St. Albans City and District Council is prone to flooding from ground water run off and river flooding. However, weather conditions are monitored constantly and in the event of flood risk conditions developing, an advance warning is given to the local authority and emergency services by the Environment Agency and/or the Met Office. Flood warnings and severe weather warnings can be viewed on the Environment Agency and Met Office websites. (www.met-office.gov.uk/www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/flood/floodwarning)
Members of the public and businesses can also register with the Environment Agency to receive flood warnings via their Floodline Warnings Direct service. Further information about how to do this is available either by calling Floodline on 0845 988 1188 or from www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/flood/826674 .
To find out if you could be living in a flood risk area, follow the link to the latest information on the Environment Agency’s website (http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/default.aspx).
If you are shown to be at risk of flooding, make sure you are up to date with the latest flood advice available from either the Environment Agency’s Floodline service (0845 988 1188) or their website and what you can do to prepare.
Sandbags
The responsibility to protect your property is that of the occupant. Given the low risk of flooding across the district the Council’s policy is to make a small number of sandbags available to parish councils to assist those persons that are unable to help themselves.
If you are at risk of being flooded, you might want to consider keeping some empty sandbags and sand or earth ready for use at the first sign of trouble.