Flooding

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Flooding impacts on many areas of law. Content on flooding is broadly separated into the following areas:

  1. •

    flood risk and transactional issues

  2. •

    flood insurance and re-insurance

  3. •

    flood risk and development

  4. •

    flood management and drainage

The specific legal issues arising out of flood risk and damage are extensive and considerations for practitioners may include:

  1. •

    due diligence in corporate and property transactions, including flood searches

  2. •

    flood risk and insurance

  3. •

    flood risk arising out of new developments

  4. •

    liabilities and claims arising out of flood risk and damage

  5. •

    the bodies responsible for flood management and drainage

  6. •

    the role of environmental permitting

Definition and causes of flooding

Section 1 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 provides a statutory definition of flooding as follows—where land ‘which is not normally covered by water becomes covered by water’. This definition explicitly excludes flooding from burst sewerage or water mains.

There are four main sources of flooding:

  1. •

    rivers

  2. •

    coastal

  3. •

    surface water and

  4. •

    groundwater

For more information on sources of flooding, see Practice Note: Flooding—flood risk assessment.

Due diligence in transactions

Flooding

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