Exeter Flood Risk
Exeter has a Low flood risk from rivers and the sea , with 1.8% of homes in a Medium or High band. The nearest gauge is 1.1 km away.
Exeter has 125,371 residents and 55,174 homes. Ranked 1454 of 7,114 in England for rivers and sea flood risk.
What Is The River Level Near Exeter Right Now?
The nearest gauge is Trews Weir, 1.1 km from the centre of Exeter, at Exeter. Its typical range is 3.282 m to 4 m, and the highest level on record is 4.611 m, reached on 30 October 2000.
No current reading has been published for this gauge.
Why Are Parts Of Exeter In Flood Zone 3 But Rated Low Risk?
11.8% of postcodes in Exeter fall in Flood Zone 3, but the flood risk band for rivers and the sea is low. The two maps measure different things: the Flood Zone ignores defences, and the band counts them.
When Has Exeter Flooded Before?
The Environment Agency holds 18 recorded flood outlines covering Exeter, the most recent dated 1 January 2001.
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 Exeter's Flood Risk Classification Mean?
11.8% of postcodes in Exeter 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 1.8% 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.
Exeter 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.
Which Postcode Districts Cover Exeter?
Each district below is one postcode district that falls inside Exeter. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| EX4 | 1,332 | Low | 1,634 |
| EX2 | 1,219 | Low | 1,134 |
| EX1 | 682 | Low | 844 |