You may be aware that Storm Bert will be hitting the United Kingdom this weekend. Nationally, the storm will bring very strong winds, heavy rain and, for a time, snow and blizzards.
The Environment Agency has warned that the heavy rain could lead to some localised flooding. Temperatures are also set to rise.
There is a yellow Met Office warning for rain that reaches the south and south-west of Oxfordshire and parts of Oxford. The Environment Agency expects there to be a number of flood alerts and warnings affecting parts of Oxfordshire over the weekend and into Monday.
A reminder below of advice you can give to residents:
Residents can:
- Check their flood risk on X (follow @EnvAgencySE) and sign up for free flood warnings from the Environment Agency.
- Keep in touch with the Environment Agency’s regularly updated information relating to current flood alerts and flood warnings and the five-day flood risk for Oxfordshire.
- Call the Environment Agency’s flooding hotline for advice and support at any time on 0345 988 1188.
- Monitor online information from The Met Office, which issues weather warnings when severe weather is expected.
- Read our flooding newspage and flooding toolkit, which provides advice and support for residents and businesses, including on preparing for instances of flooding.
- Check X at @OxonTravel for road and travel updates.
There is more information available in the guidance note attached from emergency planning, including links to the various sandbag policies across the county.
Together with partners across the Thames Valley we will monitor the situation as it unfolds. We hope that the impact of the heavy rain will be low but in the event of any flooding, please can we urge members to support frontline services, who will be busy responding to help residents, by signposting constituents as above.