Check your flood risk
Checked 23 Oct 2026
Every plan starts with one question: is your home at risk, and from what? Each UK nation has a free official map that answers it for your area. We link to those maps rather than copying them, so you always see the latest version.
Guides
- How to check your home's flood risk in the UK (by nation)Step by step: find your nation's official flood map, read the result for rivers, the sea, surface water and groundwater, and know what it can't tell you.
- River, surface water, groundwater: what your flood-risk result meansWhat each source of flooding on the official maps means for a home, and why surface water catches people out.Being written
- Water butts and garden storage to cut surface-water run-offHow water butts and garden changes can slow rainwater run-off from your home.Being written
Where flooding comes from
Water can reach a home in more than one way, and the official maps show each one separately:
- Rivers and the sea. The kind most people picture: a river bursting its banks, or a storm surge on the coast.
- Surface water. Heavy rain that can't drain away fast enough. It can happen a long way from any river.
- Groundwater. Water rising up through the ground, often slowly, and often into cellars first.
- Reservoirs. Rare, but the England checker shows it.
In England, the Environment Agency's national assessment counts around 6.3 million homes and businesses in areas at risk of flooding from rivers, the sea and surface water. Around 4.6 million of those are at risk from surface water.
The official checker for your nation
- England: Check your long term flood risk (GOV.UK). Covers rivers and the sea, surface water, reservoirs, and groundwater where data is available.
- Scotland: SEPA flood maps.
- Wales: Check your flood risk on a map (Natural Resources Wales).
- Northern Ireland: Flood Maps NI (DfI Rivers).
What your result does and doesn't tell you
The England checker describes the risk for an area, not for your particular building. Two things it can't see: how high your floor and doorsteps sit, and where water could get in. That's what a property flood resilience survey looks at, and it's why we never tell you a product will work on your home without one.
Once you have your result, our flood plan and protection planner turns it into a printable plan and a checklist of the protection worth considering.
Sources
- Properties in England at risk of surface water flooding (NaFRA2) (Environment Agency), checked 23 Oct 2026
- Homes and businesses in England in areas at risk of flooding from rivers, the sea and surface water (NaFRA2, Dec 2024) (Environment Agency), checked 23 Oct 2026
- Check your long term flood risk (England) (GOV.UK), checked 23 Oct 2026
- SEPA flood maps (Scotland) (SEPA), checked 23 Oct 2026
- Check your flood risk on a map (Wales) (Natural Resources Wales), checked 23 Oct 2026
- Flood Maps NI (DfI Rivers (Northern Ireland)), checked 23 Oct 2026