Report flooding

If it’s a flooding emergency you should focus on the safety of yourself and your family

Dial 999 if it is an emergency and you or someone else is in danger

Learn more about the different types of flooding and who is responsible for managing the risk.

Who to report a flooding issue to
floodingflow No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Is water coming from a public sewer or a water supply site? Is water coming from a main river or the sea? Is water coming from the highway (e.g. a highway drain)? Is water coming from land or a ditch next to your property? Report to the relevant body Report to the Environment Agency Or, report the problem to Hampshire County Council, choosing option ‘private land, property boundary ditch or roadside ditch’ You might be responsible as a riparian owner, our guidance contains more details. Report to Hampshire County Council, choosing option ‘Road, pavement, cycle path, drain’ Southern Water Thames Water Wessex Water Other water companies
When the Lead Local Flood Authority investigates flooding

When we receive a report of flooding this is logged within our database. An initial review of information will be undertaken, with more information gathered from the reporter where necessary. The outcome of this review will determine the next steps taken.

Our flood investigations guidance sets out when and how we will investigate flooding. We will investigate ‘significant’ flooding in accordance with the requirements of Section 19 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 and these investigations are published below.

Report a flood

Track a report of flooding

Previous published flood investigations

Where ‘significant’ flooding has occurred in accordance with the requirements of Section 19 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 and a flood investigation report is available, these are shown below.

Significant flooding is defined as:

  • flooding that affects 20 or more properties internally in one flood event within the same location
  • flooding that affects significant lengths of highways affecting 20 or more properties and lasts for a period of 3 hours from the onset of flooding.

Winchester flood investigation

Following the flooding in the Winchester area on 27 August 2020, the following investigation was undertaken in accordance with Section 19 of the Flood and Water Management Act.

This report looks at the causes and impacts of the flooding and identifies whether the different Risk Management Authorities undertook their statutory duties. It also identifies a range of measures which may help in reducing the impact of the flooding in future but rather than being a single ‘scheme’, they represent a package of options that should be considered wherever possible, not just in Winchester but on a wider scale, particularly in the urban environment.

Whilst there are no immediate mitigation options for this level of rainfall, we will continue to do all that we can to ensure existing drainage systems remain as effective as possible. There may be further occasions where these will not be able to cope with severe rainfall intensities on this scale. Sadly, we are likely to see more of this with the impacts of climate change and retrofitting further drainage capacity across all of our drainage assets is not practical, either from a feasibility or cost perspective. Increasingly, individual property owners will need to understand the risks and take appropriate steps to protect themselves. This may appear daunting to residents but there is comprehensive support available and we have a list of resources available on our website.

We are currently looking at what support can be provided to individual properties and will of course also continue to work closely with the other primary agencies such as the Environment Agency and the various water companies, to understand the cause of flooding events and to identify improvements wherever possible both in terms of infrastructure and policy, and this will include working with local Planning Authorities to identify opportunities for local drainage improvements from new developments.  Further information about our roles and responsibilities.

Fleet Flood investigation (August 2015)

Romsey flood investigation (December 2013/January 2014)

Further work is being undertaken on a flood mitigation scheme for the Romsey area. See further information on Romsey flood alleviation scheme

Buckskin flood investigation (February/March 2014)

Further work is being undertaken on a potential flood mitigation scheme for the Buckskin area. See further information on Buckskin flood alleviation scheme

Other flood investigation reports