Getting Flood Warnings Without Email or for Several Addresses

You do not need an email address to be warned about flooding. The free flood warning services run by the Environment Agency in England, Natural Resources Wales in Wales and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) in Scotland will all contact you by phone, text or email, whichever you choose¹. When you register you give the address you want warnings for, an email address and the best way to contact you with a warning⁴. If email is the sticking point, a relative, a friend or your council can help you set the account up, and after that the warnings can arrive as a voice call on your landline or a text on your mobile.

The same account can cover more than one property. You can sign up using a postcode, or search by town or city to find the warnings available, including for a workplace or school that is not your own home³. That makes it practical to arrange warnings for an elderly parent, a tenant or a second home, with the messages coming to you.

What the service cannot do is warn you about everything. Flood warnings cover flooding from rivers, the sea and groundwater, depending on your area, but not surface water flooding, sometimes called flash flooding¹. Floods can happen without any warning at all, so a warning service is one layer of your plan, not the whole of it⁵.

Signing up by phone instead of email

The registration route is the same whichever contact method you want. You can sign up online for free flood warnings delivered by phone, email or text, or you can register by telephone by calling Floodline⁹. The service is free and is run for households and businesses at risk of flooding⁷. In England it is the Environment Agency's service, for homes and organisations in England at risk of flooding¹.

When you register you will be asked for three things: the address you want flood warnings for, an email address, and the best way to contact you with a warning, whether that is email, a call or a text⁴. If you do not have an email address, ask someone you trust to help you complete the form, or contact the flood warning service for your nation and explain what you need.

Once you are registered, the warnings come to you directly. The Met Office and local councils both point households at the same free service: warnings sent direct to your mobile, home phone or email¹¹. You are choosing a channel, not a different level of service.

Getting warnings by text message or voice call

The warning services offer several delivery methods, and you pick the one that suits your household. The Flood Warning Information Service can send messages direct to you by telephone, mobile, email, SMS text message, fax or pager¹⁰. In practice most households choose a mobile text, a voice call to a landline, or both.

In Scotland, SEPA delivers warnings by automated messaging to landlines and mobile phones, and can also deliver by text message¹². In Wales, Natural Resources Wales notifies you by text message, phone call and/or email as soon as warnings are issued for your chosen location¹³.

If you have no mobile signal where you live, a landline voice call is the sensible choice, because the warning arrives on the phone that works. The government's emergency alerts to mobiles do not need mobile data or wifi, but they do need a mobile signal¹⁴. Do not treat any single channel as guaranteed: floods can happen without warning, and you may not receive a flood alert or warning at all⁵.

Adding several addresses to one account

One registration can cover more than one place. In Wales, MyFloodline lets you sign up using a postcode, or search by town or city to find the flood warnings that are available³. The same search works for a workplace or school that is not your own property: you search by its postcode or town and select it¹⁵.

In England, the service is free for individuals and small businesses with up to 10 locations⁸. That covers a family with a main home and a second property, a landlord with a small portfolio, or a shop and a house in the same town. Each location is registered by its address, and the warnings for each come to the contact details you have given.

There is one limit to know about when you check risk rather than sign up. When you look up flood risk by postcode, multiple buildings at the same address are not selected¹⁶. If your property is one of several at a single address, such as a flat in a block or a unit on a farm, check that the right building is the one being warned about, and search by town if the postcode does not bring it up.

Warnings for someone else: a relative, a tenant or a second home

You can arrange warnings for a property that is not yours. Register the address you want warnings for and give your own contact details, so the messages come to you¹⁷. You will need the address, an email address and a way to contact you at any time of day or night¹⁷. That is what makes it work for an elderly parent whose phone they may not hear, or a tenant who has just moved in.

Tell the person you have done it. Councils advise households to check on vulnerable neighbours or relatives when flooding is forecast, and a warning that reaches you is only useful if you act on it¹⁸. The NHS also advises people at risk of flooding to check whether their property is in a flood risk area and to sign up for warnings by text, phone or email¹⁹.

For a business or a holiday let, the same registration applies. The service is open to homes and businesses at risk of flooding²⁰, and the Met Office runs an email alert system for severe weather warnings that all residents and business owners are encouraged to use, whether or not their property is in a flood risk area²¹. If you manage a let, register the property and keep your own contact details on the account so you are told when the guests are not.

What each warning level asks you to do

A warning is only useful if you know what to do when it arrives. The messages come in levels, and the level tells you how much time you have and what to do first. The three levels are not always used in sequence: in a flash flood, a severe flood warning may be issued immediately with no preceding level²².

• Flood alert: flooding is possible, be prepared. Check your plan, move valuables upstairs and keep an eye on the water.
• Flood warning: flooding is expected, act now. Turn off your gas, electricity and water supplies if it is safe to do so²³.
• Severe flood warning: flooding is expected and there is a danger to life. Follow the advice of the emergency services.

When you act, do it safely. Do not touch an electrical switch if you are standing in water²³. If you are in immediate danger, call 999²⁴. The Met Office's advice for heavy rain is to turn off gas, water and electricity supplies²⁵, and our guide to turning off gas, electricity and water before a flood walks through each one.

Warnings in Wales and Scotland

The warning service is devolved, so the organisation you sign up with depends on where the property is. In England it is the Environment Agency¹. In Wales it is Natural Resources Wales, which runs its own sign-up and its MyFloodline account system²⁶. In Scotland it is SEPA, which delivers warnings by automated messaging to landlines and mobile phones and by text message¹².

A few things differ in Wales. Some locations will only receive flood alerts and not flood warnings, because alerts cover large areas and give advance notice of the possibility of flooding; they are issued earlier and more often than warnings¹³. If your property is outside a warning area, you can sign up for the nearest relevant area by searching by town or city and selecting from the list¹³. Natural Resources Wales messages are provided only in Welsh or English¹³, and the information you give is used only for flood warning and informing¹³. If you have registered but are not receiving warnings, contact Natural Resources Wales so they can check your registration¹³. Our guide to Wales: Natural Resources Wales warnings and risk maps goes further.

When the warning does not come

The most important thing to understand about flood warnings is their limit. Floods can happen without any warning, and you may not live in a flood risk area, so you may not be notified by the service at all⁵. Flooding can happen without warning⁶. Surface water flooding is the clearest example: it can occur very quickly and is often very localised, so there is not time to issue advance warning messages¹³.

That is why the Met Office advises people to sign up to its weather warnings as well, which cover heavy rain and storms before they arrive²⁸. Our guide to staying informed and in touch in an emergency sets out how the different warning channels fit together.