Independent flood recovery commentary for English homeowners. Urgent alerts when conditions change. Monthly analysis of flood risk, insurance, drainage and your legal rights.
Flood Re marked ten years in operation with its biggest reform package yet — including a new certificate for flood resilience. Here's what it means.
A new certificate modelled on the Energy Performance Certificate, a premium cut for lower-value homes, and an expanded Build Back Better scheme — all announced as Flood Re marks its tenth anniversary. What's changing, and why documented flood history and resilience now matter more than ever.
Read the full update →After the hottest summer on record, the coming autumn's first storms will meet unusually dry, compacted ground. Three new pieces on why that raises flash flood risk — and what to do about it while the sun is still shining.
Anglian Water’s own explanation of why a hosepipe ban won’t lift the moment it rains is also a plain account of why dry ground raises flood risk. What their update means if you live in our four core counties.
Read article → Blog 10 · Flash Flood Risk WHYBritain has broken heat records this summer, with drought bulletins across every English region. So why is a flood recovery consultancy watching the forecast? Because drought is how many of Britain's worst flash floods begin.
Read article → Blog 11 · Preparation WHEN · WHAT IFA record-breaking summer has left English soils drier than average in every region. Here is the RISE Three-R checklist — a sequence of unglamorous, mostly free actions to take while the weather is still kind.
Read article →There is no single flood authority in England. A scenario-by-scenario guide to whether it’s your council, your water company, the Environment Agency, or you — plus what you may be owed if a public sewer floods your home.
Blog 13 · Homeowner Guide HOW · WHAT IFCouncil, water company, Environment Agency, or you? Five real scenarios, and what you’re entitled to if it’s the water company’s fault.
Read article →When the situation calls for more than a county explainer — RISE's deeper investigative writing on the structural problems shaping flood risk in England.
The most common flood risk in England is the one that never leads the news. What the regulator's own peer body found about surface water management — the staffing, the funding, the Section 19 problem, the twelve-year postponement of the law that was supposed to fix it — and what it means for homeowners who have just flooded.
Read the long read →A six-part deep dive into UK flood risk — from the national picture, through each of the four counties RISE serves, to what the first 72 hours after a flood demand of you.
NaFRA2 now identifies 6.3 million English properties at risk. 4.6 million are exposed to surface water flooding alone — three times the river and sea risk. What it means for homeowners.
Read article → Blog 02 · Buckinghamshire IF · HOWRiver, surface water and groundwater risk across the county — and what one Section 19 investigation revealed about an entire village's flood exposure.
Read article → Blog 03 · Oxfordshire IFStorm Henk in January 2024, and September 2024, the wettest calendar month on record in the Met Office's Oxfordshire series going back to 1836, and a county whose council openly warns it is moving from sporadic floods to continuous flooding.
Read article → Blog 04 · Northamptonshire IF · HOWA county that drains into three separate river systems. The Nene Valley, the convective storm risk, and the Section 19 investigations being triggered with growing frequency.
Read article → Blog 05 · Bedfordshire IF · HOWBedford's recurring fluvial risk, urban flash flooding in Luton, and the responsibility maze homeowners encounter when councils and water companies pass them between each other.
Read article → Blog 06 · Recovery WHAT IFThree parties arrive at your door — the insurer, the loss adjuster, the contractor. None of them work for you. What to do instead, and why those first three days set the cost of everything that follows.
Read article →Sixteen new pieces covering the season ahead, the money most homeowners leave unclaimed, the legal detail behind Section 19, and the human cost of displacement that rarely makes the headlines.
The Met Office's Chief Meteorologist has confirmed increased odds of a wetter, windier autumn. What it actually means for flood risk — and what to do while it's still dry.
Read article → Blog 15 · Insurance WHAT IFFlood Re's figures show about a third of claims after Storms Babet, Ciaran and Henk included Build Back Better, but use ranged from 4% to 56% by insurer. What to check and ask for.
Read article → Blog 16 · Policy WHYThe government points to 99% of new homes meeting flood risk standards. A Parliamentary committee points to a 2010 law still not fully in force. The gap between those two figures.
Read article → Blog 17 · Grants WHAT IFUp to £5,000 exists to help make a flooded home more resilient — but it only activates under specific conditions most homeowners never check.
Read article → Blog 18 · Groundwater WHY · HOWNo river nearby, no history of surface water, and water is still coming up through your floor. In Chalk areas like the Chilterns, that's groundwater flooding.
Read article → Blog 19 · Renters HOW · WHAT IFFlood recovery advice is written almost entirely for homeowners. If you rent, the rules — and the gaps — are different.
Read article → Blog 20 · Buying & Selling WHAT IFThe TA6 form isn't legally mandatory to complete — but lying on it can be. What sellers must disclose, and what buyers should ask for.
Read article → Blog 21 · Insurance Disputes WHAT IFThe real, formal route to challenge an insurer's decision — including the one step almost everyone skips before it's too late to use it.
Read article → Blog 22 · Drainage HOW · WHAT IFThe actual formal escalation ladder for when you've already reported it and been ignored — and an honest account of what it can and can't force a council to do.
Read article → Blog 23 · Human Cost WHAT IFNew research surveying over 100 flood survivors puts numbers on the mental health toll, the isolation, and how long displacement really lasts.
Read article → Blog 24 · Section 19 HOWThe law doesn't say your council must investigate every flood — it says they must decide whether to. Why that one word matters more than any other in the Act.
Read article → Blog 25 · Community Impact WHEN · IFA closed road isn't bureaucracy — it's protecting the people and properties still fighting the water. What actually happens when a closure gets ignored.
Read article → Blog 26 · Technology IF · WHENRiver sensors and flood radar are being pitched to parish councils everywhere. What this technology genuinely adds — and what it can't replace.
Read article → Blog 27 · Buying a Home IFThe government's free flood risk checker is genuinely useful — and has a gap most buyers never realise. How to check properly before you're committed.
Read article → Blog 28 · RISE Update IFRISE works across four core counties — but the river catchments and legal rights we work with don't stop at those lines. What's happening just beyond them.
Read article → Blog 29 · New Builds & Insurance WHAT IF · WHYAviva's chief executive says England is “for sure” building homes that could become uninsurable. Homes built from 2009 onwards sit outside Flood Re — what that means, and what to check.
Read article →No obligation. No jargon. By the end of the call you will have a clear view of your options — whether or not you engage RISE.
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