Flooding: Is your home at risk?

Checking whether your home could be affected by flooding is now simpler than ever.

It’s also an important step, as by 2050 around 25 percent of homes in England may face flooding from rivers, the sea or surface water.¹

Flooding can be devastating, affecting your emotional wellbeing and financial security. We want to help you find out whether you’re in a flood-risk area anywhere in the UK, if flooding is happening or about to occur, and whether a property or area has flooded before.

EASY AS HACK 

You can easily check whether your home is a potential flood risk by using the flood maps on the Gov.uk website.

How to find out if your home is at risk of flooding

You can find out whether your home is in a flood-risk area by checking your country’s website and entering your postcode.

• England – review your long-term flood risk at UK or the current risk on the live flooding service.
• Wales – check your flood risk at or live flood warnings.
• Scotland – visit the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) website and live flooding information.
• Northern Ireland – use the government’s Flood Maps NI interactive viewer or call 0300 2000 100 to report live flooding incidents.

The UK is becoming wetter and warmer, and flood risks are increasing, affecting more homes, businesses and infrastructure. In Wales, about 275,000 (1 in 7) properties were at risk in the period April 2024 – March 2025, according to Natural Resources Wales.⁴

In England, the Environment Agency estimates that 8 million homes and businesses (1 in 4) could be at risk of flooding from rising sea levels, rivers and surface water by 2050.¹

What are the different classifications of flooding?

Each nation has different classifications to describe the three types of flooding from rivers, the sea or surface water.

England has 4 risk bands for each year in which an area has a likelihood of flooding (all types):⁵

• Very low risk – less than a 1 in 1,000 chance
• Low risk – between 1 in 100 and 1 in 1,000
• Medium risk – between 1 in 30 and 1 in 100
• High risk – greater than 1 in 30

Wales’s flood risk assessment map uses the same labels and river and surface water thresholds as those used in England, except for the medium risk category, which spans 1 in 100 to 1 in 30.⁶

It also has a different sea-level threshold for low and medium risk:

• Low risk – between 1 in 200 and 1 in 1,000
• Medium risk – between 1 in 30 and 1 in 200

Scotland presents 3 levels in percentage terms across rivers, sea and surface water:⁷

• High chance – at least 10% (a 1 in 10 risk)
• Medium – at least 0.5% (1 in 200)
• Low – at least 0.1% (1 in 1,000)

Northern Ireland⁸ has the same thresholds as Scotland, except for a 1-in-100 (medium) probability of fluvial (river) flooding. Its surface-water classification also differs at the high end, setting the threshold at a 1-in-30-or-greater annual chance of flooding, compared with 1-in-10 in Scotland.

How do you prepare for a flood?

If your house is in a flood-risk area, the first step in preparing for a flood is to sign up for alerts by email, phone or text. Each nation, apart from Northern Ireland, has an instant-alert service:

• England – sign up for flood warnings at UK
• Wales – get warnings through Natural Resource Wales
• Scotland – sign up to Floodline on the SEPA website

You can also register for Floodline by calling 0345 988 1188 if you’re not online or don’t have an email address.⁹

Residents in Northern Ireland should check Flood Maps NI to see whether their home is at risk of flooding. They can also call the Flooding Incident Line on 0300 2000 100 to report an incident¹⁰ or access the DFI Rivers water level network webpage.

Once you’ve registered for a flood warning service, here’s how to prepare for a flood:

• Create an emergency kit – the National Flood Forum recommends packing it with essentials such as:

1. Insurance documents
2. Mobile phone chargers
3. Cash and credit cards
4. Prescription medication
5. Baby food, nappies and clothes
6. Wash kits
7. A torch
8. Non-perishable food
9. Water

10. Warm clothes, blankets and duvets

11. First aid kit¹¹

• Make an emergency contact list – include your council, GP, energy and water suppliers, insurance claim and policy numbers.
• Devise a flood plan to use should the worst happen – list every action in order of priority.¹² The government provides a checklist for England, with helpful links to information from the other nations.
• Check your buildings and contents insurance – make sure your policies cover the damage done by floods.

If your house is about to flood:

• Move valuable items to a higher place, such as upstairs rooms, to keep them away from floodwater should it enter your home.¹³
• Seal your property to prevent water from entering by using tape, sheeting, boards and ballast rather than sandbags, which may not be very effective. You can also use floodgates and airbrick covers if you have them.
• If you don’t have time to get flood products, use thick plastic sheeting to cover any air vents and plastic bags or pillowcases filled with soil around doors and windowsills.¹³
• Move your car to higher ground or outside the area if you can do so safely.
• Add weights to large, loose items in your garden or outside area.¹³
• Reduce potential damage by piling smaller furniture on top of heavy items, throwing curtains over the rails and moving rugs out of the reach of floodwater.¹³
• Block toilets, baths and sinks with heavy objects.
• Unplug and disconnect washing machines and dishwashers from the water supply and block the inlet pipes with clothes or towels.¹³
• Turn off the utilities. How to do this should be in your flood plan.
• Move to a safe place if your house is about to flood – it could be upstairs or elsewhere. Your local authority can help with emergency accommodation.¹³

For more information, see how to protect your home against floods.

