A free online check is provided by each of the UK nations to help inform people buying or renting a home near water or in an area that has a history of flooding in heavy rain. This short article explains how to use each of the online checkers to get the best from them in order to determine the likelihood of a particular postcode flooding and what action can be taken as a result.
Checking Risk In England
For flood risk by post code in England you need to use the Environment Agency’s long-term flood risk service. This will show a risk band for river and sea flooding, surface water flooding and reservoir flooding as separate maps. So the risk for surface water flooding could be quite different from the risk for river or sea flooding for a property in a given post code. Therefore the risk for all three types of flooding should be checked and read.
Checking Risk In Wales
The long-term flood risk for Wales is assessed by Natural Resources Wales, the body responsible for flood risk management in the country. The flooding advice for Wales pages of the Environment Agency website refer to the long-term flood risk information for rivers, sea and surface water flooding. This information is shown as interactive map layers for a search location. As with the English service, it may take a little while to download the layers for a location and to view the information for a street, but the same information is provided.
Checking Risk In Scotland
SEPA in Scotland produce flood risk maps for Scotland which indicate likelihood of river, coastal and surface water flooding. These maps can also show where there are flood defences and what their level of protection is. A search for an address or postcode can be made to view the maps for a particular location.
Checking Risk In Northern Ireland
Whilst the Environment Agency produce long-term flood maps for England, those for Wales are provided by Natural Resources Wales. Although the flooding advice for Wales pages at NRW provide a long-term flooding search by postcode for flooding by rivers, the sea and surface water, these are displayed as an interactive map and so it takes a little longer to read than the equivalent service for England although the information is there.
What A Postcode Result Actually Tells You
It’s worth noting that the results from these checker websites give an indication of the flood risk for a postcode or small area and should be treated with caution as individual properties can vary greatly. Also, two houses next door to each other can be in different flood risk bands. It’s also worth noting that a property’s past history of flooding will also be taken into account by insurers when offering quotes for insurance. The Association of British Insurers provides some useful information on how flooding affects home insurance and how your postcode affects your risk of flooding as well as your home insurance.
Signing Up For Free Flood Warnings
Once you have established whether a postcode is of risk, you can sign up for free flood warnings. These are offered by telephone, text or email and will inform you of any flooding from rivers, the sea and some instances of groundwater flooding. The amount of time you have before the water rises can vary from a few hours to days and can give you sufficient time to move your cars to safer areas, move valuable items to higher parts of your home and even fit the house with flood barriers.
Why Flash Flooding Has No Warning Service
Surface water or “flash” flooding which is caused by heavy rainfall across a catchment and which can overflow within minutes of the water reaching capacity of drains and other surface water management features does not have an early warning system in place. Whilst the Environment Agency’s long-term risk service does list surface water as one of the three types of flood risk, and checks can identify areas of historical difficulty with surface water draining away, the primary sources of information for flash flooding are the Met Office’s rain and thunderstorm warnings and the local authority’s surface water flood maps which show where in an area gullies and other surface water management features have caused problems in the past. Adding leaves to gutters and clearing blocked drains before the autumn wet weather sets in is another simple measure to prevent flooding.
Flood Checks At A Glance
England: The Environment Agency long-term flood risk information (for rivers, sea, surface water and reservoirs) can be searched for by entering a postcode in the search box on the left of the page.
Wales: Natural Resources Wales flood maps for surface water flood risk, searched for by location on an interactive map.
Scotland: Flood risk in Scotland is covered by the long-term flood risk maps from SEPA (the Scottish Environment Protection Agency) which are available to search by postcode for interactive maps showing river, coastal and surface water flood likelihood. On these maps properties with flood defences are highlighted too.
Northern Ireland: DfI flood maps showing likelihood of river & coastal flooding (surface water flooding has no warning scheme for this type of event). Maps can be searched by postcode but often viewed by centring on a map and then viewing likelihood layers.
These services provide free warnings for floods caused by rivers, the sea and groundwater but do not provide warnings for surface water (flash) flooding.
However you find out the flood risk to a property, the result of the postcode check must be treated with caution. The result of the flood risk check is just the starting point of your research. It helps you to ask more questions, to possibly order a more detailed survey and to find out more about the previous flooding of a particular property.
