Severe Weather

| The Isle of Wight is fortunate in that it has not experienced any major flooding in recent history, although flash floods seriously affected most parts of the Island in September 2002.
Photo courtesy of the Isle of Wight County Press. Picture by Jennifer Burton | |
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.
- Keep your drains clear of leaves and debris when heavy rain is forecast
- Purchase a small supply of sandbags
Provision of Sandbags
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.
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.
Page last updated on: 21/04/2005