rg-nw

Hi Anything-But. I'm not familiar with your location but generally a severe flood warning means there is danger to life and property. Sorry if that sounds scary but officially that is what it indicates. Move valuable items upstairs (including items with sentimental value and insurance documents), switch off electricity and gas if safe to do so and seriously consider evacuating (if you haven't already been told to by emergency services). If you want to speak to someone to get more specific information/advice, ring the Environment Agency via Floodline (0845 988 1188) or the Incident Communication Service (0800 80 70 60). I suspect they will be very busy but should have staff answering calls. Please try and stay safe everyone.RG

Unfortunately the Environment Agency deal with fluvial and coastal flooding and a lot of the flooding so far has been surface water, which Local Authorities have responsibility for, or overwhelmed sewers systems. I think a warning for this should have come from the Met Office (Heavy rain...could lead to localised flooding..) There is a lag time between rain falling and the rain reaching the rivers (how much depends on the catchment). Levels are starting to increase now and triggering the alarms so EA flood warnings for the affected areas are starting to come through now.