Property Protection & the Provision of Sandbags

Pages In This Collection / 1. Flood Protection Products / 2. Sandbags

Multiple individuals and agencies have responsibilities in relation to flooding. The Council and other statutory agencies such as SEPA have a responsibility to manage the risk of flooding, both on a long term and emergency response basis. During severe flooding the Council works with other agencies as part of its emergency response – although there is no legal requirement to provide flood protection such as sandbags, in these instances the Council does distribute sandbags to strategic collection points. Property owners are responsible for protecting their own property from flooding.

Who is responsible for protecting your property?

As set out above, the responsibility for protecting property during a flood rests with the property owner and there is no statutory duty for a Local Authority to provide sandbags. The Council suggests that those living within areas identified at being at risk from flooding follow the advice of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (http://www.sepa.org.uk/flooding/) to protect their homes. In addition, the Scottish Flood Forum (http://www.scottishfloodforum.org/) also provides useful advice about how to prepare for a flood.

The Council encourages residents who may be affected by flooding to sign up to SEPA’s flood warning service to receive automatic advance flood warnings for their area.

What the Council can offer?

Property Flood protection advice and support

As identified above, the prime responsibility for the protection of properties against damage by flooding rests with the owner of the property. Though it will not always be possible to prevent flooding, there are products on the market which can be purchased to help reduce the risk of damage.

Moray Council has a small selection of property flood protection products available for sale to the public at cost price. The prices reflect the discounts that are available to the Council due to bulk purchasing, and are likely to be less than can be obtained by individuals purchasing direct from suppliers.

The products available are: Floodgate Door Barriers     Vent Guards     Floodsax   Air Brick Covers

• Flood gates are used for protecting against water ingress through doorways and come in different sizes to suit the door opening. 
• Vent guards are used to cover air vents, and come in two sizes. 
• Floodsaxs are a lightweight, easily stored and biodegradable alternative to sandbags, which come flat and contain an absorbent polymer gel which expands on contact with water.
• Air Brick covers are an adhesive airbrick patches will form a watertight seal over the air brick to prevent flood water from entering your property.

If you wish to obtain further details, including current prices, about any of these products, or wish to place an order, please see Moray Council Online Shop for further details

Many other products are commercially available and in some cases may better suit your specific needs. It is recommended that you shop around and compare products and prices before making a purchase.

Advice about how to best protect your property is available through SEPA and they also provide a list of  flood prevention product providers.  The Scottish Flood Forum also provides useful advice about how to prepare for a flood.