How to Prevent Drain Flooding in Heavy Rain (East Midlands)

Heavy rain running across a road surface into a drain grate

How to Prevent Drain Flooding in Heavy Rain (Nottingham & East Midlands)

Written by the Urgent Drainage Solutions teamPublished 8 September 2026Updated 1 October 20268 min read

Quick answer

To prevent drain flooding in heavy rain, clear gutters, gully grates and downpipes before storms, get slow drains jetted, and send roof water to water butts or a working soakaway. Check your long-term flood risk on gov.uk and save the numbers for your water company, council and Floodline so you know who to call.

Most drain flooding in storms happens because gutters, gullies and pipes are already part-blocked before the rain arrives.
The Environment Agency cannot send warnings for surface water flooding, so check your long-term risk on gov.uk yourself.
Public sewer flooding goes to Severn Trent (0800 783 4444) or Anglian Water (03457 145 145); road gullies go to the council.
Never wade through floodwater or lift manhole covers; it may contain sewage and hide open chambers.
During Storm Babet, Nottinghamshire County Council recorded 1,259 homes and businesses flooded internally.

The best way to prevent drain flooding in heavy rain is to make sure every gutter, gully and pipe around your home is clear before the storm, not during it. Clear leaves and silt from gutters and gully grates, have any slow drain cleared by blocked drain specialists or jetted, send roof water into water butts or a working soakaway, and know who to call if water starts backing up. You cannot stop a river overtopping, but you can make sure your own drains have room to carry water away.

This guide includes a printable pre-storm checklist, step-by-step advice for the first hour when drains back up, and a contact table for Nottingham and the East Midlands.

What causes surface water flooding?

Surface water flooding happens when rain falls faster than the ground can soak it up and the drains can carry it away, so it runs across roads and gardens and into buildings. It is often called flash flooding. The Environment Agency's national flood risk assessment estimates that about 4.6 million properties in England are in areas at risk from surface water, more than are at risk from rivers and the sea.

Blocked drains make it worse. A gully half full of leaves, a downpipe choked with moss or a drain lined with fat has far less capacity when a storm arrives. Many older streets also have combined sewers that carry rainwater and sewage in the same pipe, so heavy rain can push sewage back up through low gullies and toilets.

One point catches many people out: gov.uk says the Environment Agency's flood warnings cover rivers, the sea and some groundwater, but cannot be sent for surface water flooding. You have to check that risk yourself.

How do you check your flood risk?

Enter your postcode into the government's free Check your long term flood risk service. It shows the risk from rivers and the sea, surface water, reservoirs and, where available, groundwater, and how climate change could affect it. If you cannot use the online service, Floodline on 0345 988 1188 can help.

For a district-by-district picture, our East Midlands Flood & Drain Risk Report 2026 ranks all 32 council areas in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire using Environment Agency data. Lincoln, Harborough, Leicester and Derby have the highest shares of properties at high or medium surface water risk.

What should be on your pre-storm drain checklist?

Print this and work through it each autumn, and again whenever the Met Office issues a heavy rain warning.

Task	When	Why it matters
Clear gutters, hoppers and outlets	Late autumn, after leaf fall, and in spring	Blocked gutters pour water down walls and next to foundations
Check every downpipe flows freely at the bottom	Same visit	A blocked downpipe overflows at the joints and floods the ground
Lift leaves and silt off gully grates and yard drains	Before forecast heavy rain	Grates block first, so water ponds even when the pipe is clear
Run water down sinks, showers and outside gullies	Monthly	Slow drainage now means overflow in a storm
Book jetting for any drain that is slow, smelly or gurgling	Early autumn	Clearing silt and grease restores the pipe's full capacity
Check the soakaway: does the ground above stay boggy?	After a wet spell	A silted soakaway overflows and floods the garden
Look at inspection chamber covers from above	Twice a year	Report cracked or rocking covers, but do not lift heavy ones
Clear the road gully outside your house, or report it	Before winter	Council gullies are often the first to block with leaves
Fit water butts to downpipes	Any time	Holds back some roof water during short, heavy showers
Save the numbers in the contact table below	Now	Saves time when water is rising
Make a personal flood plan	Now	gov.uk suggests keeping it with medication, documents and contacts

Our guides on how often gutters should be cleaned and how to unblock an outside drain cover the first few steps in more detail.

How do you stop your garden flooding?

Start by working out where the water comes from, because the fix depends on the source. Most garden flooding comes from one of four things: roof water with nowhere to go, a failed soakaway, hard surfaces sending runoff onto soft ground, or ground that drains slowly.

Redirect downpipes. A downpipe discharging straight onto the lawn can put a whole roof's rainwater in one spot. Connect it to a drain or a properly sized soakaway, or a water butt with an overflow.
Fix or rebuild the soakaway. If the lawn above it stays wet, it may be silted up or undersized. Our guide to soakaways explains testing and repair.
Install a French drain where ground stays waterlogged after rain. It only works if the water has a lawful outlet; see our French drain guide.
Use permeable surfaces. Nottinghamshire County Council's report into the June 2016 Mansfield flood, when 64 mm of rain fell in 24 hours and 17 properties flooded internally, pointed to paved-over front gardens as a factor.
Regrade the levels so water falls away from the house, not towards it.
Keep the gully at the bottom of the drive clear, because it is often the only outlet for a paved area.

If the problem is ground level or drainage design rather than a blockage, our groundworks team can lay new drains, channels and soakaways.

What should you do in the first hour when drains back up?

Stay safe first, then work out whose pipe it is. gov.uk advises that floodwater may contain sewage and hide broken drain and manhole covers.

