City of Westminster Flood Risk

City of Westminster has a Very low flood risk from rivers and the sea , with 0% of homes in a Medium or High band. The nearest gauge is 8.1 km away.

City of Westminster has 202,950 residents and 132,743 homes. Ranked 3078 of 7,114 in England for rivers and sea flood risk.

What Is The River Level Near City of Westminster Right Now?

1.416 m within its typical range
Gauge
Barnes, Barnes
Distance
8.1 km from the centre of City of Westminster
Typical range
0.897 m to 2.14 m
Reading taken
20 Sept, 14:00 UTC

Read from the Environment Agency flood-monitoring feed at 20 Sept, 14:34 UTC. The highest level on record here is 2.034 m , reached on 23 June 2016.

All gauges on this river

Why Are Parts Of City of Westminster In Flood Zone 3 But Rated Low Risk?

10.2% of postcodes in City of Westminster fall in Flood Zone 3, but the flood risk band for rivers and the sea is verylow. The two maps measure different things: the Flood Zone ignores defences, and the band counts them.

Why a Flood Zone 3 house can be Low risk

When Has City of Westminster Flooded Before?

The Environment Agency holds 4 recorded flood outlines covering City of Westminster, the most recent dated 31 December 1928.

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 City of Westminster's Flood Risk Classification Mean?

10.2% of postcodes in City of Westminster 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 Very low , with 0% 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.

City of Westminster is one of the places where they disagree most in England: a large share of its postcodes are in Flood Zone 3, yet few of its homes carry a Medium or High band. The gap is the defences — land the planning map must treat as floodplain, behind a barrier that lowers the present-day chance of flooding.

Flood Zone versus flood risk band: the full comparison

Which Postcode Districts Cover City of Westminster?

Each district below is one postcode district that falls inside City of Westminster. 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 districts covering City of Westminster, with the flood risk band shared by most of each district's postcodes. A district can span more than one local area, so its band is a summary and not a property-level answer.
Postcode district Postcodes here Rivers and sea band Surface water addresses
W1U 1,033 Low 850
W2 968 High 4,058
W1K 844 High 507
W1F 744 Medium 50
NW8 690 High 1,598
W1G 674 High 399
W1H 670 High 1,088
W1D 662 High 45
W1J 616 Low 215
W1W 592 High 472
SW1V 539 High 4,766
W1S 529 Low 72
W9 521 High 3,107
SW1P 422 High 3,760
NW1 304 High 909
W1B 282 High 154
SW1W 273 High 1,223
W1T 187 High 135
SW1X 180 High 339
W10 167 High 446
SW7 150 High 624
WC2E 149 Not mapped — no rivers-and-sea band covers this district not published for this district
SW1Y 142 High 115
W1C 135 Low 7
WC2H 131 High 72
WC2N 116 High 110
SW1A 80 High 110
WC2R 79 High 71
SW1E 78 Low 337
SW1H 73 High 270
WC2B 66 Low 1
W11 46 High 162
NW6 40 High 112
WC2A 18 High 5
SW3 7 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 City of Westminster?

Other places on the Beverley Brook, nearest to City of Westminster first.