Sewer flooding

Find out what you should do and how we can help if your home has been flooded by sewage.

Who to contact

If your home has become flooded by sewage, you should contact us. You can do this by reporting a problem online or calling us on 0345 600 4 600 (24 hours).

How we can help

Under our Promise we aim to respond to all sewage flooding incidents within:

• two hours of a first report if internal flooding
• four hours of a first report of external flooding.

We will also provide a clean-up service where possible – within 12 hours where your property is flooding internally and within 24 hours externally – this is a free of charge service.

Find out more about how we can help after a flood.

What you should do

It’s important you take the necessary steps to ensure a sewer flooding incident doesn’t affect your health or that of your loved ones. Follow our health and safety tips to protect yourself, your family, and your home.

If sewage flooding has caused damage, you should contact your own household insurance company immediately. You may need to involve both your buildings and contents insurers if they’re different companies or policies.

We have no legal liability for damage caused by sewer flooding – the exception is where we have been negligent.

Learn more about claiming to cover the costs of a sewer flooding incident.

How to prevent sewer flooding

While there are a number of sewer flooding causes, more often than not they are the result of a blocked drain.

Blockages are usually caused by the following items being flushed down the toilet or put down the sink.

• wet wipes including the ones labelled ‘flushable’
• sanitary items including towels and tampons
• FOGs (fats, oil, and grease) and food leftovers.

Our sewers and your drains are only designed to carry paper, poo and pee.

More advice on how to avoid blockages in your home can be found on our blockages page.

Other types of flooding and who to contact

River flooding

If you are concerned about rising water levels in a nearby river, contact the Environment Agency or call their Floodline on 0345 988 1188.

Roads and highways

If the flooding is coming from a highway drain, you will need to contact National Highways. If the flooding is coming from a drain on a smaller road, you should contact your local council.