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Find out how at-risk from flooding your home or business is and sign up to alerts to make sure you’re informed of high-risk days.
You can use the Environment Agency's website to check:
You can also prepare for any emergency by following our P.L.A.N. advice.
The Environment Agency provides more detailed advice on what to do before, during, and after a flood in their flood advice guides.
You can find information and advice about flooding on the GOV.UK website.
The Environment Agency provides more detailed advice on what to do during and after a flood on their website.
The Environment Agency also provides "Floodline", a 24-hour advice and information service for floods and flood warnings on 0345 988 1188.
If you own land or a property next to a river, stream or ditch you are a ‘riparian landowner’.
Read more about 'riparian landowner' rights and responsibilities on GOV.UK
Flood control on the River Lee, Ching Brook and Dagenham Brook is the responsibility of the Environment Agency. You can contact them on 03708 506 506.
They also provide a 24 hour advice and information service for floods and flood warnings. Call 0345 988 1188.
If flooding is on a road or pavement
Although we accept that some road gullies (drainage systems) may be blocked and need our attention, in many cases, especially during storm events, it is found that the public sewers are unable to drain large amounts of water generated by the storm.
We recommended that you and any neighbours who have been similarly affected, contact Thames Water (by calling 0800 316 98000 - 24 hour service) advising them of the situation. You should provide them with as much detail as possible, supplying date(s) and details of how you were flooded and ask them to make sure that these incidents are logged onto their “flooding history database” as this will contribute to the possibility of an improvement in the sewer system.
The highway drainage systems (gullies) are not designed to cope with heavy storms, so ‘flooding’ of the highway is expected during a storm event, but this will go down over time.
If you would like to report flooding on a road or pavement to us, please complete the Highways issues report form and select ‘Blocked gully’.
Waltham Forest has several large reservoirs which have water levels above that of the surrounding land. It is unlikely that a reservoir wall would fall. However, if one did, the impact would be severe.
To see if you're at risk of flooding from reservoirs, enters your postcode and select the “Flood Risk from Reservoirs” option on this flood map.
Sometimes, the gullies (road drains) can get blocked or cannot handle the amount of water flowing and overflow onto the road, however, we operate a cyclical gully cleansing regime to clean the gullies in Waltham Forest. The regime identifies high-risk areas which are prioritised for more frequent cleansing. Gullies are also checked during regular highways inspections.
Under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, we must produce a local flood risk management strategy.
Our strategy has been developed with input and guidance from the Environment Agency and has been publicly consulted on. The current strategy was published in 2015 and will be reviewed in 2022.
The homeowner or landlord is responsible for the drains on their property up to their boundary.
If you cannot clear the blockage yourself contact a plumber or drainage contractor.
We can require private drains and sewers to be cleared and, if necessary, enforce the required work at the expense of the owner(s).
If you are uncertain whether the blockage is in a public sewer or private drain call Thames Water on 0800 316 9800. They will send a team to determine where the blockage is located. You will be charged for any repair work done to your drains.
If you feel that you are not solely responsible for a blocked drain please contact the Private Sector Housing and Licensing Team within Regulatory Services. They should be able to determine which private property is responsible.
Please note: We do not own any drains or sewers except those serving our own properties. We are responsible for highways drainage, but this is separate from drainage of buildings.
Thames Water is responsible for supplying and ensuring the quality of tap water in Waltham Forest. This is called mains water.
Private water supplies
We are responsible for ensuring the quality of water that doesn’t come from the mains meets the standards of the Private Water Supplies Regulations 2009. This applies to water from private wells, springs and boreholes.
Help with completing online forms
If you don't have a computer, you can use a self-service pc at a Library Plus branch to log your request/report. Staff can help if needed.
Since the enabling of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 councils that are appointed as lead local flood authorities (LLFA) have duties under Section 19, to undertake investigations for flood incidents and events.
Consequently Waltham Forest as an LLFA has produced a flood investigation report which includes:
On becoming aware of a flood in its area, an LLFA must, to the extent that it considers it necessary or appropriate, investigate -
a) which risk management authorities have relevant flood risk management functions
b) whether each of those risk management authorities has exercised, or is proposing to exercise, those functions in response to the flood.
Where an authority carries out an investigation under subsection (1) it must -
a) publish the results of its investigation
b) notify any relevant risk management authorities.
The Council has now completed the final version of the 2021 July and August Section 19 report, which is now linked below:
The London Borough of Waltham Forest draft Multi-Agency Flood Plan (MAFP) (PDF) is now available for public consultation. The MAFP is prepared, maintained and updated by the Borough Resilience Forum (BRF).
Service Store provides the following key flood preventative services:
If you don't have a computer, you can use a self-service PC at any library in Waltham Forest to log your request/report.
Staff there can help you to log in and create a MyAccount.