About 5 million properties are at risk of flooding in England alone. The impacts can be huge: storms Ciara and Dennis in 2020 cost £360 million in insurance payouts, while the recent Storm Franklin has flooded hundreds of homes across England and Wales. Floods are, by some margin, the most serious natural hazard faced by the UK.
There are large-scale policies that can help. These include improving flood defences, or boosting nature in upstream areas to slow the flow. But there are also things that people living in flood-prone areas can do to limit impacts to ourselves.
Here are six things that you can do that will help – today and in the future:
