects and disorient you in the process. Es-

pecially strong floodwaters can even push cars and buildings around easily - - a mere 2 feet (61 centimeters) of rushing flood-water can have enough force to wash a car away. In addition to the threats posed to human life, floodwaters are massively de-structive to property. Water pulls every-thing in its path into it, collecting a lot of dirt and debris along the way. So even once the waters have receded, the mud and de-bris left in areas and buildings can create an enormous amount of property damage.

FLOODS ARE Although all flooding is dangerous, flash flooding represents the gravest threat. A flash flood occurs when a sudden, ex-treme amount of water is dumped on an area that can't handle it. Flash floods are particularly dangerous because, by definition, they happen more quick-ly than people are prepared to handle. Taking right actions after the flood has occured is also important.Listen to a radio or television and don’t return home until authorities

indicate it is safe to do so. Remem-ber to help your neighbors who may require special assistance like infants, elderly people, and people with disabilities. These are the only few actions that youcan take, however listening to radio isvery important as it can be the main source for vi-tal information that couldsave your life. Radio can provide you withimportant diections and instructions.

house

Make sure to insure your property as floods can cause lots of damage to your house.Read all the details beforeinsuring your house and see if your insurer covers you from floods and it’’s damage.

Prepare your property for

flooding

Try to keep flood water out

Doors: buy purpose-built flood boards that can be installed when flooding is imminent. You can also raise door thesholds.

Walls and floors: raise damp-proof brick courses. Sealing floors can prevent water rising through the ground.

Drains and pipes: fit

non-return valves to drains and water inlet and outlet pipes.

Shelving: put irre-placeable or valuable items on high-mount-ed shelves.

Home entertainment: fix your audio-visual equipment, for ex-ample your TV and hi-fi, to the wall about 1.5meters above floor level. Phouse

If your home or business is flood-ed it can be costly, not just in terms of money and time but also inconvenience and heartache.

While it’s impossible to completely

flood-proof a property, there are lots of things you can do to reduce the damage flooding can cause.

The key is to act now so you’re pre-pared if there’s a flood in your area.

DONT BE LEFT HOMELESSIT PAYS TO PREPARE FOR FLOODING

WO MUCH WILL

IT COST ?

Making your property resilient to flood-water will limit the distress and dam-age caused by flooding, which means less costly repairs and less time out of your home or business premises.

The cost of purchasing and installing prod-ucts to keep floodwater out of your property will depend on the size of your property and the type of flood you want to protect against.For example, according to the ABI, to pro-tect your property against shallow flash floods could cost between £2,000 - £6,000.

To keep water out during periods of pro-longed flooding will take bigger changes and could cost between £20,000 -£40,000.

There is a variety of products that you can purchase. A comprehensive list of these can be found in ‘The Blue Pag-es’ directory on the National Flood Fo-rum’s website www.floodforum.org.uk.

BUILD BARRIERS WE

? TO PROTECT YOU

WHAT DO

! DO

BUILD BARRIERS WE

?

The Thames Barrier is one of the largest movable flood barriers in the world. The Environment Agency runs and maintains the Thames Barrier as well as the capital’s other flood defences.The barrier spans 520

metres across the River Thames near Woolwich, and it pro-tects 125 square kilometres of central London from flood-ing caused by tidal surges.It became operational in 1982 and has 10 steel gates

that can be raised into posi-tion across the River Thames. When raised, the main gates stand as high as a five-storey building and as wide as the opening of Tower Bridge. Each main gate weighs 3,300 tonnes.

TO PROTECT YOU

DONT BE AFRAID TO RING ENVIRONMENT AGENCY

Editorial piece by Martynas Kasiulevicius all rights reserved.

WE ARE HERE TO HELP

24 H

OU

RS

A D

AY

INCIDENT HOTLINE 0800 80 70 60 FLOODLINE 0845 988 1188

Sign up for warnings

Knowing when to put temporary flood protection measures in place is cruicial. Our free Floodline Warnings Direct service can tell you when to do this by sending you a warn-ing by phone, text and email.

Sign up for Flood-line Warnings Direct online at www.envi-ronmentagency.gov.uk or call Floodline on 0845 988 1188.