Colchester Flood Risk
Colchester has a Very low flood risk from rivers and the sea , with 0.6% of homes in a Medium or High band. The nearest gauge is 3.3 km away.
Colchester has 129,556 residents and 58,052 homes. Ranked 2253 of 7,114 in England for rivers and sea flood risk.
What Is The River Level Near Colchester Right Now?
The nearest gauge is Lexden, 3.3 km from the centre of Colchester, at Beacon End. Its typical range is 0.1 m to 1.54 m, and the highest level on record is 2.383 m, reached on 22 October 2001.
No current reading has been published for this gauge.
When Has Colchester Flooded Before?
The Environment Agency holds 2 recorded flood outlines covering Colchester, the most recent dated 1 February 1953.
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 Colchester's Flood Risk Classification Mean?
2% of postcodes in Colchester 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 0.6% 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 Colchester?
Each district below is one postcode district that falls inside Colchester. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CO4 | 1,025 | Low | 1,136 |
| CO3 | 780 | Low | 911 |
| CO2 | 673 | Low | 900 |
| CO1 | 515 | Low | 874 |
| CO7 | 12 | 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 Colchester?
Other places on the River Colne, nearest to Colchester first.