The Meteorological Office issues warnings when severe weather is expected. The regional warnings are issued when severe weather is expected to cause disruption to traffic etc. over the next few hours. The advance warnings are issued when severe weather is expected to cause widespread disruption to traffic etc. over the next few days.

If there are any reports of serious incidents of flooding the Emergency Planning Team will co-ordinate the Council’s response and liaise with the Fire & Rescue Service and the Environment Agency. If necessary, a Liaison Officer will be sent to assess the situation and provide assistance to property owners. This could range from simple advice to, in the worst case, re-housing those affected.

Generally speaking, the householder is responsible for protecting their property against flooding, it is not the Council’s responsibility and it is far better to think ahead and act in advance. There are measures you can take if your property is at risk of flooding or if you want to prevent future flooding.

For further useful information, including finding out if your area is at risk from flooding:

Look on the Environment Agency’s web site. The Floodline page gives advice on how to protect your property from flooding and what to do if you are affected

Call the FLOODLINE on 0845 988 1188

In an Emergency, the Isle of Wight Council will, where possible, endeavour to assist by issuing sandbags. These are provided primarily, to stop the flooding of properties by water running off the highway.

However, it is your responsibility to protect your property. Sandbags can be purchased direct from the following outlets:

JA Dempsey 01983 403021
Mountjoy 01983 550250 (office hours) or
01983 526999 (out of hours emergency)

To request sandbags, call the Council’s Highways department on:

01983 823777 during normal office hours
01983 525121 at all other times.

The Met Office gives some very useful advice about measures that can be taken before, during and after periods of most types of severe weather.

More information and advice on the hazards of heatwave is given in a leaflet produced by the Department of Health. It includes information on how to recognise the symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke, and how to deal with the effects of too much heat.

Please note: pdf documents may take a while to download over a standard 56K modem. If you do not have a version of acrobat reader - this can be downloaded via our downloads section.