Background to the maps and numbers on this site: what a flood zone means, how surface water risk differs, how flood risk affects insurance and a mortgage, and which questions to ask before you buy.
The free flood warning service in England can phone, text or email you. Here is how to join, and what it does not cover.
Surface water flooding is caused by rain that cannot drain away. It can affect homes far from any river, and it has its own map.
A house can be in Flood Zone 3 and in a low-risk band at the same time. The two maps are answering different questions.
The Environment Agency publishes several flood maps that answer different questions. Here is which one to use, and what each colour means.
The two zones differ in how often water is expected to reach a site, and in what that means for planning, insurance and buying.
Three quick checks tell you which flood zone an English address sits in, and why the answer is only the start of understanding the risk.
Enter an English postcode and see free of charge its flood zone and the risk bands for rivers, the sea and surface water. What the numbers mean, which past floods were recorded around the property, which warning areas cover it and what to ask your insurer, surveyor and solicitor is in the report for that one point.
A flood is the most expensive thing that can happen to a home, and a flood zone or a surface water flow path can change the insurance terms, the mortgage offer and the resale price. The report gathers the Environment Agency data for your address before you commit; it is not a substitute for a flood search from your conveyancer.
England only. The short answer is free.
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Source: Environment Agency under the Open Government Licence · not a substitute for a flood search