Emergency planning

If you discover or experience an emergency dial 999. Do not assume someone else has done it. You may be advised to stay inside, close all windows and doors and to look and listen out for advice and information. You can do this by:

• Using local radio stations.
• Using national radio stations and television news programmes.
• Monitoring social media, such as the Council’s Twitter account and Facebook page.
• Listening out for and make a note of emergency phone numbers.
• Passing on warnings to those who may have missed them and check on older and vulnerable people.

Emergencies can happen at any time, often strike without warning and their cause can range from human error such as road traffic collisions, to extreme acts of nature such as large scale flooding or severe ice and snow.

Such emergencies can result in:

• The loss of basic services including water, power, gas and telephone lines.
• Damage to properties and local infrastructure.
• Evacuation from your home and neighbourhood.

Our aim is to reduce the chance of these emergencies occurring and if they do occur reducing their impact on residents and the environment to a minimum. We are guided by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. This Act has established a statutory framework for civil protection and community resilience at a local level.

The Act ensures the organisations best placed to manage emergency response and recovery are at the heart of civil protection.

Emergency Planning in Surrey is co-ordinated by Surrey's Local Resilience Forum (SLRF). Tandridge works closely with our partner agencies, through the SLRF. This forum is a multi-agency group committed to making Surrey a safer place. The SLRFis made up of key organisations, which include:

• Surrey Police.
• Surrey Fire and Rescue Service.
• South East Coast Ambulance Service.
• Surrey County Council.
• District and Borough Councils.
• NHS England.
• Environment Agency.

The community risk register has been created to provide public information about the hazards which exist in Surrey. The register outlines hazards and the control measures which are in place to mitigate their impact. Tandridge's plans are based on the register. The document can be viewed on Surrey's community risk register page.

We have statutory responsibilities to respond to emergencies. The main roles are:

• Support the emergency services.
• Assistance to people in distress.
• Co-ordinate the activities of their various departments and other agencies.
• Release information agreed by the police to the media and give advice to the public.
• Keep local council services going in as normal a way as possible.
• Restore stability with the aim of restoring normality.

We can provide:

• A Rest Centre to provide temporary accommodation.
• A Survivor Reception Centre, which is a secure area where uninjured survivors involved in a major incident, can be taken for shelter.
• A Family and Friends Reception Centre for use by friends and relatives arriving at a scene of a major incident.
• Humanitarian Assistance Centres can be set up after a major incident as an additional resource specifically for helping affected residents and businesses with advice.
• Additional staff, if required for the use of plant equipment, eg in the event of a flooding incident.
• Advice, guidance, monitoring with regard to any environmental aspects of the incident.
• Advice on dangerous structures.
• Rehabilitating communities following an incident.

During an incident you may be asked to evacuate and to go to a rest centre. If you have friends, family or neighbours who could look after you, we recommend this as a first option. If you have nowhere else to go, you will be taken to a rest centre.

To respond to any incident, we have created response plans. The overarching plan is the Emergency Plan which contains details of the generic arrangements for responding to an incident.

Tandridge has other plans, written in conjunction with the Surrey Local Resilience Forum, to help it respond to incidents. These incidents can be natural disasters such as flooding and storms or other events such as major traffic accidents, unexploded bombs, pollution incidents, large fires, suspect packages or acts of terrorism.

Surrey County Council’s website provides lots of information about preparing for flooding, as well as staying safe and protecting your home during flooding.

Who to contact 

Flood warnings and alerts

The Environment Agency posts flood warnings and alerts on their website. You can also register for phone, e-mail or text alerts. Details about the flood warning service and how to register can also be found on Surrey County Council’s website.

Report flooding

In an emergency situation, please call Surrey County Council’s contact centre immediately, or you can call us on 01883 722000 (24 hours).

Floods from a large river, or which are severe should be reported to the Environment Agency via their Environment Incident (emergency) hotline on 0800 807060.

In the event of a small river flood, please contact our Customer Services Team.

If it is not an emergency situation, flooding can be reported to Surrey County Council by filling in their online form.

Where you think blocked drains, ditches or gullies might be the cause of a localised flood, these should be reported to Surrey County Council.

Find out more about drains and how the County Council clear them and see a list of frequently asked questions on their drainage and flooding pages.  

Public sewer floods should be reported to either Thames Water or Southern Water depending on the area in which the flood is located.

Burst water pipes should be reported to the relevant water company:

• South East Water.
• SES Water plc.
• Thames Water.
• Affinity Water.

Requesting sandbags

We do not have a statutory duty to provide sandbags and any we do provide is discretionary and will be limited by the resources available. However, we will help where we can, by providing sandbags to those at extreme risk of imminent flooding. We will prioritise council owned housing stock and any properties identified as having older or vulnerable residents.

Our policy does not generally apply in known risk areas where it is normal for watercourses to respond to rainfall by rising levels in close proximity to housing developments. It is reasonable for these householders to prepare and maintain flood defences at doorways themselves. We will try to support these high risk locations with community resilience and working with community groups to allow for a better local preparedness and response structure.

We are aware there may be a time delay  in providing sandbags if we are getting requests across the whole district and how this limits an effective response. However, if you are in imminent danger of water entering your property please contact our Customer Services Team.

Following a flood event

Depending on the cause of the flood, different agencies will be responsible for cleaning it up. 

Where we can, we will assist other agencies with the collection of contaminated sandbags and cleaning debris from the pavements and roads. If you think a road is in urgent need of sweeping because of a recent flood please contact our Customer Services Team.

Where there has been sewage flooding  because of a problem with the public sewer system, please contact your sewerage company (Thames Water or Southern Water) as they are responsible for cleaning it up.

Please contact your insurance company as soon as you can, as they will make arrangements for flood damaged and contaminated materials to be removed and can advise on the claims process.

In an emergency we work with partner organisations across Surrey to identify people who may become vulnerable during such events. The following privacy notice explains more about how we collate the data. Fair processing notice for supporting vulnerable people in an emergency.

If you would like to help during an incident or emergency, please contact Tandridge Voluntary Action on 01883 722593. They will connect you with the right people, so you are ready to help if, or when an event happens.

Below is a list of links to websites and pages which are a useful source of information:

Surrey Prepared

For information about:

• Community resilience.
• Guidance on how to prepare for a variety of emergencies.
• A template to help create a community emergency plan.
• A template to create a household community plan.
• More details on the risks in Surrey.

Surrey County Council highways

Contact them if your issue is about:

• Reporting a highways problem.
• Reporting flooding and drainage problems on roads.
• Blocked drains.
• Broken drain covers.

In addition, there is also:

• Surrey County Council Emergency Planning.
• Environment Agency.
• Counter Terrorist Information.
• National Counter Terrorism Security Office.