More than 83,000 properties protected by Environment Agency during this month’s flooding

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More than 83,000 properties protected by Environment Agency during this month's flooding

The Environment Agency has urged people to stay vigilant to the risk of flooding and stay away from swollen rivers.

At the start of January, heavy rainfall and snowmelt saw significant river and surface water across large parts of England. The highest river levels on record were reached on the Mersey in Stockport and South Manchester.

As of 1pm on Monday, there are 25 flood alerts live across the country, with minor river flooding impacts possible, but not expected, on Monday and Tuesday in parts of the North of England. Local residents should continue to follow local advice.

However, the current forecast for the next five days shows the overall flood risk for England is very low.

Environment Agency teams will remain on the ground supporting the public as they recover from the recent flooding and are still operating flood defences and basins to manage possible impacts.

More than 83,000 properties have been protected by the Environment Agency and their teams in the past week. Sadly, the total number of properties reported to have been flooded stands at 2,600.

We continue to monitor the forecast and impacts on river and surface water levels. Our message to the public remains to check their flood risk, sign up for free flood warnings and keep up to date with the latest situation.

Dane Broomfield, Flood Duty Manager at the Environment Agency, said:

The work of our dedicated Environment Agency teams has helped to protect more than 78,000 properties during the recent flooding. The total number of properties sadly reported to have flooded is 1,499 and our thoughts are with all those who have been affected.

The current forecast shows the overall flood risk for England over the next five days is now very low, with some minor river flooding impacts possible, but not expected, on Monday and Tuesday.

Environment Agency teams will continue to be out on the ground, operating flood defences, taking action to reduce the impact of flooding, issuing flood warnings and supporting those communities affected.

Our advice remains the same - people should check their flood risk, sign up for free flood warnings and keep up to date with the latest situation as well as following @EnvAgency on X for the latest flood updates.

Lessons learned from these floods will be fed directly into the new Floods Resilience Taskforce to speed up the development of flood defences and bolster the nation's resilience to extreme weather.

The Taskforce brings together the Secretary of State and Minister Hardy with representatives from Defra, MHCLG, Home Office, Cabinet Office, the Environment Agency, the Met Office, Local Resilience Forums, Mayoral Offices, emergency responders and the National Farmers Union, among others.

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Updates to this page

Published 1 January 2025
Last updated 13 January 2025 + show all updates