The Met Office is warning of the risk of severe flooding All these 20 FloodSax alternative sandbags came from this one easy-to-carry box FloodSax also soak up internal floods in supermarkets, council buildings and hospitals

Urgent flood alert for the UK with people urged to be ready with Floodsax alternative sandbags

The coming week’s weather will be awful with heavy rain across the north every day and a storm due to hit the south.

The Met Office has given amber weather warnings for rain in the north today and tomorrow with yellow warnings for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Wales and southern areas from Cornwall through to Kent and East Anglia face Storm Ciaran on Wednesday and Thursday.

Met Office Deputy Chief Meteorologist Chris Almond said: “This deep low-pressure system will bring heavy rain to much of the UK but the heaviest rain is expected in southern and western areas with 20mm to 25mm quite widely across the region but up to 40mm to 60mm potentially over higher ground.  

“Heavy and persistent rain will fall onto already saturated ground bringing a risk of further impacts such as flooding in areas that are already struggling to clean up from the heavy rainfall we have seen over the last week or so.”

The UK’s leading provider of alternative sandbags says it’s vital to prepare for flooding now as local authorities have no responsibility to provide sandbags or other flood prevention measures.

FloodSax, the original sandless sandbag which was invented in Yorkshire by Huddersfield company Environmental Defence Systems Ltd, are now used worldwide. They are easier to store and deploy than traditional sandbags and are more cost-effective and environmentally friendly.

Lucy Bailey from Environmental Defence Systems said: “The warmings couldn’t be clearer from the Met Office that this week is going to be exceptionally rough in terms of the weather. The ground is already sodden from the flooding caused by the recent Storm Babet so the last thing the UK needs now is to be hit by another storm.

“But it’s not just that. Heavy rain is forecast across northern England throughout the week with Met Office weather warnings in place for all five days.”

People need to act now if they think they will be in danger of flooding.

Lucy added: “People still think councils will come along with sandbags if flooding is forecast for their area but that’s simply not the case. As the Environment Agency keeps stressing, local authorities have absolutely no responsibility to provide sandbags or any other flood protection measures for individual homes and businesses.

“They also advise people not to use sandbags as they can quickly deteriorate and fall apart once they come into contact with floodwater.”

The Environment Agency states: “Don’t assume the authorities will provide you with sand bags in a flood emergency. It’s the responsibility of property owners to take appropriate action to protect their property from flooding. Sandbags are relatively ineffective when compared to purpose-built flood protection products. We strongly encourage people to use these products.”

Around 3 million FloodSax have now been sold worldwide – they are a great British success story – and having them means you’re protected from the risk of flooding 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year.

They are space-saving to store, quick and easy to deploy and to turn them into sandless sandbags simply immerse them in water for around 5 minutes. The gelling polymer inside the FloodSax absorbs the water and retains it, transforming it into a robust alternative sandbag that’s a uniform shape so easy to build into a protective barrier for instant flood protection.

They are also multi-purpose and ultra flexible. FloodSax are vacuum-packed and in their dry state are ultra-flat with a large surface area which makes them ideal to soak up drips, leaks and spills indoors, especially in hard-to-reach places such as beneath boilers, below radiators and underneath pipes.

FloodSax are also cheaper than prefilled sandbags which now cost up to £370 for 70 while a box of 20 FloodSax can cost around £140 including free express delivery.

For more information on FloodSax go to www.floodsax.co.uk