As part of our duties under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, as a Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) we are required to investigate significant flood incidents, and produce reports known as Section 19 reports.
Section 19 of the Act requires LLFAs to investigate flood incidents where necessary, based on each LLFA’s published flood investigation criteria set out within their Local Flood Risk Management Strategy in order to establish responsible parties as well as their actions as a result of the flooding event.
Section 19 investigations are complex and usually take between 9 months and 1 year to complete. After the completion of each investigation, the report will be published here and the relevant flood Risk Management Authorities (RMAs) will be notified of the investigation’s conclusions and recommendations.
The investigation is not an in-depth analysis of the flood risk or mechanisms of flooding (hydraulic modelling of the risks and reduction or alleviation options are not part of the investigation). Flood investigations additionally do not give us powers to require or demand any parties to undertake any work.
Please visit the government’s website Check the long term flood risk for an area in England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) to find the long-term flood risk of an area, Please be aware that this service does not tell you how likely it is that an individual property will flood. Flood risk from unexpected problems such as blocked drains and burst water pipes is not included.
If your building is currently flooding, please report it https://www.merton.gov.uk/streets-parking-transport/streets-and-pavements/flooding/report
If your building has already flooded and you want to report it after the event, you can use the “report it” function on either Thames Water or the council’s website below.
Completed Section 19 reports
Section 19 Report 2023
Rainfall events:
- 12 July 2021
- 25 July 2021
Section 19 Report 2019
Rainfall events:
- 23 June2016
- 29-30 July 2017
- 9 August 2017