Floods: Toilet plugs and other prevention measures to save homes

Homeowners risk complacency, expense and trauma unless they consider installing simple flood protection measures, a new campaign will claim.

The Environment Agency and others say millions of UK homes are at risk, and families may be forced to leave a flood-hit home for a year to dry out.

They say relatively cheap upgrades, including toilet plugs and air brick covers, can help reduce damage and costs.

Forecasters say UK flooding will become more intense and frequent.

Protection has saved a couple’s home despite nine floods in four years.

Nick Lupton, who lives by the River Severn in Worcestershire, said he and his wife Annie have never had to claim insurance as they kept their home dry despite torrents of water outside.

“We bought the house with our eyes wide open,” said the retired engineer.

“We’ve added a little bit to the mitigation that the previous owners put in place that had worked really well, which makes our lives a little bit easier.”

The property, part of which dates back to the 17th century, was once the inn for the river ferry. When it was a pub, the sound of beer kegs floating in the cellar was a sign of rising water.

Now, double flood barriers in front of the doors and pumps under the floors prevent cloudy river water from overflowing. The couple is re-mortgaging to pay for a flood wall surrounding the property, anticipating that the value of their home will increase as a result.

Not everything is expensive. A £5 sewer plug has saved them from having to bail out toilets every 40 minutes overnight during a flood.

Such measures will be central to the launch of the Be Flood Smart campaign on Monday by the Environment Agency and Re flood – a plan designed to provide affordable insurance for homes at risk of flooding.

“I can’t stress enough how horrendous flooding is, so any action people can take to prevent the upheaval is a good investment,” said Andy Bord, chief executive of Flood Re, who likened safety measures to padlocks to prevent theft.

“Insurance covers a lot, but it can’t make flooding less traumatic and protect those really important sentimental items in the heart of your home.”

Just days after the latest series of floods hit the UK, he is urging homeowners renovating their homes to consider measures like waterproof tiles and covering over holes in air bricks. The latter could keep water out, the former could make any post-flood cleanup quicker and cheaper so residents can return sooner.

Such items are now being put to the test, and their benefits taught to the building trade, at a new flood school in Oxfordshire.

The BBC gained exclusive access to the Be Flood Ready Property Flood Resilience Centre, built at the non-profit consultancy HR Wallingford with government funding.

Here a simulated flood with water being pumped into a simulated kitchen, showing the benefit of elevated sockets and appliances, as well as tiled skirting.

According to Emma Brown, who leads the flood forecasting team at HR Wallingford, climate change will make flooding “worse, more intense and more frequent”.

That includes coastal flooding, river overflow, and drainage systems that can’t cope with too much rainfall. Summer rain, when the ground is hard, can create flash flooding in urban areas.

He said the risk of flooding in areas that hadn’t suffered before could lead to some complacency, but technology was helping to highlight the risks.

“State-of-the-art computer models mean we can identify the homes and businesses that are most likely to flood. We can go out there and be better prepared,” he said.

Early results from the Northampton inquiry suggested that every £1 spent on flood prevention in the area could mean £6 saved to deal with damage, he said.