Explained | El Niño, La Niña and changing weather patterns
El Niño and La Niña are atmospheric patterns that influence warming and cooling of sea surface temperatures in the Central and Equatorial ...
Flood Action Week
La Niña can also potentially result in severe flooding across England in February 2023, The Guardian reported. The U.K. government’s <anchor>Flood Action Week</anchor>, from November 7 to 13, sought to raise awareness about La Niñaand prepare communities for winter flooding. England’s Meteorological Office said that unexpected flooding could occur any time since the “chance of wet and windy weather increases as we go through the [winter] season”.
Flood Action Week: Households urged to prepare in 2022 year of extremes - GOV.UK
## Cookies on GOV.UK

We use some essential cookies to make this website work.

We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services.

We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.

Accept additional cookiesReject additional cookies View cookies

Hide this message

## Navigation menu

Search GOV.UK

### Services and information

### Government activity

### Search

Search GOV.UK

Search

Press release

# Flood Action Week: Households urged to prepare in 2022 year of extremes

Since 1998 we have seen six of the ten wettest years on record.

This was published under the 2022 to 2024 Sunak Conservative government

Image of flooded road with sign warning of danger

Communities are being urged to prepare for flooding this winter with the Environment Agency warning of “ignoring the danger at your own peril”.

Amid increased extreme weather events brought on by the climate emergency, the Environment Agency is launching an awareness campaign - Flood Action Week - to encourage those who live in areas at risk of flooding to act now to protect their home, possessions and family.

This year alone, the UK experienced its highest ever recorded temperatures, as the Met Office confirmed that England had its joint hottest summer on record with much of the country still struggling with drought.

Looking ahead to this winter, although the Met Office says the chance of wet and windy weather increases as we go through the season, unexpected flooding could occur at any time and communities are being warned not to be complacent following this summer’s dry weather.

Since 1998 we have seen six of the ten wettest years on record and this year for the first time ever saw three named storms in one week.

One of the key messages coming from COP27, which gets underway in Egypt this week, is that we must plan and prepare for increasingly extreme events.

As we have seen across the globe, the effects of climate change are becoming clearer, with wildfires raging across Europe; China experiencing its worst heatwave in decades; and devastating floods in Pakistan ripping through communities killing more than 1500 people and displacing millions.

This Flood Action Week (7 November – 13 November) the Environment Agency is urging people to take three simple steps:

Caroline Douglass, Executive Director of Flooding at the Environment Agency, said:

Floods Minister Rebecca Pow said:

This year’s Flood Action Week comes as the Environment Agency has now expanded its flood warning service to reach almost 50,000 new properties at risk of flooding and hopes to exceed its target to provide new warning capability for 62,000 properties at risk of flooding by this winter. It brings the number of properties registered with the service to 1.6 million.

With over 250 mobile pumps and 5,000 trained staff across the country, the Environment Agency is ready to take action wherever it is needed this winter. The construction and repair of flood defences has also continued throughout the year as part of the record £5.2 billion government investment in flood and coastal defences.

These preparations have already helped to protect communities from flooding. During the storms earlier this year, despite some 400 properties sadly flooding, around 35,000 were protected by Environment Agency schemes.

Will Lang from the Met Office said:

At least one in six people in England are at risk from flooding from rivers and the sea, with many more at risk from surface water flooding.

However nearly two in three households at risk of flooding don’t believe it will happen to them, according to analysis produced by the Environment Agency earlier this year.

And despite the research showing that almost two thirds of people (60%) have taken at least one action to prepare for flooding, as many as 1.5 million households, who are at risk, are yet to prepare.

Those at risk are encouraged to follow the advice to ‘Prepare. Act. Survive’, specifically:

- If there is an initial flood alert – prepare by packing medicines and insurance and other important documents and visit the flood warning information service
- If there is a subsequent confirmed flood warning – act by moving family, pets and belongings to safety. Turn off gas, water and electricity
- If there is a severe flood warning – survive immediate danger by following the advice of emergency services or calling 999 if needed

With just 30cm of flowing water being enough to float a car, drivers are also being warned not to attempt to drive through flood water and take extra precautions in wet weather.

Tony Rich, from The AA said:

## Share this page

The following links open in a new tab

## Updates to this page

Published 7 November 2022

## Explore the topic

## Is this page useful?

- Maybe
- Yes this page is useful
- No this page is not useful

Thank you for your feedback

Report a problem with this page

### Help us improve GOV.UK

Don’t include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details.

This field is for robots only. Please leave blank

What were you doing?

What went wrong?

Send
Cancel

### Help us improve GOV.UK

Cancel

## Services and information

## Government activity

## Support links