The 20 UK Towns Most At Risk Of Flooding, Ranked By Share Of Homes At Risk

Goole is the UK town most at risk of flooding from rivers and the sea, with 86.5% of its homes in a Medium or High band, followed by Spalding at 81.5% and Stainforth at 67.1%.

Data: the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales flood risk datasets, 20 September 2026. Ranking published 20 September 2026.

Most lists of the worst flood risk areas in the UK rank places by a total count, which puts the largest cities at the top whatever their real exposure. This ranking uses the share of each town's homes at risk instead, and it ranks rivers and the sea separately from surface water, because the two produce very different lists.

Which UK Towns Have The Highest Flood Risk?

Goole has the highest share of homes at risk of flooding from rivers and the sea of any town ranked, at 86.5%. The top 20 are below, ranked by the share of homes in a Medium or High band.

Ranked by share of homes in a Medium or High band. Every column is sortable, and the default order is the ranking itself. The 20 English towns with the highest share of homes in a Medium or High flood risk band for rivers and the sea. Ranked within England only — Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish towns are not comparable (D9). "Area" is the county hub where one sits above the town, and the town's own local authority otherwise.

1	Goole flood risk	East Riding of Yorkshire	86.5%	86.5%
2	Spalding flood risk	Lincolnshire	81.5%	below High
3	Stainforth flood risk	Doncaster	67.1%	67.1%
4	Dunscroft and Hatfield flood risk	Doncaster	54.5%	54.5%
5	Wisbech flood risk	Cambridgeshire	43%	below High
6	Bentley (Doncaster) flood risk	Doncaster	39.2%	below High
7	Old Windsor and Wraysbury flood risk	Windsor and Maidenhead	37.6%	37.6%
8	Coningsby and Tattershall flood risk	Lincolnshire	37.5%	37.5%
9	Moorends flood risk	Doncaster	35.6%	below High
10	Chertsey flood risk	Surrey	35%	35%
11	Preesall and Knott End-on-Sea flood risk	Lancashire	34.4%	34.4%
12	Shepperton flood risk	Surrey	32.6%	32.6%
13	Egham flood risk	Surrey	28.2%	28.2%
14	Todmorden flood risk	Calderdale	28.1%	28.1%
15	Cleethorpes flood risk	North East Lincolnshire	26.6%	26.6%
16	East Wittering flood risk	West Sussex	25%	25%
17	Staines-upon-Thames flood risk	Surrey	24.8%	24.8%
18	Selsey flood risk	West Sussex	22.8%	22.8%
19	Paddock Wood flood risk	Kent	19.8%	19.8%
20	Barton-upon-Humber flood risk	North Lincolnshire	18.3%	18.3%

Which UK Towns Have The Highest Surface Water Flood Risk?

Chafford Hundred, West Thurrock and Purfleet-on-Thames has the highest share of homes at risk of surface water flooding, at 61.6%. 0 towns appear in both top 20s: surface water flooding comes from rain that cannot drain away, so it is not tied to rivers or coasts.

The 20 English towns with the highest share of homes at risk from surface water. Towns whose derived share exceeds 100% are excluded, because that means the numerator and denominator are counting different things (D16).

1	Chafford Hundred, West Thurrock and Purfleet-on-Thames flood risk	Thurrock	61.6%	551
2	Baldock flood risk	Hertfordshire	59.8%	—
3	Chadwell St Mary flood risk	Thurrock	58.9%	—
4	Grays flood risk	Thurrock	56.9%	—
5	Sawtry flood risk	Cambridgeshire	52.5%	812
6	East Tilbury flood risk	Thurrock	51.1%	—
7	Stanford-le-Hope flood risk	Thurrock	49.2%	379
8	Formby flood risk	Sefton	47.5%	815
9	Runwell flood risk	Essex	45.3%	905
10	Crosby (Sefton) flood risk	Sefton	44.9%	—
11	Bootle (Sefton) flood risk	Sefton	44.4%	—
12	Wootton (Bedford) flood risk	Bedford	43.4%	—
13	Litherland flood risk	Sefton	43.1%	—
14	Kidsgrove flood risk	Staffordshire	43%	484
15	Wixams flood risk	Bedford	41.8%	54
16	Hackney flood risk	Hackney	41.6%	495
17	Brandon (West Suffolk) flood risk	Suffolk	41.2%	966
18	Aintree flood risk	Sefton	41.1%	—
19	Basildon flood risk	Essex	41%	978
20	Barking and Dagenham flood risk	Barking and Dagenham	40.6%	448

