Ipswich Flood Risk

What Is The River Level Near Ipswich Right Now?

The nearest gauge is Clopton, 10.5 km from the centre of Ipswich, at Otley Bottom. Its typical range is 0.113 m to 1 m, and the highest level on record is 2.625 m, reached on 20 October 2023.

No current reading has been published for this gauge.

All gauges on this river

When Has Ipswich Flooded Before?

The Environment Agency holds 4 recorded flood outlines covering Ipswich, the most recent dated 6 December 2013.

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 Ipswich's Flood Risk Classification Mean?

3.4% of postcodes in Ipswich 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.

Flood Zone versus flood risk band: the full comparison

Each district below is one postcode district that falls inside Ipswich. 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.

What Else Is Near Ipswich?

• River Lark levels Every gauge and live reading on this river
• Suffolk flood risk Every town ranked in this county
• Flood risk in England How this nation classifies flood risk, and its gaps
• What each flood risk level means The annual chance behind each band word