GuideLiving here
Flood risk
How likely flooding is here, from the Environment Agency's maps of rivers and the sea and of heavy rain (surface water).
Use it
Example
If 18% of an area's outline falls inside the mapped extent, the area shows 18% exposed. Most of its buildings may still be outside that corner; check a specific address with the official service.
How we calculate it
- The Environment Agency maps four bands, each a chance of flooding in any one year: very low (less than 1 in 1,000), low (1 in 1,000 to 1 in 100), medium (1 in 100 to 1 in 30) and high (more than 1 in 30).
- For an area we show the share of its land in each band and the highest band that covers at least 1% of the land. Rivers, lakes and reservoirs are left out, because the maps mark open water itself as high risk.
- For a home we show the band at its location.
- Rivers and sea, and surface water, are shown separately and never merged.
- No data means unknown, never very low.
The fine print
- Mapped exposure describes the area polygon, not every building in it: a small exposed section never means each building shares the risk.
- The bands come from the Environment Agency's national flood risk assessment (NaFRA2); they do not predict insurance costs or account for a building's own defences.
- Demo mode shows made-up screening for a few preview areas.
- Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (Environment Agency).
- For a specific property, use the official long-term flood risk check.