Medway

At a glance

Type

Unitary authority

ONS code

E06000035

Area

194 km²

Region

South East

Fire and rescue

Kent

Police

Kent

Emergency planning partnership

Kent Local Resilience Forum

Largest built-up areas

Gillingham (Medway), Rochester, Chatham and Wallend

Council emergency pages

• Council website medway.gov.uk
• Emergency planning Medway's emergency plan (medway.gov.uk)
• Gritting and winter roads Gritting icy roads (medway.gov.uk)
• Current emergencies and severe weather Emergency information and contacts (medway.gov.uk)

Councils announce rest centres, road closures and emergency help on these pages and their social media. Find your council by postcode (GOV.UK).

Power cuts

Report a power cut or check one: call 105 free from any phone, or use the operator’s website.

Network operator (not your supplier):

• UK Power Networks (South East England)

Ofgem’s figures for the whole licence area, April 2024 to March 2025, counting cuts of 3 minutes or longer:

• South East England (UK Power Networks): 42.2 interruptions per 100 customers and 30.4 minutes without power per customer (2023/24: 49.5 and 36.5)

Great Britain as a whole: 39.7 and 35.1. These are area averages, not figures for Medway alone. About this dataset

Flooding

Environment Agency: 2 flood alert areas and 4 flood warning areas overlap Medway. Waters named: River Medway, River Thames, English Channel.

Warning areas include: Isle of Grain and Stoke; North Kent Marshes between Shorne Marsh and Allhallows; Tidal River Medway and Medway estuary; Tidal River Medway from Allington to Cuxton.

Check for flooding now · Sign up for free flood warnings (GOV.UK). Floodline: 0345 988 1188.

Weather warnings

The Met Office issues yellow, amber and red warnings for rain, wind, snow, ice, fog, thunderstorms and extreme heat. Current Met Office warnings (choose South East on the map) · What the colours mean

Health: NHS help and the nearest A&E

For urgent medical help that is not life-threatening, use NHS 111 online or call 111. Find urgent and emergency care services · Find NHS services near you (NHS website)

The nearest type 1 (major) A&E departments to the centre of each of the largest built-up areas, by straight-line distance (as the crow flies, not by road):

• Gillingham (Medway): Medway Maritime Hospital (3.4 km); Maidstone Hospital (12.1 km); Southend Hospital (22.5 km).
• Rochester: Medway Maritime Hospital (3.8 km); Maidstone Hospital (13.3 km).
• Chatham: Medway Maritime Hospital (2.1 km); Maidstone Hospital (10.4 km).

We have not found an open official list of urgent treatment centres and minor injury units for England, so they are not shown here.

About this dataset

Never Caught Out is not affiliated with the NHS.

Water supply

More than one company supplies parts of Medway:

• Southern Water (about 94% of the area) · Works or issues in my area
• South East Water (about 4% of the area) · Water latest

To report no water, low pressure or a burst main, use the company’s page above. Your water bill names your supplier.

Water resource zones covering Medway: Kent Medway West (Southern Water, about 67% of the area); Kent Medway East (Southern Water, about 28% of the area); Maidstone (6) (South East Water, about 4% of the area). What a water resource zone is

What to do when the water goes off

Local risks and emergency planning

• Coast: about 180 km of the council boundary is shoreline at mean high water, by our measurement (this includes tidal estuaries). Coastal flooding and storm surges are possible; the flood areas above include any coastal ones.
• Flooding: 4 flood warning areas and 2 flood alert areas overlap the council area (details above).
• Kent Local Resilience Forum publishes a community risk register: the official list of emergencies that planners prepare for here. The register document.
• Hazards the register names include (our grouping of its wording): Flooding; Industrial and chemical accidents; Storms and severe weather; Transport accidents; Animal disease; Cyber attacks; Snow and low temperatures; Loss of water supply; Pandemic; Telecoms failure; Terrorism; Outbreaks of infectious disease; Power cuts; Fuel shortages; Poor air quality; Volcanic eruption; Building collapse. Open the register for how likely and how serious each one is judged to be.

We list only what official sources say. We do not rate how safe or risky anywhere is.

Map

Phone and broadband coverage

Ofcom’s predictions of normal coverage in Medway, January 2026. They are not live outages and not a guarantee for any address.

• Homes and businesses with 4G indoors from all four networks: 93%; from none: less than 0.1%.
• Outside homes and businesses, 4G from all four networks: 100%; from none: 0%.
• Land area with outdoor 4G from all four networks: 98%; from none: 0.1%.
• Premises that can get gigabit-capable broadband: 90%.
• Premises that cannot get decent broadband (10 Mbit/s down, 1 Mbit/s up) from a fixed line or fixed wireless: 24 (0%).

Check an address on Ofcom’s coverage checker · Phones when the network is down: how to reach 999 · About this dataset

Local radio

BBC Radio Kent

This is the BBC station for the county or area, from the BBC Sounds station list. Coverage overlaps council boundaries, so tune to whichever station you receive.

Census 2021: planning prompts

• Households with no car or van: 19.2%
• Residents aged 65 or over: 16.5%
• Households of one person aged 66 or over: 11.8%

Who would fetch food or medicines for you or a neighbour on icy or flooded roads, and who would you check on in a power cut? Ask your pharmacist about repeat prescriptions before bad weather.

Largest built-up areas

• Gillingham (Medway)
• Rochester
• Chatham
• Wallend

Other built-up areas include Hoo St Werburgh, Kingsnorth (Medway), Grain, Cuxton, Allhallows and Cliffe Woods.

Neighbouring councils

Gravesham, Maidstone, Swale, Tonbridge and Malling

Guides for any emergency

• Power cut: call 105 free. Priority Services Register · Compensation calculator
• Power cuts
• First hour of a power cut
• Flooding
• Flood alerts and warnings
• Storms
• Cold weather
• Grab bag and evacuation
• Emergency Alerts
• A battery or wind-up radio keeps working in a power cut.
• All council pages in England · All UK council pages