Warnings and who issues them

Different bodies warn about different hazards. Knowing who issues a warning tells you where to look for it and how much weight to give it. This page covers the three warning services most households meet: severe weather, flooding and power cuts. Emergency alerts to mobile phones are covered separately.

Weather warnings: the Met Office

The Met Office describes itself as the UK's official weather service and says it is responsible for issuing weather warnings, which warn of impacts caused by severe weather. Warnings are issued through the National Severe Weather Warning Service for eight weather types: rain, thunderstorms, wind, snow, lightning, ice, extreme heat and fog, up to seven days ahead.

Each warning is coloured yellow, amber or red depending on a combination of the impact the weather may have and the likelihood of those impacts. The Met Office says yellow and amber each cover a range, so the detail matters more than the colour alone. A yellow warning may mean some disruption to travel in a few places, or a low chance of much more significant impacts. An amber warning means an increased likelihood of impacts that could disrupt your plans, with possible travel delays, road and rail closures, power cuts and a potential risk to life and property. A red warning means dangerous weather is expected with a very high likelihood of risk to life; the advice is to take action now, avoid travelling where possible and follow the advice of the emergency services and local authorities.

In October 2026 the Met Office, the four hydrological agencies and the Flood Forecasting Centre introduced a harmonised impact matrix across weather warnings and Flood Guidance Statements. Warnings are available through the Met Office app and website, social media, email alerts, TV and radio, and RSS.

Flood warnings: the Environment Agency and the devolved bodies

In England the government's Check for flooding service shows current flood warnings and alerts, river, sea, groundwater and rainfall levels, and the flood risk for the next five days. It does not cover surface water flooding, sometimes called flash flooding; for that the page says to contact your local council.

The Environment Agency runs a free service that sends flood warnings by call, text or email to homes and organisations in England at risk from rivers, the sea or groundwater, but not surface water. Wales has its own service run by Natural Resources Wales. Scotland has the Scottish Environment Protection Agency's Floodline registration. Northern Ireland publishes flood maps on nidirect. Floodline, on 0345 988 1188, is a 24-hour service through which people in England, Scotland and Wales can sign up, update or cancel warnings.

The Environment Agency is a Category 1 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.

Power cuts: 105 and the network operators

The Be Ready website, published by the Cabinet Office, says that to report a power cut you should visit your local network operator's website, which also lets you track updates, or call 105, free, in England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland uses a separate number published on the same page.

Electricity network operators are Category 2 responders under Schedule 1 to the Act. The Be Ready page says the networks can give advance notice of planned power cuts to people who rely on power for medical reasons, and that anyone with additional needs can sign up to the Priority Services Register at thepsr.co.uk or through their energy supplier. In Northern Ireland the equivalent is called a Customer Care Register.

How these fit the responders' duties

Regulation 35 of the Contingency Planning Regulations 2005 requires a Category 1 responder, when maintaining its own arrangements to warn and inform the public, to have regard to the arrangements of other responders, the Meteorological Office, the Secretary of State and the Food Standards Agency, and says it need not duplicate them. The Met Office itself appears in Schedule 1 as a Category 2 responder.