What causes a blocked drain?

During periods of heavy rain or extreme weather, it takes longer for water to drain away as the main sewers the gullies connect to are running at full capacity.

Other causes include:

• leaves or other debris
• connecting pipes are blocked with debris or silt
• tree roots
• broken or cracked pipes

If the surface water has not cleared for some time and you consider it to be a danger, report it using this form. 

Flash Flooding

A Flash Flood is normally localised and is caused by heavy or excessive rainfall in a short period of time. Thunderstorms can sometimes be associated with this.

The result of this is that the drainage systems for a short period of time may be unable to cope with the heavy down poor as it cannot get away, however, as soon as the level of rain fall reduces or stops the water disperses.

Therefore, it is worthwhile waiting for a period of time before reporting any flooding

Please see Appendix G for our sandbag policy

How can you help us?

• Don't tip waste such as concrete and oil into gullies.
• Move your vehicles to improve access to drains and gullies.

All road gullies have standing water in them. This does not mean that they are blocked - this water acts as a trap to stop smells coming from the sewers.

Private land

If the drain is on private land you must contact the land owner.

If you don’t know who owns the land, contact the Land Registry on 0844 892 1111 or visit http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/.

Please don’t use this form to report:

• A burst water main, flooding due to a blocked sewer or water pipes – report this to United Utilities
• Flooding on the motorway – report this to the Highways Agency
• Flooding of rivers, streams or other watercourses – report this to the Environment Agency
• Flooding of canals – report this to the Manchester Ship Canal Company, the Bridgewater Canal company or the Canal and River Trust for the Sankey (St Helens) Canal.

If the blocked drain or gully is causing flooding inside a property, flooding which is causing damage to a property or flooding which is obstructing a road please call us on 01925 443322 so that we can deal with this as soon as possible.

To report a problem online you’ll need to tell us:

• What the problem with the drain/gully is
• As much information as possible about the location of the drain/gully
• Whether it’s on the public highway

You can report this anonymously if you wish, but you will need to provide an email address so that we can confirm we have received your report and tell you your reference number.

The data we collect from our online forms is stored for no more than six weeks.  However teams within the council may store your data for longer in order to continue to provide you with the service you have requested.