Guidance

Flooding and health: executive summary

Updated 19 December 2023

Executive summary

Flooding has extensive and significant impacts on health and wellbeing. These impacts occur both acutely and over the long term. While the immediate dangers to physical health from flooding events are highly visible, longer-term health effects associated with flooding are harder to identify and record, and may include effects relating to displacement, destruction of homes, delayed recovery, power outages, water shortages and disruption of access to health services. Most of the health burden associated with flooding in England is, however, due to impacts on mental health and wellbeing.

This guide forms part of a suite of products under the Adverse Weather and Health Plan (AWHP). The AWHP delivers the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) commitment under the National Adaptation Programme (NAP) to develop a single plan, bringing together and improving current guidance on weather and health. It builds on existing measures taken by government, its agencies, NHS England and local authorities, to protect individuals and communities from the health effects of adverse weather and to build community resilience.

This guide on flooding and health provides a framework intended to address and raise awareness on the wide-ranging health impacts of flooding. It is intended for public health and local authorities, emergency services, frontline health professionals and other public agencies who interact with those at most risk from the health impacts of flooding.

The guide aims to:

• raise awareness of the different flood alerts, enabling communities to prepare and respond appropriately
• raise awareness of the adverse impacts flood events can have on health and wellbeing
• provide information on flood recovery and associated clean-up processes
• provide evidence-based recommendations on the preventive measures to reduce public health effects associated with flooding
• provide evidence-based recommendations on the preventive measures to reduce the measures needed to prevent major psychosocial effects on health arising from floods in England

Based on the aims listed above, the guide suggests a series of steps to be taken to reduce the health risk from flooding by:

• the NHS, local authorities, social care and other public agencies
• professionals working with people at risk
• individuals, local communities and voluntary groups

The guide addresses the following topics:

1. Understanding the public health impacts of flooding, and identifying who is at risk.
2. Preparing for flooding and supporting community resilience.
3. Essential information on flood recovery – covering immediate action for flood recovery – this includes important messages on cleaning processes.
4. Advice on managing physical health risks that may arise from flooding, for example due to food and water supply disruption or chemical contamination.
5. Advice on assessment and management of mental health risks from flooding – covering the immediate and long-term actions needed to provide mental health support to people affected by flood events, the role of relevant agencies to mitigate these impacts and to raise awareness of having a phased approach in the aftermath.