In England, 4.6 million properties are at risk of surface water flooding against 2.4 million from rivers and the sea. Why a town far from any river can top this table is explained in surface water flooding.

How Was This Ranking Calculated?

This ranking divides the number of homes in a Medium or High flood risk band by the total number of homes in each town, using the Environment Agency's and Natural Resources Wales's flood risk data. Towns are official built-up areas, and every step is reproducible.

Step	Rule
Metric	Share of homes in a Medium or High band, calculated separately for each source
Towns	ONS built-up areas with at least 5,000 residents and a page on this site
Homes	Census household counts apportioned to postcodes; each postcode takes the band at its centre point
Ties	Equal shares share a rank
Excluded	Scotland, whose SEPA likelihoods use different thresholds; Northern Ireland, whose flood map data is not openly licensed; towns where more than 10% of postcodes have no band

Three limits apply. Shares describe towns, not individual homes: the Environment Agency's own service does not tell you how likely it is that an individual property will flood. English and Welsh bands are combined, but Natural Resources Wales's thresholds for the sea differ slightly from England's. And the ranking reflects one data release, so it is re-run when the agencies publish new data. The full method is in our methodology.

Which Places Have High Flood Zone Coverage But Low Actual Risk?

Towns where the planning map and the risk band disagree most: a large share of homes in Flood Zone 3, but few in a Medium or High band. The gap is the defences.

Sheerness flood risk	100%	0.1%	100 points
Mablethorpe flood risk	100%	5.3%	94.7 points
Hedon flood risk	95.9%	5.9%	90 points
Kingston upon Hull flood risk	91.2%	6.9%	84.4 points
Burnham-on-Sea flood risk	76.2%	0.6%	75.6 points
Thornton (Wyre) flood risk	71.8%	0.6%	71.2 points
Moorends flood risk	100%	35.6%	64.4 points
Clevedon flood risk	64%	0.2%	63.9 points
Hammersmith and Fulham flood risk	63.1%	0%	63.1 points
Jaywick flood risk	66.5%	7.7%	58.8 points

Towns are listed by the gap between the two figures, among towns with at least 10% of homes in Flood Zone 3. Defences reduce the chance of flooding but do not remove it. Why the planning map and the risk band disagree is explained in why a Flood Zone 3 house can be Low risk.

Which UK Towns Have Flooded Most Often?

Oxford has the most recorded flood outlines of any town ranked, with 54 separate outlines since 1946. This is a record of past floods, not a measure of current risk, so the list differs from the rankings above.

The 20 English towns with the most recorded flood outlines, since 1946. This is a record of past flooding, not a measure of present-day risk, and it covers England only — Recorded Flood Outlines is an Environment Agency dataset. Counts overlap: one event can leave several outlines.

