This week (13 – 19 October 2025) is Flood Action Week – the Environment Agency’s annual campaign to raise awareness about flood risk and preparedness. With more frequent and intense rainfall, flooding remains a serious threat to people, property, and livelihoods across mainland England. As we were reminded earlier this summer, this kind of flooding can also affect the islands and the risk is likely to increase with climate change.
In support of Flood Action Week, we’re joining government in reminding residents of steps we can all take to assess long term flood risk and take protective action, whilst also highlighting the action the Council is taking to meet our flood risk management responsibilities as the Lead Local Flood Authority for the islands.
What you can do
Assess flood risk
Government has provided an online tool to help people assess their long-term flood risk. It works for Scilly, includes flood maps for all of the islands and is a good starting point for anyone who is not sure whether their property is likely to be affected by different types of flooding.
If you would like to speak to someone at the Council about flood risk, please contact environment@scilly.gov.uk or call 01720 424450.
Prepare your family and property in advance
Make a plan to protect your family and property in the event of a flood. We provide some basic flood safety advice on our website and the Environment Agency has provided detailed guidance on the things you could consider when making a personal flood plan, which you may find helpful when creating a plan for your household or business, or as a starting point for further conversations and research.
Help will not always be immediately available from the authorities in a flood event, so residents at risk must prepare by taking measures to protect their homes and businesses.
Stay informed
The Environment Agency has announced that it will be transitioning from the ‘Sign up for flood warnings’ service currently promoted on GOV.UK, to their new ‘Get flood warnings’ service this autumn. Advice on GOV.UK will be updated in due course. However, until we receive confirmation that the islands will be fully incorporated into this new service, the Council will continue to work with the Environment Agency directly to try and tailor flood warnings to the islands more effectively.
As the Lead Local Flood Authority, the Council assesses and shares warnings from the Environment Agency and Met Office which relate to the level of flood risk in our area. As everyone who lives on or travels to Scilly will be aware, predicting the impacts of such rapidly shifting conditions across all of the islands can be difficult to do reliably. Whilst we do our best to get accurate, timely messages about storm and tidal events out to our community, we often have a limited window of time in which to make these local assessments and get the message out. We are also mindful that sharing too many warnings about impacts which do not come to pass in reality can reduce attention paid to all warnings over time. This is something we try to avoid, whilst also making sure we amplify warnings of significant threats.
In light of the difficulty of this balancing act, we urge everyone to keep an eye on national weather and flood warnings themselves in order to draw their own conclusions about the precautions which may need to be taken, and to follow our Facebook account and email subscription service, and those of other authorities on the islands, for additional information the community here may need to be aware of.
We also encourage everyone to report damage caused by flooding to environment@scilly.gov.uk so flood data for Scilly can lead to more tailored and effective warning services in the future.
What we’re responsible for
Our Local Flood Risk Management Strategy was approved at Full Council on 14 October 2025, following public consultation on the draft document over the summer. The document sets out what the Council is responsible for in relation to the management of flood risk and contains plan of action over the next 6 years. You can read the Local Flood Risk Management Strategy in full on our website.
What we’re not responsible for
The October Full Council report lists the amendments made to the draft following the public consultation. One of the amendments has addressed some previously incorrect messaging about the provision of sandbags and made it clear that no authorities have any responsibility to provide sandbags to residents. It also clarifies that the Isles of Scilly Fire and Rescue Service has no statutory responsibility to protect property from flooding.
It is the responsibility of the property owner to assess their flood risk as set out above and take steps to make them more resilient to flood risk. We therefore urge everyone to consider the risk posed to their home and research which measures and products are most likely to be appropriate and effective in the event of a flood event.
Other support available
The National Flood Forum charity hosts a directory of flood products and services on a website called ‘Blue Pages’ which also details, where appropriate, the relevant standards or criteria that should be met. Neither the National Flood Forum nor the Council of the Isles of Scilly endorses any of the products or services on these pages, but they may serve as a useful platform to enable people to make informed decisions about how best to protect their homes and businesses. Any questions about the Blue Pages should be directed to the National Flood Forum Helpline on 01299 403 055.