Report
If you are reporting this defect outside normal working hours – Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5.30pm – and you believe it is an urgent problem and a risk to public safety, please phone the police on 101.
For up to date information about floods affecting roads in Somerset, please visit the Travel Somerset website.
When you contact us, please provide the following information:
- Your name, and phone number, in case we need to contact you
- Whether the problem is in the pathway or the carriageway
- If the problem is associated with a blocked drain
- If there is a risk to property or if the water on the highway is being a hazard
During severe weather conditions heavy demands are often made on the service, we will investigate reports as soon as resources permit and react according to our findings, involving other organisations where necessary.
Motorways and trunk roads
To report flooding on the M5 or a major trunk road (A303, A36) please contact Highways England information Line on 0300 123 5000.
Burst pipes
If the flooding is due to a burst pipe, you should contact your water supplier (the company to whom you pay your water rates). Property owners are responsible for preventing flooding to their properties.
You need to contact us should your premises flood due to something we have unreasonably done or not done.
What we are responsible for
We are responsible for keeping roads and pavements free of flooding that might cause a hazard or an obstruction to highway users. We have a duty to keep the highway network free from obstruction and safe for all to use.
We are also responsible for ensuring that any soil washed onto the highway that is likely to represent a danger to highway users is removed. Where possible we recharge the costs to the landowner (when the problem can be identified as being the result of action or negligence by the landowner). We also contact landowners where potential problems are identified with a view to suggesting preventative action.
The Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) and the Somerset Wildlife Trust work in partnership with us and provide land management practices and sustainable solutions to soil run-off problems. Their role is educational and advisory and they carry their message to farmers and landowners through workshops, practical demonstrations and personal visits.
We are not responsible for preventing flooding to private property; that is the owner’s responsibility, unless the situation is the result of something we have unreasonably done or not done.
General information
If a flooded road is caused by a ruptured water main the water company will be responsible for repairing the damage.
- Bristol Water Leakline – 0800 801011
- Wessex Water Leakstoppers – 0800 692 0 692
Sandbags
Your District Council will advise on the provision of sand bags to help protect properties from flooding.
Floodline
Floodline – 08708 506506
This is a service provided by the Environment Agency, providing up-to-date flood warnings and advice. Floodline can also provide useful information on purchasing flood protection equipment. They also offer advice and expertise through education and promotion of good practices to farmers.
Roads have features designed to take the water away from the road surface. Exceptional rainfall, a road being in a low lying area, changes in run off from adjacent fields and rivers overflowing are some situations that can lead to the road flooding or being waterlogged even when drains are in good working order. Puddles tend to occur if there is a depression in the road and can be rectified by local patching of the road surface. The priorities attached to this type of work depend on the urgency of other work and the resources available.
Highway gullies are cleared on an annual cycle or more frequently where appropriate. If there is a likelihood of property being flooded and water on the highway being a hazard please report it to us.
Highway flooding can cause a hazard and can damage the structure of the road. The main flooding threats are a river rising, a blocked water course, a burst pipe, road water flooding, a blocked drain (gully), ditch or culvert, land surface water flooding off of fields or natural spring water flooding.