Report a flood

How to report flooding in a property, home, or garden

This includes:

• Water in your house or business
• Flooded gardens, sheds, garages, or other outbuildings

The Council may be able to help find the cause of flooding or give advice to help you reduce future flooding.

Report a flooding problem on roads and pavements

This includes:

• Flooded roads
• Blocked drains or gullies
• Water covering footpaths

The Council assesses these road flooding reports within 10 working days.

Cambridgeshire Highways organises road closures and diversions caused by flooding. They also place flood warning signs on roads and clear blockages on highway drainage systems. You can contact 0345 045 5212 (or contact the Police if it’s outside of working hours).

Who is responsible to deal with flooding?

The Council is not responsible for every type of flooding. When you report flooding to us, we will first check what kind of flooding it is and who is responsible. In some cases, we may need to pass your report on to another organisation that is better placed to help.

You may be redirected if the flooding comes from water pipes or sewers, which are usually managed by water companies, or from rivers or the sea, which are managed by the Environment Agency. Flooding from small ditches or drains may be managed by a district council or an Internal Drainage Board. If this happens, we will let you know who to contact next, so your report gets to the right place as quickly as possible.

Visit our who is responsible for flooding webpage, this provides a breakdown of people and agencies across Cambridgeshire.

Why do I need to report flooding?

It is important to report flooding as this ensures the authorities are aware of problems and can deal with incidents effectively. Other important reasons to report flooding are:

• If a high number of properties are flooded, the government will sometimes make financial support available to those directly affected by flooding. Authorities use the reports of flooding to let the government know the scale of flooding.
• Lead Local Flood Authorities (such as Cambridgeshire County Council) are required by law to investigate significant flood events. The purpose of these investigations is to identify the cause of the flooding and assess whether all relevant authorities acted in the required way. The investigation reports may also identify actions that should be undertaken to reduce the risk of future flooding.
• It can help identify recurring issues and influence maintenance schedules
• The greater the impact of flooding, the easier it is for authorities to make a business case for flood alleviation schemes to reduce the risk of future flooding.