The Environment Agency's flood warning service is free, and in July 2026 it said 1.54 million people had signed up. It only works if your details are right and your address is covered. Here is a quick check to run before the wet months, and the gap it will never fill.
Photo: Shane Monarc / Unsplash (illustrative)
Published 7 November 2026 · A RISE guide · 4–5 minute read
Our last guide explained what to do at each flood warning level. None of that helps if the message never reaches you. When the Environment Agency launched its 2025 Flood Action Week, it said 45% of the public had not looked up the flood risk for their home. Signing up takes less time than reading this page.
Sign up online at GOV.UK. You will need an email address, and you choose whether to be warned by phone call, text or email. If you are not online, ring Floodline on 0345 988 1188. It runs 24 hours a day. The service is free.
If you signed up years ago, sign in to your account. You can update your details, remove areas you no longer need and delete the account. A warning sent to an old mobile number or a work email you no longer check is no warning at all.
Warnings are issued for flooding from rivers, the sea or groundwater, “depending on your area”. Look up the long-term flood risk for your area too. It is free on GOV.UK and shows the risk from rivers and the sea, surface water, reservoirs and, where data exists, groundwater. If surface water is your street's main risk, the warning service will not cover it, which brings us to the gap below.
A warning that arrives on one phone while that person is at work helps nobody at home. Agree who acts on an alert, and make sure the people who will be in the house can receive it too.
GOV.UK is direct about it: “You cannot get flood warnings for surface water flooding (sometimes known as ‘flash flooding’).” That is rain that cannot drain away fast enough, and it is behind many of the floods we deal with in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire.
The government's flood minister told Parliament in March 2026 that its Flood Resilience Taskforce had introduced an improved forecasting service for surface water flooding. That improves the forecasts that emergency planners work from. It is not the same as a personal warning to your phone. So, on top of the flood warning service:
Sources: GOV.UK, Sign up for flood warnings. GOV.UK, Check the long term flood risk for an area in England. Environment Agency, How climate change is impacting the way flooding is managed (20 Jul 2026). Environment Agency, Flood Action Week press release (13 Oct 2025). UK Parliament, Investing in our flood defences in 2026/2027 and beyond, HCWS1406 (17 Mar 2026). Met Office, UK weather warnings.
Live data from the Environment Agency, refreshed every 15 minutes.
No obligation. No jargon. By the end of the call you will have a clear view of your options — whether you engage RISE or not.
Call any time No callback RISE directly
Help us focus future content
RISE is researching gaps in publicly available flood recovery information. If you have 90 seconds, your responses help us understand what homeowners actually struggle to find clear answers on — and shape what we write next.
Take the 90-second survey →