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Residents and flooding

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By taking simple, proactive steps to make your property more resilient, you can reduce the impact of flooding.

We want to help you understand the risks, how to prepare, respond to warnings and know who to contact in a flooding event. Please read through the guidance below and on our pages prepare for flooding and steps to take to recover from flooding.

Types of flooding

River flooding (fluvial)

This happens when a river, stream or ditch overflows its banks after a heavy rain. The water spreads to nearby land, roads, and properties.

Surface water flooding (pluvial)

This occurs when heavy rain falls faster than the ground or drains can absorb it. Water flows overland and collects in low areas, roads, or gardens. Blocked road gullies, sewers, and drains can worsen this type of flooding as well as saturated land and increased hard surfaces.

Groundwater flooding

When the ground becomes completely saturated after long periods of rain, water can rise from below the surface, flooding basements, gardens, or roads.

Sewer flooding

This happens when drains or sewers become blocked or overwhelmed by too much water, often during heavy rain. It can cause water (sometimes mixed with sewage) to back up into homes, gardens, or streets.

Road flooding

Flooding on roads usually happens when drains or gullies are blocked or can’t cope with heavy rain. Roads can also flood from nearby rivers or smaller watercourses. It can make roads dangerous or impassable.

Tidal flooding

Caused by high tides, storm surges or strong winds pushing seawater onto the land. While Cambridgeshire is inland, nearby coastal areas such as The Wash can still affect drainage systems and tidal rivers.

Check your risk of flooding

Across England, there are 4.6 million properties at risk of flooding from surface water and 2.4 million at risk of flooding from rivers. This number is likely to increase due to climate change.

To check the flood risk of an area where you live or work, please visit Check the long term flood risk for an area in England (GOV.UK). This includes:

Postcode lookup

Simply enter the postcode to get an area summary, the results also include how impacts of climate change could increase the future risk of flooding.

Online map

The GOV.UK flood risk map provides a wider view of an area. The map view can be changed to show the chance of flooding by surface water, reservoirs, or rivers and seas.

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Are there currently any flood warnings in place?

You can check current flood warnings or alerts for the next five days, please visit, check for flooding (GOV.UK).

How do I sign up to receive flood warnings?

You can sign up to receive flood warnings from the Environment Agency, please visit, get flood warnings by text, phone, or email (GOV.UK). There are three categories of warning:

Flood alert

Flood alerts mean that flooding is possible so you should prepare now. A flood alert symbol is a black house with one wavy line of water covering the bottom of it, with an orange triangle. These are usually issued between two and 12 hours before flooding of rivers.

Flood alert symbol: orange triangle with a black house inside and one wavy line of water covering the bottomFlood alert symbol

Flood warning

Flood warnings mean that flooding is expected so you should act now. A flood warning symbol is a black house with two wavy lines of water covering the bottom of it, within a red triangle. These are issued when forecasts show that flooding is expected from rivers or heavy rainfall.

Flood warning symbol: a red triangle with a black house inside it with two wavy lines of water covering the bottom of the houseFlood warning symbol

Severe flood warning

Severe flood warnings mean that flooding could cause danger to life and significant disruption to communities. You must act immediately. A severe flood warning symbol is a red house with three wavy lines of water covering the bottom of it, within a red triangle. These are issued when flooding threatens life and communities.

You can also sign up to receive warnings of heavy rainfall through the Met Office, please visit, subscribe to email alerts, warnings, and newsletters (Met Office).

Severe flood warning symbol: a red triangle with a red house inside it with three wavy lines of water covering the bottom of the houseSevere flood warning symbol

What to do when there is flooding

Never put yourself in danger. If you’re about to be flooded, you should:

  • Turn off your gas, electricity, and water supplies, if it’s safe to do so - do not touch an electrical switch if you’re standing in water
  • Move your family, vehicles, pets, and any important items to safety, for example upstairs or to higher ground
  • If you have them, use flood protection products, for example flood barriers or air brick covers
  • Follow the steps in your flood plan
  • Don’t walk or drive through flood water
  • Follow advice from your local council or the emergency services

Driving in floodwater

Driving through floodwater brings risks which can result in severe consequences. If driving is necessary, please view, download and share The Flood Hub driving in floodwater guidance (opens as PDF).

Before setting off, consider:

  • Checking the weather reports
  • Can the journey be delayed?
  • Allowing extra time
  • Can an alternative route be taken?
  • What happens if there is flooding along the route? Is turning around an option?