Manchester Flood Risk
Manchester has a Low flood risk from rivers and the sea , with 2.2% of homes in a Medium or High band. The nearest gauge is 0.7 km away.
Manchester has 470,932 residents and 205,432 homes. Ranked 1299 of 7,114 in England for rivers and sea flood risk.
What Is The River Level Near Manchester Right Now?
Read from the Environment Agency flood-monitoring feed at 20 Sept, 14:34 UTC. The highest level on record here is 1.802 m , reached on 1 January 2025.
When Has Manchester Flooded Before?
The Environment Agency holds 13 recorded flood outlines covering Manchester, the most recent dated 1 January 2025.
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 Manchester's Flood Risk Classification Mean?
2.2% of postcodes in Manchester 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 2.2% 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 Manchester?
Each district below is one postcode district that falls inside Manchester. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| M40 | 1,361 | Low | 3,160 |
| M20 | 1,122 | Low | 3,985 |
| M9 | 1,067 | Low | 2,235 |
| M14 | 1,015 | Low | 3,612 |
| M19 | 795 | Low | 2,540 |
| M8 | 752 | Low | 1,431 |
| M11 | 739 | Low | 1,488 |
| M21 | 699 | Low | 1,000 |
| M18 | 562 | Low | 1,367 |
| M15 | 558 | Low | 1,304 |
| M1 | 519 | Low | 1,656 |
| M4 | 519 | Low | 3,291 |
| M12 | 486 | Low | 1,064 |
| M13 | 469 | Low | 2,121 |
| M16 | 405 | Low | 739 |
| M3 | 256 | Low | 569 |
| M2 | 195 | Low | 307 |
| M7 | 27 | Low | 39 |
| M43 | 8 | Low | 8 |
| M35 | 4 | Low | 1 |
| SK4 | 2 | Medium | 2 |
What Else Is Near Manchester?
Other places on the River Medlock, nearest to Manchester first.