Keep people and pets away from the water. Do not walk, cycle or drive through floodwater, and call 999 if anyone is in immediate danger.
Turn off electricity, gas and water if it is safe. gov.uk warns never to touch an electrical switch while standing in water.
Stop adding water. Avoid flushing toilets or running taps, washing machines and dishwashers until the drain is clear.
Move valuables and medicines upstairs, and put plugs in sinks and baths on the ground floor if sewage is rising.
Do not lift manhole covers. They are heavy, and an open chamber in floodwater is a serious hazard.
Work out whose problem it is. If neighbours are affected too, it is probably the public sewer or a road gully. If only your property is affected, it is probably your private drain.
Call the right organisation from the table below.
Take photos and video of the water, the source and any damage before cleaning up, for your insurer. Our guide to home insurance and drain damage explains what to keep.

If the river is high, drains may not empty until levels fall. In Stapleford during Storm Babet, Nottinghamshire County Council found that gullies could not discharge because the River Erewash was so high, so jetting would not have helped until the river dropped.

Who should you call when drains flood?

Problem	Who is responsible	Contact
Sewage or water coming from a public sewer or shared manhole	Severn Trent (Nottinghamshire, most of Derbyshire and Leicestershire)	0800 783 4444
Sewage or water coming from a public sewer (most of Lincolnshire)	Anglian Water	03457 145 145, its 24-hour helpline
River or sea flooding, flood warnings	Environment Agency	Floodline 0345 988 1188, a 24-hour service
Blocked road gully, flooded road	Highway authority (county or city council)	See the council table below
Blocked drain serving only your property	You, the owner	A drainage contractor
Danger to life	Emergency services	999

Responsibility for drains is not always obvious, especially in older terraces with shared runs. Our guide to who is responsible for blocked drains explains where your pipe ends and the water company's begins.

Which council deals with blocked road gullies?

Area	Where to report
Nottinghamshire	Online, the MyNotts app or customer services on 0300 500 8080
Nottingham City	Report a road problem
Derbyshire	Flooding, drainage and gullies
Derby City	Roads flooding
Leicestershire	Roadside drains
Lincolnshire	Report blocked drains

What has drain flooding looked like in the East Midlands?

Recent storms show how quickly drains are overwhelmed when the ground is already saturated. Nottinghamshire County Council recorded 1,259 homes and businesses flooded internally during Storm Babet in October 2023, after 124 mm of rain fell across parts of the county.

Stapleford: 130 properties flooded internally, and businesses reported many blocked gullies (Nottinghamshire County Council).
Sutton-in-Ashfield: 125 mm of rain fell between 18 and 20 October, road drains could not cope, and bow waves from vehicles pushed water into homes (NCC report).
Lowdham: 135 homes and businesses flooded internally from the Cocker Beck and surface water (NCC report).
Southwell, where we are based: 14 homes flooded internally (NCC report).
Storm Henk, January 2024: the Trent at Colwick peaked above five metres (gov.uk).

Local pages for Nottingham, Southwell and Nottinghamshire cover the areas we work in.

How can you make your home more flood-resilient?

Beyond the checklist, a few changes reduce the damage when drains are overwhelmed:

Fit a non-return valve on the drain where sewage could back up from the public sewer. Ask us about fitting one through our drainage plumbing service.
Replace hard paving with permeable paving or add planting, so rain soaks in rather than running off.
Add water butts and a rain garden to slow roof water down.
Get a CCTV survey if a drain keeps blocking, as a cracked or sagging pipe will keep catching silt. Our guide to signs of a blocked or collapsed drain lists the warning signs.

When to call a professional

Call a drainage contractor before winter if any drain is slow, smells, gurgles or overflowed last year, and call straight away if a private drain is backing up into your home or garden. We clear silt, leaves and grease with high-pressure drain jetting, clean gutters, and camera-survey drains that keep causing trouble. If the problem turns out to be the public sewer, the water company is responsible for clearing it, and we will tell you so.

If a drain is overflowing now, see our emergency drainage page. We work 7 days a week, 6am to 8pm, with emergency call-outs 365 days a year across Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, and there is no call-out fee. Call 07300 600 950.

Sources

Frequently Asked Questions

Clear leaves and silt from gutters, downpipes and gully grates before storms, and get any slow-running drain jetted, because a part-blocked pipe has little spare capacity. Fit water butts to downpipes, keep soakaways working and avoid paving over soft ground. If sewage backs up from the public sewer, a non-return valve can help.

It depends on the source. Public sewers in Nottinghamshire and most of Derbyshire and Leicestershire belong to Severn Trent (0800 783 4444); most of Lincolnshire is Anglian Water (03457 145 145). Blocked road gullies go to the county or city council. Rivers go to Environment Agency Floodline (0345 988 1188). Private drains are yours to clear.

Keep people and pets away, do not touch the water without gloves, and turn off electricity if it is safe to do so. If neighbours are affected too, the public sewer is probably blocked or overloaded, so call the water company. If only your property is affected, your private drain is likely blocked and a drainage contractor can clear it.

Find where the water comes from first. Redirect downpipes that discharge onto the lawn, fix or rebuild a silted soakaway, and clear blocked gullies. For ground that stays waterlogged, a French drain can carry water to a lawful outlet. Permeable paving, water butts and rain gardens all slow runoff from hard surfaces.

No. The Environment Agency's free warnings cover flooding from rivers, the sea and, in some areas, groundwater, but gov.uk says they cannot be sent for surface water flooding. Check your long-term surface water risk online and watch Met Office weather warnings for heavy rain instead.

Cite this guide: “How to Prevent Drain Flooding in Heavy Rain (Nottingham & East Midlands)”, Urgent Drainage Solutions, 1 October 2026. https://urgentdrainagesolutions.co.uk/blog/prepare-drains-for-winter-heavy-rain-east-midlands

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