Flooding advice

If you own land or property, or live in areas that are prone to flooding, there are preventative actions and practical advice to help protect your property, belongings and your family in a flooding emergency. It's a good idea to prepare a flood emergency pack. Our flooding advice leaflet tells you what you should include in there. It also gives you information about prevention and advice.

What to do in an emergency

If you are at immediate risk of flooding, contact us on 03451 55 00 11, option 4 (Roads and Transportation). If it's between 6pm and 8am, or a weekend, please call 03451 55 00 99 to report out-of-hours emergencies.

• If water is coming into your property: Use a bucket to collect the water and contain it as much as possible with towels.

• If you need sandbags: This is when you're at immediate risk of flooding (for example, water crossing the threshold). We'll deliver them to you, if we can, dependent on sandbags and drivers being available. Limited supplies mean we can’t guarantee to respond to all requests.  We expect you to take reasonable measures to protect your property. You can buy empty sandbags at most DIY stores. There's further information on flood protection products such as flood barriers and airbrick covers on the Scottish Flood Forum website. We also have flood pods in some areas of Fife.

• If drains are overflowing in your street: Please call us on the above number or report it to us at the Road Faults webpage. If it’s an emergency, it will be attended to as soon as possible. If the water is not causing an obstruction to traffic or flooding a house or garden, it will take longer. Someone will attend to it within the next 10 working days.

• If there is evidence of sewage. Please call the Scottish Water emergency line on 08000 77 87 78.

• If your whole street is under water and every property is affected: Please contact Scottish Fire & Rescue Service on 999 who will attend as soon as possible.

• If your ceiling is bulging with water: Please try piercing a small hole in the ceiling to release the water. This will help until a more permanent repair can be carried out. Remember to put a bucket or basin under the hole to collect the water.

• If water is coming through a light fitting: Please leave it alone and call an electrician to isolate the electricity to the light.

Practical advice for tenants and homeowners

What can you do to help to manage flood risk?

When flooding happens, water, silt, mud and debris can get into your property.

As a homeowner, you are the first line of defence against flooding and it is your responsibility to safeguard and insure your property. Be prepared and know what to do and you will limit the damage and disruption if a flood happens. But above all, keep yourself safe:

• Always consider your safety first and don’t take unnecessary risks.
• Call emergency services if you are concerned about your own safety or the safety of others and act immediately on any advice provided.
• Avoid contact with flood water as it may be contaminated with sewage and other pollutants.
• Don’t walk, drive or swim through floodwater – there may be hazards below the surface you cannot see.
• Don’t walk on sea defences, riverbanks or bridges during extreme weather or during flood events.
• Stay away from power lines and electrical wires.

Be prepared

Take these simple steps now to protect your property.  They will reduce the damage and impacts of flooding on your family, property and business:

• Put family kit together and make a flood plan, so everyone knows what to do if flooding is predicted.
• Know how to shut off power, gas and water supplies to your property.
• Keep a list of useful contact numbers and check that your home and motor insurance policies provide adequate cover for flood damage.
• Consider how to make your property more flood resilient when carrying out home improvements.
• Install flood protection products such as airbrick covers or flood barriers and know how to fit them correctly – this could give you more time to move your possessions away from flood water.

Be resilient

• Check with SEPA to see if your area is at risk of flooding. This map is not to be used to identify the risk to individual properties but is indicative of the risk at a community level.
• Sign up for flood alerts from SEPA’s Floodline Service which give advance notice of flooding.
• Visit Floodline for practical information about the health effects of flooding and safe ways to clean up after a flood. Remember, flooding can impact on your mental and physical wellbeing and can affect anyone of any age. Further information on how to protect yourself go to the Scottish Government – Water website, or the Health Protection Scotland website.
• The Scottish Flood Forum has useful suggestions about making your property more flood resilient.
• The Ready Scotland website has information about community resilience and how your neighbourhood can be better prepared for flooding.
• Keep up to date with Flooding Gateway, a quarterly e-newsletter providing the latest flooding news and updates on managing flood risk in Scotland.
• Keep up to date with our news through social media, newsletters and e-bulletins and share information with your neighbours.