Bournemouth Flood Risk
Bournemouth has a Low flood risk from rivers and the sea , with 0.3% of homes in a Medium or High band. The nearest gauge is 3.1 km away.
Bournemouth has 196,282 residents and 92,437 homes. Ranked 2592 of 7,114 in England for rivers and sea flood risk.
What Is The River Level Near Bournemouth Right Now?
The nearest gauge is Throop, 3.1 km from the centre of Bournemouth, at Throop. Its typical range is 0.353 m to 1.2 m, and the highest level on record is 1.911 m, reached on 25 December 2013.
No current reading has been published for this gauge.
What Does Bournemouth's Flood Risk Classification Mean?
0.3% of postcodes in Bournemouth 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 0.3% 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 Bournemouth?
Each district below is one postcode district that falls inside Bournemouth. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BH9 | 656 | Low | 903 |
| BH8 | 618 | Low | 700 |
| BH6 | 517 | Low | 395 |
| BH10 | 506 | Low | 626 |
| BH1 | 502 | Low | 386 |
| BH11 | 384 | Low | 199 |
| BH7 | 280 | Low | 140 |
| BH5 | 243 | Low | 198 |
| BH2 | 235 | Low | 132 |
| BH4 | 214 | Low | 67 |
| BH3 | 128 | Low | 18 |
| BH13 | 2 | Not mapped — no rivers-and-sea band covers this district | not published for this district |
"Not mapped" is not "no risk". It means no rivers-and-sea band covers that district in the source — surface water can still flood it, and both Camden and Islington flooded from surface water in July 2021 while carrying no mapped rivers-and-sea band.
What Else Is Near Bournemouth?
Other places on the River Stour, nearest to Bournemouth first.