Norwich Flood Risk

Norwich has a Low flood risk from rivers and the sea , with 0.4% of homes in a Medium or High band. The nearest gauge is 4.5 km away.

Norwich has 201,823 residents and 96,577 homes. Ranked 2511 of 7,114 in England for rivers and sea flood risk.

What Is The River Level Near Norwich Right Now?

0.131 m within its typical range
Gauge
Colney, Colney
Distance
4.5 km from the centre of Norwich
Typical range
0.158 m to 0.9 m
Reading taken
20 Sept, 09:00 UTC

Read from the Environment Agency flood-monitoring feed at 20 Sept, 14:34 UTC. The highest level on record here is 1.578 m , reached on 25 December 2020.

All gauges on this river

When Has Norwich Flooded Before?

The Environment Agency holds 2 recorded flood outlines covering Norwich, the most recent dated 15 January 1968.

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 Norwich's Flood Risk Classification Mean?

0.2% of postcodes in Norwich 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 0.4% 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

Which Postcode Districts Cover Norwich?

Each district below is one postcode district that falls inside Norwich. 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 districts covering Norwich, with the flood risk band shared by most of each district's postcodes. A district can span more than one local area, so its band is a summary and not a property-level answer.
Postcode district Postcodes here Rivers and sea band Surface water addresses
NR7 806 Low 1,567
NR3 792 Low 2,326
NR1 711 Low 1,568
NR2 693 Low 1,709
NR5 616 Low 936
NR6 600 Low 1,320
NR4 351 Low 693
NR13 18 High 4
NR10 4 Not mapped — no rivers-and-sea band covers this district not published for this district
NR12 2 Low 1
NR8 2 Not mapped — no rivers-and-sea band covers this district not published for this district
NR9 1 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 Norwich?

Other places on the River Yare, nearest to Norwich first.