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1.Check your insurance cover
• Check your buildings and
contents insurance policy.
• Confirm you are covered for flooding.
• Find out if the policy replaces new for old, and if it has a limit on repairs.
• Don’t underestimate the value of your contents.
2. Know how to turn off your gas, electricity and water mains supplies
• Ask your supplier how to do this. • Mark taps or switches with stickers to help you remember.
3. Prepare a flood kit of essential items
Copies of your home insurance documents.
A torch with spare batteries.
A wind-up or battery radio.
Warm, waterproof clothing and blankets.
A first aid kit and prescription medication.
Bottled water and nonperishable foods.
Baby food and baby care items.
A Flood warn leaflet including your list of important contact numbers.
Keep your flood kit handy.
4. Know who to contact and how
• Agree where you will go and how to contact each other.
• Check with your council if pets are allowed at evacuation centres.
• Keep a list with all your important contacts to hand.
5. Think about what you can move now
• Don’t wait for a flood. Move items of personal value such as photo albums, family videos
and treasured mementos to a safe place.
6. Think about what you would want to move to safety during a flood
• Outdoor pets
• Cars
• Furniture
• Electrical equipment
• Garden pot plants and
furniture
• Anythingt else?
Flood protection equipment can help stop flood
water. Follow manufacturer instructions to put
these in place when you get a flood warning
Plastic covers to seal airbricks
These can stop flood water
coming in through your airbricks.
Sandbags
Your local council may provide
these during a flood, but they
may be scarce. You can buy
your own sand and bags, or
fill pillowcases and plastic
bags with earth. Be aware
that following a flood they will
be contaminated by sewage
in the water.
Floodboards
These fix to frames around
windows and doors. They
can be washed, stored and
used again.
Always remove flood protection
equipment once the flood
water has gone. This will
help your property dry out.
Further steps to protect
your property
There are things you can do
to your property that will make
it easier and cheaper to clean
up after a flood. However,
these are likely to cost more
to put in place and take longer
to do.
• Lay ceramic tiles on your
ground floor and use rugs
instead of fitted carpets.
• Raise the height of electrical
sockets to 1.5 metres above
ground floor level.
• Use lime plaster instead
of gypsum on walls.
• Fit stainless steel or
plastic kitchens instead
of chipboard ones.
• Position any main
parts of a heating or
ventilation system,
like a boiler, upstairs.
• Fit non-return valves to all
drains and water inlet pipes.
• Replace wooden window
frames and doors with
synthetic ones.
temporary flood
protection equipment
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