If your home is affected by flooding the council can give assistance in some circumstances.
- Preparing for a flood (pdf 182 kb)
- After the floods (pdf 1.94 mb)
- Flooding from groundwater (pdf 188 kb)
Sandbags
We have a limited stock of sandbags, however these are reserved for out of hours emergencies when dwellings are at serious risk.
We will also prioritise the elderly or vulnerable when handing out sandbags.
If you think you are at risk of flooding, you should contact your local DIY store, builder's merchants or other sandbag provider and make your own arrangements for protecting your property.
Sandbags may be distributed for out of hours emergencies to prevent water entering habitable premises. They will not be provided for the protection of garden boundaries, garages, outhouses, etc.
Occupied property takes priority over unoccupied property. Please make every effort to protect your property from the flood water.
Place sandbags, or any solid barrier (plastic bags full of soil are a good alternative) at any entry points to your home, particularly where the level of the land is at the lowest point.
If the flood water is entering your home from under the floors (ground water flooding) unfortunately sandbags will not help.
Our advice is to move as much of your belongings, clothing and food into upstairs rooms and contact your insurers.
Help from other authorities
The Environment Agency (floodline: 0345 988 1188) and Hampshire County Council (emergency phone number: 0800 807 060) also provide help on flooding issues.
You can also ask the Environment Agency to send you advance warnings of flood risks. This priority list of property owners and agencies (the council is on this list) are alerted by the Environment Agency as soon as their early warning systems detect a flooding risk.
To apply for inclusion on the alert list either ring the floodline phone number on 0845 988 1188.