Poole Flood Risk

Poole has a Low flood risk from rivers and the sea , with 0.9% of homes in a Medium or High band. The nearest gauge is 6.7 km away.

Poole has 141,836 residents and 67,114 homes. Ranked 1954 of 7,114 in England for rivers and sea flood risk.

What Is The River Level Near Poole Right Now?

0.393 m within its typical range
Gauge
Wimborne, Oakley
Distance
6.7 km from the centre of Poole
Typical range
0.455 m to 1.26 m
Reading taken
20 Sept, 14:00 UTC

Read from the Environment Agency flood-monitoring feed at 20 Sept, 14:34 UTC. The highest level on record here is 1.998 m , reached on 24 December 2013.

All gauges on this river

When Has Poole Flooded Before?

The Environment Agency holds 1 recorded flood outlines covering Poole, the most recent dated 1 December 1989.

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 Poole's Flood Risk Classification Mean?

1.8% of postcodes in Poole 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 0.9% 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 Poole?

Each district below is one postcode district that falls inside Poole. 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 Poole, 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
BH15 777 Low 1,076
BH12 694 Low 842
BH14 577 High 672
BH17 421 High 1,490
BH13 287 Low 169
BH18 261 High 422
BH16 35 High 80
BH10 3 Not mapped — no rivers-and-sea band covers this district not published for this district
BH4 3 Not mapped — no rivers-and-sea band covers this district not published for this district
BH1 1 Not mapped — no rivers-and-sea band covers this district not published for this district
BH11 1 Not mapped — no rivers-and-sea band covers this district not published for this district
BH3 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 Poole?

Other places on the River Stour, nearest to Poole first.