This week (14 to 20 October) is Flood Action Week, which coincides with the one-year anniversary of Storm Babet, which brought significant flooding across the country.
The aim is to help people understand what they can do to prepare for floods.
According to the Met Office, Storm Babet saw the third wettest three-day period in a series for England and Wales since 1891.
Nearly 96,900 properties were protected by the Environment Agency during Storm Babet, though sadly around 2,150 were flooded.
As climate change brings more extreme weather there has already been flooding this autumn. Only last month, heavy rainfall let to the first major incident of the season, with almost a thousand properties flooded. It followed the wettest 18 months on record in England up to February 2024.
Flood Action Week is all about showing people that they can easily take a few steps to reduce the devastation caused by floods to their homes and businesses, with around 5.5 million properties in England at risk from flooding.
Recent data suggests that nearly half the country is unsure of how to find information on local flood risks, making Flood Action Week all the more important.
The best way to protect yourself from flooding is early preparation and knowing what to do in advance. Some of the actions people can take to reduce the dangers are:
The Environment Agency and its partners are continuing to help communities become more resilient to extreme weather and rising sea levels, but authorities can never stop all flood impacts.
Caroline Douglass, Environmental Agency Executive Director of Flood and Coastal Risk Management, said: "Climate change means extreme weather events are happening more frequently, and we have already seen an unusually wet September this year".
"We can't always predict where the rain will fall or where flooding will occur, but we do know which areas are at risk".
"That is why it is essential we all do our part by checking our flood risk and signing up for flood warnings this Flood Action Week. While we at the Environment Agency are stepping up our preparations to increase the nation's resilience to flooding as we head into the winter, taking small steps today can immediately improve your own readines".
Emma Hardy, Floods Minister, said: "Flooding can be a destructive force that puts everything in life on hold. I've seen the impacts firsthand and am determined to ensure as much as possible others do not".
"Through the recent launch of our Floods Resilience Taskforce, this government is taking decisive action to accelerate the development of flood defences and bolster the nation's resilience to extreme weather".
"But this Flood Action Week, we must be all be proactive in taking steps to protect ourselves by checking our flood risk and signing up for flood warning".
