Flood warning in Scotland

SEPA is the flood warning authority for Scotland. Through our Floodline service, we provide flood alerts and warnings to flood management partners and members of the public.

Our flood warning duty officers, based at SEPA offices across the country are on call 24 hours a day. They use weather forecasts, rainfall data, river level data and tidal forecasts to make a daily assessment of the likelihood of flooding.

When it looks as if flooding is likely, they will issue a Flood Watch for a general area. Once a Flood Watch has been issued, the officer will continue to closely monitor the situation. In areas where formal flood warning schemes are operated, officers will issue flood warnings when certain river levels are exceeded at key locations.

These flood warning levels are set by looking at the historical record of flooding on a river and agreeing flood warning thresholds with local flood management partners.

Duty officers will continue to monitor the situation, updating Floodline messages with significant new information, until the threat of flooding has passed. At this point an All Clear message will be issued.

Statement of Intent for Flood Warning  (38kb)