Guidance

Community flood plan

Updated 15 November 2023

Applies to England

• Publication for Northern Ireland
• Publication for Scotland
• Publication for Wales

Taking simple steps can go a long way to help protect your community from flooding. Preparing in advance will make it easier to respond to and recover from a flood.   

Read our personal flood plan advice for core steps to take to stay safe in a flood. 

1. Before a flood 

Actions you can take to protect your community include to: 

• think how information will be communicated to residents and emergency services during a flood 
• describe or map emergency routes and evacuation points   
• list contact information and locations of residents who need help and who could provide help 
• list volunteers and their contact information 
• think about how to scale up your response if a flood gets worse 

Make sure you comply with GDPR regulations when gathering personal information from people. 

Think what a flood would look like in your area, so you know what signs to look out for.

These could include: 

• water level trigger points on a bridge or lamppost  
• the condition of any local flood defences 
• the direction a flood could come from 
• the latest river, sea, groundwater and rainfall levels 

Think how to help people in your community. Volunteers could help: 

• with communication and administration 
• to move furniture and other possessions 
• to check on vulnerable neighbours 

1.1 Test your flood plan 

Regularly check if your flood plan will work, and the information is up to date. 

You could ask your local Environment Agency office and council to help you carry out a simulated flooding event. 

Think about who you could share your community flood plan with, for example your local council. 

2. Community flood plan checklist 

Some examples of information you could include in your plan are: 

• the flood warnings that you are registered for 
• local flood triggers, for example if the water reaches the bottom of a bridge 
• a list of locations at risk of flooding 
• their trigger level and actions to take 
• any equipment you might need 
• what timescale you might need to do your plan 
• emergency contact information 
• location and contact details of vulnerable people 

Make sure you comply with GDPR regulations when gathering personal information from people. 

Make a list of important contacts, including: 

• building services 
• utility suppliers  
• volunteers/flood wardens 

Make a list of information about people who can help and how. For example, people who can help with: 

• installing flood protection products 
• moving people to safe locations 
• emergency storage 
• emergency supplies 
• medical support 

3. Immediately before a flood 

The emergency services are responsible for making sure the public are safe and co-ordinating the incident response. 

Do not put yourself or others at risk. 

4. When a flood happens 

Follow your flood plan. You can also follow advice in: 

• personal flood plan
• what to do before or during a flood 

5. After a flood 

Follow your flood plan. You can also follow advice in: 

• personal flood plan
• what to do after a flood