Classification of Flood Risk

Knowing what level of risk you face with respect to flooding is an extremely practical concern to be considered, but may also be a requirement for your home insurance, without which the potential loss from flooding would be extremely high.

One of the most fundamental resources for finding out this information is the Environment Agency (EA). Their website is a useful resource, and will allow you to search for your property based on its post code. This will help you designate what level of risk they determine your property to be from flooding. The categories range between negligible, low, moderate and finally, significant. Be aware that even if your property is considered a negligible risk, this does not mean that you are conclusively at no risk of flooding. Rather, it means that your property is not perceived a risk from the type of flooding that the Environment Agency asses, which amongst other types of flooding, does not consider Ground Water flooding, and Surface Water flooding. 

Low Risk will often indicate that there is a 1 in 200 per year (or less) chance of flooding taking place. This will usually apply to properties in insurance Band 1, though that is only in terms of flooding insurance. If the risk is low, it is not substantial enough to make a significant impact on the price of your premium but does not mean that you are safe from flooding. Extreme weather conditions of recent years have caused large numbers of homes that have never encountered flooding before to come up against severe flood events, so flood planning and preparation is still advisable as a minimum precaution and resilience/resistance measures should be considered if you carry out refurbishments. indicates that the chance of flooding happening in any one given year is between 1 in 75 and 1 in 200. 

Broadly speaking, this is the same flood risk as insurance Band 2. While not always the case, this will usually apply to properties in areas that have previously suffered some kid of flood damage in the past. Those who reside in houses at moderate risk should have a flood plan in place, as well as installing whatever flood protection they can to the property. Examples of protections include flood boards, air brick covers, and non return valves on the sewage pipes. equates to a flood risk of 1 in 75 or greater or house flood insurance Band 3 (often those that have been flooded more than once in the previous 10 years or more). 

Occupants of properties at significant risk should certainly have a plan in place, as well as actively looking into resistance and resilience measures to install them as soon as possible. Only by doing this will you stand the best chance of managing the potential impact to property value and flooding insurance costs. If you are concerned that your local flood defences might be inadequate, you will need to discuss them with the EA. You also have the option of joining a local or national flooding organisation such as the National Flood Forum if you would like to see more being done about flooding.