What to do after a flood

After your house floods, your safety is paramount. Problems such as backed-up toilets, gas or carbon monoxide leaks, and power cuts can all occur in a flooded house.

• Check that it’s safe to return to your home (emergency services will tell you) if you were evacuated due to flooding.¹⁴
• Wait for a safety inspection from your utility companies before turning on the water, gas, or electricity.¹⁴ Don’t touch any electrical sources while standing in floodwater.¹⁵
• Contact your insurance company immediately to file a claim. Speed is important, as it can take one year or more for your home to be assessed, safely decontaminated and restored, especially if the home is badly damaged by flooding.¹⁶

Does home insurance cover flood damage?

Whether your home insurance covers flood damage depends on your policy, so you’ll need to check with your insurer first. Buildings insurance covers damage to any physical structures like the roof and walls, while contents insurance covers the repair or replacement of your personal belongings damaged by floodwater.

Ageas buildings and contents policies typically include cover for damage caused by flooding, depending on your policy terms, limits and exclusions. Contents cover applies only if included in your policy.

Find out more on our help hub.

What does home insurance not cover?

Typically, the following items are not covered by your building insurance:

• Fences
• Gates
• Swimming pools
• Hot tubs

Always check your policy’s wording.

Does flood risk affect your home insurance?

Living in a high-flood-risk area can affect your home insurance premiums, as can a house that has flooded in the past. Where a property has previously been affected by flooding, the premium may be higher to reflect the increased likelihood of flooding happening again. Therefore, the choice of insurance companies available may be limited.

However, schemes such as Flood Re exist specifically to make insurance more affordable for homeowners in flood-prone areas or previously flooded homes.

H3: What is Flood Re?

Flood Re is a flood peril reinsurance scheme – planned to be in place until 2039 – that makes flood cover more widely available and affordable.¹⁷

The UK insurance sector and the government set it up to ensure that people who own property in areas at higher risk of flooding can still access affordable home insurance.

Flood Re takes the risk of providing cover for flood damage away from individual insurers. As a result, homeowners in affected areas have more choice when arranging insurance. Before Flood Re, the average home insurance quote for a flood claim was £4,400. By December 2024, the average was about £1,100.

However, Flood Re does not cover properties built after 2009, nor does it cover businesses or landlords. To be eligible, the homeowner must have lived in their house and had it registered for council tax before 2009.¹⁹ Check if you qualify for the Flood Re scheme.

Looking for home insurance?

Find out why choosing Ageas home insurance makes life easier.

At Ageas, we want to help customers who are more at risk of flooding feel better prepared for what it can bring. That’s why we support Flood Re’s Build Back Better scheme.

The Build Back Better scheme allows property owners affected by flooding to access funding for flood-resilience measures to strengthen their homes against future floods.

You can find out more about our home insurance here.

FAQs

Why is it important to understand your flood risk?

It’s important to understand your flood risk because it impacts the following:

• Building safety – knowing your flood risks means you can take measures to make the property more resilient.²⁰
• Resale value – research published in the Journal of Housing Economics shows properties at risk are sold at an 8.14% discount compared to those not exposed to flood risk. (England only).²¹

What are the different ways your house can flood?

Your house can flood in various ways, including:⁶

• Rivers and the sea flooding
• Heavy rainfall and groundwater
• The sea and high tides
• Sewer flooding
• Surface water
• Reservoirs²²

For other causes of flooding, such as burst or frozen pipes, read our article on reducing the risks in your home during winter.

Sources

[1] https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/progress-in-adapting-to-climate-change-2025/

[2]https://thefloodhub.co.uk/am-i-at-risk/

[3] https://www.local.gov.uk/topics/severe-weather/flooding/local-flood-risk-management/managing-flood-risk-roles-and

[4] https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/flooding-reports-evidence-and-data/flood-risk-management-annual-report-2024-to-2025/?lang=en

[5] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-assessment-of-flood-and-coastal-erosion-risk-in-england-2024/national-assessment-of-flood-and-coastal-erosion-risk-in-england-2024

[6] https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/maps/different-types-of-flood-risk/?lang=en

[7] https://beta.sepa.scot/flooding/prepare-for-flooding/flooding-faqs/flood-maps-faqs/

Original article written in Sept 2021, updated 10.06.2026