Flood

The card's three instructions are the right three and its warning about moving water is the one that saves lives. This is the hour before and the week after.

Before it arrives, in order

The card says go up early. This is what to do while going up.

1. Move the car first, to higher ground, while the roads are still passable. It is the most valuable thing you own that can be saved by moving, and it is usually the first thing lost.
2. Power off at the mains before water reaches the house, as the card says. Never touch a consumer unit while standing in water. If it is already wet, leave it and ring for help.
3. Gas off at the meter if water is coming in.
4. Upstairs, in this order: medicines, documents pouch, glasses, phone and chargers, cash, one warm layer each, then anything irreplaceable. Photographs and things that cannot be bought again.
5. Lift what you can, unplug what you cannot. Sofas onto bricks, rugs up, curtains over the rail, electricals off the floor.
6. Fill the bath and containers. Mains water often survives, and if it does not you are glad of it. Flooding contaminates supplies and a boil notice is common afterwards.
7. Put wellingtons and a torch upstairs, because you will be coming down into water and darkness.
8. Tell somebody where you are.

Know which warning you are under. Flood alert means be prepared, flood warning means act now, severe flood warning means danger to life. The tripwires companion sets these as the thresholds and this is where they cash in.

Sandbags do not work the way people think

Sandbags slow water. They do not stop it. They leak steadily, they need filling and placing hours in advance, and by the time they are wanted there are none left anywhere.

What actually performs better:

• Proprietary flood barriers for doors, which seal against the frame.
• Airbrick covers, which are cheap and address a route people forget entirely.
• Non-return valves on drains and toilets, because a common route in is up through the drainage rather than under the door.
• Silicone around low-level cable and pipe entries.
• Moving the important things upstairs, which is the measure that always works.

All of that is bought and fitted on a dry day, which is the only useful time. If you are in a flood-risk property, this is the single most worthwhile weekend in this app.

Do not pump the cellar out fast

Photograph it before you touch it

The strongest instinct after a flood is to start clearing. Do the photographs first, because they are what the claim turns on.

1. Photograph and film everything before moving anything. Every room, the water line on the wall, damaged contents, the outside of the property.
2. Keep a written list of what is damaged, with makes and models where you can.
3. Ring the insurer early, and ask before disposing of anything. Many will want to see it or send a loss adjuster.
4. Keep samples of ruined flooring or carpet rather than skipping the lot.
5. Keep receipts for everything you spend afterwards, including accommodation.

Then the clean-up, which is a public health job as much as a tidying one.

Drying takes months, not days. Plaster and masonry hold water long after surfaces feel dry, and redecorating too early means doing it twice. The electrics need inspecting before being switched back on, and that is an electrician rather than a judgement call.

Look after the people too. Being flooded is one of the more traumatic ordinary events that happens to British households, and the mental health effects run long after the building is dry. That is the hard pages companion territory, and it applies here more often than any other scenario in this set.