Flooding

You could be at risk from flooding even if you don't live near a river. Flooding can occur during heavy rainfall if the ground is saturated, or if the capacity of drainage systems is overwhelmed.

Find out if you're at risk of flooding and register for flood warnings (opens new window) on gov.uk

Get help during a flood (opens new window)and find out what to do after a flood (opens new window) on gov.uk

To help you prepare and develop your own personal flood plan, we have produced a checklist (PDF) [77KB] based on the Environment Agency's national guidance. This will help you make arrangements in advance such as finding out if you're at risk, registering to receive alerts, making simple preparations and having appropriate equipment.

Insurance

Make sure you have adequate insurance. Flood damage is included in most buildings insurance policies, but it is worth checking your own policy to ensure that your home and its contents are covered.

If your home is in a high risk flood area, Flood Re might be able to find affordable insurance for you. Contact your insurer, or visit www.floodre.co.uk (opens new window) for further information.

Protecting your property

Make long term preparations and protect your property from the risk of flooding. You can get advice from the National Flood Forum (opens new window) about how to protect your property and how much this will cost, or find flood protection products and services at Blue Pages (opens new window).

Advice is also available from the Property Care Association's Flood Protection Group (opens new window).

Download theHomeowner's Guide to Flood Resilience (opens new window) for information about protecting your property and download guides to help plant the right plants in your garden (PDF) [6MB] or yarden (PDF) [19MB] to help prevent flooding.

You may want to consider:

making a list of useful phone numbers you may need, such as the emergency services and the Environment Agency's 24 hour Floodline number (0345 988 1188); and your personal contact numbers
making sure you know where to turn off your gas, electricity and water supplies
talking to your neighbours about how you could work together in the event of a flood
putting together a flood kit of useful items
adding an ICE - In Case of Emergency - to the beginning of one number on your contact list - this is the phone number the emergency services will look for if something happens to you
keeping important possessions and documents in waterproof containers at the highest part of your property - have plans in place to move such items at short notice

If you'd like to read about the experiences of residents and business proprietors who've been affected by flooding to their premises and the recovery work that followed, please read the Property Flood Resilience publication (opens new window).

What we do in a flooding incident

During flooding events, we can receive a high volume of calls from residents who are worried about their properties. We use this information to help our teams know where to go and respond, when appropriate.

In this kind of situation our resources will be at full stretch. Residents and communities should be prepared to do what they can to help themselves and their neighbours.

We will attempt to carry out the following actions where necessary:

activate emergency plans and put resources on standby when required
work alongside emergency services and deploy resources to the scene
pay particular attention to areas that have flooded before and carry out any maintenance when required
provide advice and information to the public about how to respond to potential flood risk
if an evacuation is necessary, ensure residents are provided with temporary accommodation and transport; and assist in the welfare of known vulnerable people
hold a stock of sandbags to primarily assist the response in managing surface water on and from the public highway and assist with the response in known 'at risk' flooding areas when appropriate. Sandbags are not provided to individual residents and businesses to use on their own properties.
investigate flooding incidents and concerns, providing advice or passing on to the relevant authority where possible. Contact the Flood Risk Management team on 0191 433 3125 or email flooding@gateshead.gov.uk
assist the community to return to a state of normality as soon as possible.

Flood reporting

Report flooding on a road or footpath

Tell us if you see flooding on a road or footpath.

You will need to tell us the exact location of the issue. You can also upload an image if you have one.

Report flooding on a road or footpath

Gateshead Council Repairs: 0800 406 6008 for council tenants to contact in emergencies
Gateshead Council Customer Services: 0191 433 3000 or 0191 477 0844 (24 hour Emergency Number) for flooding on roads and from public drains
Northumbrian Water: 0800 393 084 for burst water mains or 0800 328 7648 for sewers
Environment Agency Floodline: 0345 988 1188 for river flooding
For information on who is responsible for different types of flooding visit www.gov.uk/report-flood-cause (opens new window)