Environment Agency
Heavy rain and thunderstorms on Monday 23 September have led to flooding in parts of England. These impacts included a combination of surface water flooding and some flooding from small, largely urban watercourses. At least 190 properties were flooded across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Kent and the Home Counties.
Environment Agency staff are out on the ground, clearing blockages and supporting local authorities in their response work.
The flood risk will start to reduce later today, but for the moment we continue to urge people to keep an eye on the weather, check their flood risk, and take care planning their journeys.
Sarah Cook, FloodDuty Manager at the Environment Agency, said:
Due to yesterdays heavy rain and thunderstorms, flood warnings and alerts remain in place across many parts of the country. The risk of further surface water flooding is also possible but not expected in parts of the Midlands and North of England on Thursday.
Environment Agency teams continue to be out on the ground, supporting local authorities in responding to surface waterflooding. We urge people to plan their journeys carefully, follow the advice of local emergency services on the roads and not to drive throughfloodwater it is often deeper than it looks and just 30cm of flowing water is enough to float your car.
People shouldcheck theirfloodrisk,sign up for freefloodwarnings and keep up to date with the latest situation as well as following @EnvAgency on X, formerly Twitter, for the latestfloodupdates.
Floods Minister Emma Hardy said:
Im all too familiar with the devastating consequences of flooding and my sympathies go out to those affected by the recent weather. Im very grateful to the Environment Agency for their ongoing efforts to help communities and I encourage people to stay vigilant and follow the advice of the emergency services.
The Environment Agency recognises the threat from surface water flooding and is taking action to improve the countrys resilience for instance supporting local flood authorities to enhance local surface water flood risk mapping. Seeour blog on surface water flooding