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• Find out if you are at risk from flooding - call Floodline 0845 988 1188 or log on to www.environment-agency.gov.uk/floodline for advice and information to help prepare yourself, your family and your home
  
  
• Check your insurance policy to ensure you have adequate flood cover.
  
  
• Keep a list of useful numbers to hand - your council, emergency services, insurance company and Floodline - 0845 988 1188.
  
  
• Discuss possible flooding with your family, your friends and your neighbours. Is there an elderly neighbour or relative who will need your help?
  
  
• Prepare a Family Flood Plan - think about what you and your family would do and what you might need in the event of a flood. Discuss the plan with your family and friends and try it out (include things like making sure pets are safe and plan where you could move the car to).
  
  
• At work - check there's a Business Flood Plan. Have a flood drill to practice what you and your employees/ fellow workers would need to do in the event of a flood.
  
  
• Get into the habit of storing valuable or sentimental personal belongings upstairs or in as high a place as possible.
  
  
• Have a few sandbags or floodboards prepared to block doorways and airbricks. In an emergency, make sandbags using old pillow cases, carrier bags or even tights filled with sand or earth.
  
  
• Make up a Flood Kit - include a torch, blankets, waterproof clothing, wellingtons, a portable radio, first aid kit, rubber gloves and key personal documents.
  
  
• Make sure you know where to turn off your gas, electricity and water supplies. If you're not sure, ask the person who reads the meter when they next visit.
  
  
• Remember that floods can strike with little warning, at any time of day or night. Be prepared for flooding.