SEPA has launched its Prepare and Be Aware Flood Resilience Campaign this autumn.
It is hoped that it will help people and communities to be better prepared for flooding and encourage and inspire action when it matters most. Also for everyone to be ready for flooding this winter by understanding the warnings available, think about their own preparations, and how to get help if needed.
People are being encouraged to sign up to Floodline for focused warnings (and/or wider alerts).
Flooding can affect anyone, disrupting travel and damaging homes. Example images below relate to Storm Austen late October 2026
Weather warnings come from the UK Met Office. They include a map with coloured areas of yellow, amber and red along with text explaining the forecast (above) and a matrix showing Likelihood and Impacts (below). All three parts are important.
SEPA issues the Flood warnings in Scotland, which can be Alerts for wide regions, or Flood Warnings for more focused areas, waterways, coasts or rivers. The highest level is Severe Flood Warnings which relate to specific locations.
The Scottish Flood Forecast is produced by these two organisations working together. So the flood risk maps can look similar to the weather warning map, but not always.
Phone
Call SEPA Floodline on 0345 988 1188.
Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Sewers
Call Scottish Water on 0800 0778 778.
Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Local roads and drains
The council usually deals with floods on local roads, streets and drains. Check East Lothian council website for how to tell them about a local flood.
SEPA have a Report a Flood website where you can use their map to pinpoint the location of flooding that you have encountered. This is an invaluable record of events and times, to be used in the future.
…sending information on where and when flooding takes place helps improve our understanding and knowledge for future flood risk management. SEPA
Preparation
You can view long term flooding risks on the SEPA Floodmaps, for river, coastal and surface water/small watercourses flooding. Always worth doing if you are moving house.
There is lots more advice on the SEPA website including checklists.
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