Home

You will be aware that many areas of the county have unfortunately been severely hit with flooding again in the last couple of days. We currently have reports of over 200 homes being flooded internally in Leicestershire alone and the number is continuing to rise steeply as reports come in.

As you know, many agencies are responsible for managing different sources of flooding. Our role as the Lead Local Flood Authority is to bring all these responsible flood agencies together to better understand what happened and identify actions and responsible bodies. We are meeting frequently with all relevant flood agencies as the flooding situation develops.

The Lead Local Flood Authority is required to formally investigate flood incidents. We have specific criteria for formal investigations (internal property flooding etc) and will now be looking to prioritise that list for investigations to be undertaken. Given that we are still receiving information and the significant extent of the flooding, this prioritisation will take some time and the investigations themselves can often be complex involving many different parties (Environment Agency, Severn Trent Water, riparian owners, Highways etc).  Once we have an idea of the extent of the work we will need to consider how we best resource and programme this given we will be dealing with an unprecedented demand for flood related investigation work.  We will however do our best to get through this as quickly as we can taking into account an already high backlog of work still remaining from the effects of Storm Henk in January 2025 last year.

Flooding is devastating and we are working hard to keep our communities safe but the reality is that the changes we are seeing to our climate, and more protracted, intense rainfall, mean we will see more instances of flooding.  Unfortunately, for some areas it is likely that there will be no solution or the solution is unaffordable, therefore as communities we will need to become more resilient when flooding happens and for many that will mean ensuring they take action to make their own property flood resilient. Some of the information signposted above will be helpful in doing that, and particularly for those who live in identified flood risk areas.At the current time around 50 roads across the county remain closed, we will continue to monitor and lift closures as soon as feasible.

We will keep you updated.

• We’re encouraging people to share reports of flooded property online: www.leicestershire.gov.uk/report-a-flood

More information which might be helpful to share with your communities is available on Leicestershire County Council’s website:

• Flooding – https://www.leicestershire.gov.uk/environment-and-planning/flooding-and-drainage
• Staying warm and well – https://www.leicestershire.gov.uk/winter-weather/stay-well-this-winter
• Gritting and travel – https://www.leicestershire.gov.uk/winter-weather/gritting-and-travel-this-winter
• Guidance on ‘Before, During and After a Flood’ is attached to help residents and businesses prepare for or respond to flooding. Further information is available at https://www.gov.uk/help-during-flood including what to do during and after flooding. Should anyone still need to vacate homes as a result of the flooding and require some support, please inform us so that we can forward this on, as LLR Prepared (the Local Resilience Forum for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland) may be able to provide some support.
• If applicable, residents/businesses can consider Flood Re’s ‘Build Back Better’ scheme, which aims to reduce the cost and impact of future floods by including property resilience measures as part of flood repairs. Further information is available via their website: https://www.floodre.co.uk/buildbackbetter/.
• The National Flood Forum also provide guidance and support for people affected by flooding. Flood Assist are a flood insurance specialist who are also able to provide some assistance, further details and contact information are available at https://floodassist.co.uk/
• Anyone struggling to cope may wish to contact the British Red Cross who have trained staff and volunteers who can help talk about any difficulties. They can be contacted by calling 0808 196 3651 or visiting https://www.redcross.org.uk/get-help/prepare-for-emergencies/how-to-prepare-for-floods-and-flooding