1	Oxford flood risk	Oxfordshire	54	20 January 2008
2	Bristol flood risk	Bristol, City of	52	27 February 1990
3	Tewkesbury flood risk	Gloucestershire	51	24 July 2007
4	Bromley flood risk	Bromley	46	29 August 1977
5	York flood risk	York	46	19 March 2020
6	Gloucester flood risk	Gloucestershire	44	31 July 2007
7	Cheltenham flood risk	Gloucestershire	41	21 July 2007
8	Chesterfield flood risk	Derbyshire	40	22 October 2023
9	Abingdon-on-Thames flood risk	Oxfordshire	38	20 January 2008
10	Sheffield flood risk	Sheffield	35	28 March 2022
11	Reading flood risk	Reading	31	28 February 2014
12	Warrington flood risk	Warrington	30	1 January 2025
13	Kingston upon Thames flood risk	Kingston upon Thames	27	28 February 2014
14	West Molesey flood risk	Surrey	27	12 January 2003
15	Derby flood risk	Derby	26	24 October 2023
16	Shrewsbury flood risk	Shropshire	26	7 February 2004
17	Hebden Bridge flood risk	Calderdale	23	19 March 2020
18	Salford flood risk	Salford	23	26 December 2015
19	Staines-upon-Thames flood risk	Surrey	23	28 February 2014
20	Todmorden flood risk	Calderdale	22	19 March 2020

The count is a count of mapped outlines, not of separate floods: outlines overlap, and one event can leave several. A larger built-up area also accumulates more mapped outlines, so a city can outrank a small town that floods more often. The Environment Agency notes: "The absence of coverage by Recorded Flood Outlines for an area does not mean that the area has never flooded." A low count is therefore not proof that a town is safe.

Counts come from the Environment Agency's Recorded Flood Outlines (all our records of historic flooding from rivers, the sea, groundwater and surface water). This table covers England only: Recorded Flood Outlines is an Environment Agency dataset with no equivalent in this release for Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

What Makes An Area High Flood Risk?

An area is high flood risk when a flood is likely and many homes lie where it would reach. Low ground beside rivers and coasts, paved urban areas where drains are overwhelmed, and places without defences push a town up these rankings.

The main factors behind the rankings are:

Position on a floodplain or coast. Homes on low land beside rivers and the sea are the most exposed to river and tidal flooding.
Drainage capacity. The Environment Agency notes that in some places urban drainage systems do not have the capacity to manage surface water.
Defences. Defences lower the chance of flooding, which is why a town can have a high Flood Zone 3 share but a low band.
Climate change. The Environment Agency projects that around 1 in 4 properties in England could be at risk by mid-century.

The Environment Agency also reports that There are wide regional variations in flood risk, so the towns in each table are spread unevenly across the country.

How Do You Check A Specific Address?

A specific address is checked by entering its postcode into the checker, which shows the band for each source of flooding and the Flood Zone together. A town's ranking describes all its homes, and neighbouring streets can have very different risk.

The national picture behind these rankings is set out in flood statistics.

Sources (Verified 17 Sep 2026)

Claim	Source
Surface water and rivers and sea totals; drainage capacity; regional variation; mid-century	Environment Agency, National assessment 2024
Recorded Flood Outlines, since 1946, absence caveat	Recorded Flood Outlines
Historic flood warnings since 26 Jan 2006	Historic Flood Warnings
Area not property	Check your long term flood risk
Flood Zones ignore defences; bands count them	Flood Map for Planning – Flood Zones · Risk of Flooding from Rivers and Sea

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is The Most Flooded Town In The UK?

By share of homes at risk from rivers and the sea, Goole ranks first, at 86.5%. By number of recorded flood outlines since 1946, Oxford ranks first, with 54. The two measures answer different questions: one is present-day exposure, the other is a record of past events.

Why Are Big Cities Not At The Top Of The List?

This ranking uses the share of each town's homes at risk, not the total number. A large city can have more homes at risk than a small town while a smaller share of its homes is exposed.

Why Is Scotland Not Included?

SEPA classifies flood risk with different likelihood thresholds from England and Wales, so Scottish shares cannot be ranked on the same scale. Flood risk in Scotland is explained on its own page.

Can I Use This Ranking?

Yes. The ranking may be quoted with a link to this page and the data date. It is built from open data under the Open Government Licence v3.0, with the method set out above.