Bedford Flood Risk
Bedford has a Low flood risk from rivers and the sea , with 0.5% of homes in a Medium or High band. The nearest gauge is 0.8 km away.
Bedford has 96,687 residents and 43,121 homes. Ranked 2334 of 7,114 in England for rivers and sea flood risk.
What Is The River Level Near Bedford Right Now?
Read from the Environment Agency flood-monitoring feed at 20 Sept, 14:34 UTC. The highest level on record here is 1.417 m , reached on 11 April 1998.
When Has Bedford Flooded Before?
The Environment Agency holds 14 recorded flood outlines covering Bedford, the most recent dated 31 December 1998.
Absence of a record is not evidence that a place has never flooded — the Environment Agency states that a lack of coverage does not mean an area has never flooded.
What Does Bedford's Flood Risk Classification Mean?
0.1% of postcodes in Bedford sit in Flood Zone 3, the planning band for land with a 1% or greater annual chance of river flooding or 0.5% or greater of sea flooding — and the map that draws it deliberately ignores flood defences.
The flood risk band for rivers and the sea is Low , with 0.5% of homes in a Medium or High band. Unlike the Flood Zone, the band counts the defences that are actually in place, which is why the two can describe the same street differently and both be right.
Which Postcode Districts Cover Bedford?
Each district below is one postcode district that falls inside Bedford. The band is the one shared by most of that district's postcodes, so it describes the district rather than a single street — enter a full postcode in the checker for one address. A district can cover more than one town, and the district pages linked from the checker are keyed to the town that holds most of its postcodes.
| Postcode district | Postcodes here | Rivers and sea band | Surface water addresses |
|---|---|---|---|
| MK41 | 898 | High | 4,186 |
| MK40 | 770 | Low | 3,136 |
| MK42 | 451 | Low | 933 |
| MK44 | 10 | Low | 6 |
What Else Is Near Bedford?
Other places on the River Great Ouse, nearest to Bedford first.