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Flooding advice for residents

For the latest information on road closures, flood alerts and advice in Gloucestershire, please visit Gloucestershire Prepared or follow #glosflood on Twitter.

We work in partnership with local town and parish councils, Gloucestershire County Council, the Environment Agency, Gloucestershire Highways, the emergency services, neighbouring local authorities, Severn Trent Water, the Lower Severn Internal Drainage Board and local volunteers to ensure that we are as collectively prepared as possible and manage flood risk from all sources.

Whilst the risk of flooding can be reduced, it cannot be prevented entirely. The primary responsibility for protecting property at risk of flooding rests with property owners.

Even if your home is not directly at risk from flooding, we can all be affected by the consequences of an unexpected event. Flash flooding usually arises as a result of heavy rain over a short space of time and can cause a great deal of disruption. Unlike river flooding, surface water flooding is much more difficult to predict.

In the event of a major flood event; deliveries of filled sandbags will be made available to vulnerable people (eg disabled or older residents). If you are vulnerable and need sandbags delivered, please phone us on 01684 295010 (or out of hours 01684 293445).

Additionally; if you have a river, stream, ditch or culvert running through or alongside your property you are most likely considered a ‘riparian owner’. You have responsibility for the maintenance and upkeep of the watercourse to ensure that it is not a flood risk to other people or property.

Flood wardens

Tewkesbury Flood Wardens are volunteers who act as the “eyes and ears” in their communities. They act as a key contact with Tewkesbury Borough’s emergency officer, both to receive and pass on messages, and to update from their patch.

Wardens link with others in the community before, during and after a flood to improve local resilience. They might be part of a group working with the parish council to bring together a community emergency plan, or to inform Highways about blocked gullies when they have warning of a storm approaching. They will be able to help with local information about people who might need support and can also link up practical help during the recovery stage.

Tewkesbury provides training in partnership with Environment Agency, GCC Civil Protection Team, Gloucestershire Rural Community Council and other agencies.

Contact helenr@grcc.org.uk for more information.

Sandbags

Our sandbag policy is written to ensure we meet the needs of our vulnerable residents (e.g. disabled or older residents that are unable to physically protect their own property) as quickly as possible during periods of flooding.

In the event of an emergency, if you are a vulnerable resident, we will have filled sandbags available to be collected from our council offices. Deliveries of filled sandbags can also be made available to vulnerable people – If you are vulnerable and unable to get to the council offices, please phone us on 01684 295010 (or out of hours 01684 293445).

Tewkesbury floods 2007

Following a very dry April, the summer of 2007 was one of the wettest on record. By the end of June, heavy rainfall overloaded drainage systems by the influx of surface water and very high water levels in main rivers and brooks, leading to flooding in some areas in Gloucestershire. However, during July the rains were even heavier. On 20th July, two months’ worth of rain fell in 14 hours. This ultimately resulted in two emergencies; widespread flooding and water shortages.

With flood water reaching over two metres in some places, over 1800 homes were flooded within our district. Electricity was lost to 48,000 homes across Gloucestershire for two days. Over half the homes in Gloucestershire and 7,500 businesses were without any mains water for up to 12 days – and 17 days for drinking water.

We provided

  • Rest centres with food, drink and support

  • Offices were open 24hrs a day for six days and then 6am – 10 pm for two weeks

  • Distributed sandbags

  • Provided housing advice and support

  • Environmental health advice to individuals and businesses

  • Bottled water distribution via 85 distribution points and direct distribution to vulnerable people

  • Collected flood damaged goods

  • Provided portaloos

  • Temporary satellite doctors surgery for one week

  • Survey of all flooded properties; including 300+ businesses

  • Information to public via press releases and website

  • Offered help to those made homeless

  • Clear up the aftermath of flooding

  • Repaired damaged assets

  • Involvement in county recovery process

  • Distribute furniture through the Furniture Recycling Project

  • Help organise flood relief events, ie Rugby Relief to raise money and morale

We received help from

  • Councillors, communities and volunteers

  • We had many offers of help and assistance and many donations into the Gloucestershire Flood Fund

  • Community facilities, ie using village halls for water distribution

  • Food and water donations from supermarkets

Statistics

  • 25,000 sandbags distributed

  • 200 tonnes of sand used

  • Over 1800 houses and 300 businesses were flooded

  • 500 people housed through rest centres

  • 95 percent of homes without water for a period of time

  • High percentage of homes without electricity for a period

  • 5 million litres of water distributed through 85 different places

  • Over 700 requests to collect flood damaged items

  • 133 portaloos distributed around Borough

  • 207 staff directly involved in responding to the emergency involving 7,174 hours of work up to and including Monday 30th July 2007

For detailed information on the 2007 floods please see the Environment Agency web page.

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