Storm season along the Wessex coast runs roughly from October through to March, and the first real blow usually arrives with less warning than anyone would like. A forecast that looks unremarkable on Tuesday can be a yellow warning by Thursday, and by Friday evening the wind is coming up the Channel hard enough to lift a fence panel and rattle the ridge tiles.

The damage afterwards is rarely dramatic. More often it is a blocked gully that put a foot of water through a garage, a leak that had been quietly soaking a ceiling for a fortnight, or a shed roof last seen heading inland. An afternoon of work now saves a great deal of mopping later. Here is what to get done first.

1. Start at the top: gutters, roof and downpipes

Water that cannot get off the roof will find another way in, and it is almost always through the ceiling. Before the leaves come down in earnest, clear gutters and downpipes by hand or with a scoop, then flush them with a hose and watch where the water actually goes. If it pools at the base of a downpipe, that is your next job.

While you are looking up, check for slipped or cracked tiles, sagging gutter runs, and the flashing around chimneys. Binoculars from the garden are usually enough to spot the obvious problems. If you are not steady on a ladder, or the pitch is steep, pay someone who is — a fall in October is a far worse start to winter than a leak. Never lean a ladder directly against plastic guttering; it will not take the weight.

2. Get the water away from the house: drains, gullies and drives

Most coastal flooding in residential streets is not the sea coming over the wall. It is rain arriving faster than the drains can take it, backing up across a road and into the nearest driveway. A few minutes with a rake and a bucket makes a real difference.

• Lift the grate on any roadside gully near your property and clear leaves, silt and gravel. Do it again after the first big wind.
• Check that soakaways and French drains are not silted up, especially on heavy clay.
• Keep the channel between your wall and the pavement clear so water runs along it rather than into your airbricks.
• Look at the lie of your driveway and patio. If water leans towards the house, a simple channel or a low threshold barrier can be added before winter.
• Make sure garden waste, gravel and building rubble are not being washed into the system.

3. Read your insurance policy before you need it

Policies are quiet documents until something goes wrong, and that is the worst moment to discover a gap. Find your buildings and contents cover, check that storm and flood damage are included, and note the excess you would have to pay. Be clear about the things people most often assume are covered but frequently are not: fences, gates, hedges, garden sheds and the contents of an outbuilding. Storm damage and gradual wear are also treated very differently.

If your home has flooded before, or sits close to a watercourse, say so when you renew and ask directly what is covered and what the terms are. If you are mid-claim, or disputing a decision, take advice from your insurer, a broker or a qualified adviser rather than relying on a forum thread. Photograph every room, cupboard and outbuilding now, and keep the images with your policy documents in a waterproof folder — and somewhere online.

4. Build a kit that works when the lights go out

Power cuts on exposed stretches of the coast can run for a day or more, and the roads can be blocked by fallen trees at the same time. Keep everything in one lidded box that everyone in the house knows about.

• A torch for each person, plus spare batteries, and a head torch for hands-free jobs.
• A battery or wind-up radio, so you are not dependent on a phone signal.
• Charged power banks, kept topped up through the winter.
• Bottled water and a few days of food that needs no cooking.
• A first aid kit, and at least a week of any regular medication if your GP can arrange it.
• Copies of key documents, plus a written list of phone numbers.
• Warm layers, blankets, baby supplies and pet food.
• Some cash in small notes — card machines and cashpoints go down with the power.

Candles are fine, but keep them away from curtains and never leave them burning overnight. Generators and barbecues must stay outdoors: running either in a garage, porch or conservatory risks carbon monoxide poisoning.

5. Secure the garden, the shed and anything that can fly

Half the damage in a coastal storm is caused by things that were never meant to move. Walk the garden with a critical eye and ask what a gust of fifty or sixty miles an hour would do to each object. Trampolines should be pegged or taken apart, garden furniture stacked inside, bins stored against a wall, and hanging baskets brought down.

Check fence posts for rot and replace the worst before the ground is sodden. Look at the shed and garage roof and re-fix any loose felt. If you have a mature tree overhanging the house, the drive or a power line, get a qualified tree surgeon to look at it — autumn and winter are not the time to be cutting branches yourself.

6. Know your flood risk and your shut-off points

Sign up for the Environment Agency's free flood warnings for your postcode, and check the long-range tide and surge forecasts if you live near the harbour or the levels. Most councils also publish sandbag and road closure arrangements, though these are usually distributed after the fact rather than before.

Then make sure every adult in the house knows where the stopcock, the gas valve and the consumer unit are, and how to isolate them. Move anything irreplaceable — photographs, documents, tools — out of garages, cellars and low cupboards. If you park on the street, think now about where the car goes when a tree comes down or the road floods.

A word on neighbours

Check on anyone nearby who lives alone, is elderly or has a condition that depends on electricity. A quick knock before a storm is worth more than a phone call afterwards, when the lines are busy.

The ten, in one place

1. Clear gutters, downpipes and any gullies near your property.
2. Check roof tiles, chimney flashing and gutter fixings.
3. Test that water drains away from the house, not towards it.
4. Read your policy: storm cover, flood cover, excess, exclusions.
5. Photograph your home and contents; store the copies safely.
6. Assemble and check the emergency kit, including batteries.
7. Secure or store anything in the garden that could take off.
8. Deal with vulnerable trees and rotten fence posts.
9. Register for flood warnings and learn your shut-off points.
10. Agree who checks on which neighbour, and swap mobile numbers.

None of it takes long, and most of it can be done in a single dry Saturday. Do it before the first named storm rather than in the queue at the hardware shop the morning after. The coast is a fine place to live in winter — provided the water is going where you want it to.

Photo: B_Zocholl / Pixabay