Flood Response

When flooding hits, every minute matters. ICE Drainage provides rapid flood response and emergency drainage services for homes and businesses across London and the Home Counties, with support from our wider UK network.

Whether you're dealing with a burst pipe, overflowing drains, blocked gullies, or surface water getting in after heavy rain, our trained engineers can help you regain control quickly, reduce damage, and get your property back to a safe, usable condition.

We're built for urgent call-outs. Our team is equipped to handle the messy, high-pressure reality of flood events, from locating the cause and stopping the ingress, to clearing blockages, pumping out water, and advising on next steps to prevent it happening again.

Emergency flood response for homes and businesses

Flooding is rarely just water. It can bring contamination, structural risk, electrical hazards, and costly downtime. Our flood response service supports residential properties, including flats, houses, and basements, hospitality sites such as restaurants, hotels, pubs, and kitchens, commercial premises including offices, retail units, and warehouses, and facilities and estates such as schools, public buildings, and managed sites.

We prioritise fast attendance and clear communication, safe working practices and controlled site management, fixing the cause rather than just removing the water, and practical prevention advice to reduce future flood risk.

Acting quickly can make all the difference

Flooding damage escalates fast. The longer water sits, the greater the chance of it spreading into floors, walls, and voids, damaging electrics, fixtures, and finishes, contamination from foul water or sewage, slips, trips, and unsafe access, and disruption to business operations, especially in hospitality.

If you're experiencing flooding now, contact ICE Drainage and we'll talk you through what to do next.

Our flood response process

Every flood is different, but the fundamentals are the same: identify the source, stop the ingress, remove the water, and reduce the chance of it happening again.

Our flood response process typically includes an initial assessment covering access, electrical risks, contamination risks, and the likely cause, locating the source of flooding by investigating common causes such as blocked drains, collapsed pipework, surcharged manholes, damaged gullies, or internal plumbing failures, emergency unblocking to restore normal flow if the flooding is caused by a blockage, water removal and a controlled pump-out where required to reduce damage and enable drying, drainage inspection and testing where appropriate to confirm the condition of the system and identify defects, recommendations on practical next steps such as maintenance, repairs, or upgrades to reduce future flood risk, and documentation for facilities teams and insurers where needed.

Common causes of flooding we deal with

Flooding can be triggered by a single failure or a combination of issues. We regularly respond to blocked drains and sewers caused by fat, grease, wipes, debris, or silt, surcharged manholes and overwhelmed drainage during heavy rainfall, collapsed or displaced pipework causing restricted flow, blocked gullies and rainwater downpipes leading to surface water build-up, damaged interceptors or poorly maintained systems on commercial sites, root ingress breaking into pipe joints, poor drainage design or insufficient capacity, and septic tank issues where applicable.

If you're not sure what's causing the flooding, we can investigate quickly and explain the options in plain English.

Flood response for hospitality sites

We focus heavily on supporting hospitality businesses, because we know the real cost of downtime. A flood in a commercial kitchen, cellar, plant room, or customer area can mean immediate closure and lost revenue, food safety concerns, damage to equipment and stock, and reputational risk if it isn't handled quickly.

We provide responsive support for restaurants and takeaways, hotels and serviced apartments, pubs and bars, leisure venues, and multi-site operators. We can also support planned preventative maintenance contracts to reduce emergency incidents and keep drainage systems operating reliably.

Drainage maintenance to prevent future flooding

Many flood call-outs are preventable with the right maintenance. If you've had one flood event, it's a strong signal that your drainage system needs attention.

We can help you prevent repeat flooding with routine drain cleaning and jetting, gully and interceptor maintenance, drain inspections and condition reporting, reactive call-outs backed by a planned schedule, and site-specific recommendations for high-risk areas.

If you manage a hospitality portfolio or commercial estate, ask us about a tailored maintenance plan.

Why choose ICE Drainage?

• An emergency response mindset, built for urgent call-outs
• Hospitality-first experience, so we understand operational pressures
• Competitive pricing and practical solutions, without unnecessary upsell
• Qualified, safety-led engineers working to industry standards
• Credentials including Safe Contractor, SSSTS, and Constructionline Gold

ICE Drainage is a specialist service expansion of ICE Cleaning, a leading sewage cleaning company in the UK.

What to do if your property is flooding

If you're currently dealing with flooding, here are immediate steps that can help reduce risk:

• If it's safe to do so, turn off electrics in affected areas
• Keep people away from contaminated water
• Avoid using sinks, toilets, or appliances if drains are backing up
• Take photos or video for insurance, if it's safe to do so
• Call ICE Drainage for emergency support

If there's any chance the water is contaminated, for example from a backing-up drain, treat it as hazardous and avoid direct contact.

Get a free flood response quote

If you need a fast, professional flood response service, we're ready to help. Contact ICE Drainage to get started. In many cases, we can provide an initial quote from a few photos and a short description of what's happening.

We cover London and the Home Counties, with support from our wider UK capability for urgent situations.