Flood Risk Maps

What is your perception of the flood risk in your area ?

Would you assume it is very low, low, medium or high?

This image shows an example of a flood risk matrix used to give a location an overall flood risk from very low to high.

It is essential to know the flood risk for an area for any sort of land use management or development such as planning buildings or agricultural use. The Environment Agency (EA) has produced a Flood Risk Map of the whole country which anyone can search. This is normally used in the very initial stages of considering a building or other development on land. The local planning authority’s Strategic Flood Risk Assessment adds more detail to the information in the EA Flood Risk Map. Using the Strategic Flood Assessment is essential when planning any development as it assesses the impact that land use changes in the area will have on flood risk based on potential flooding from all sources, now and in the future. It also takes into account of the impacts of climate change which is not reflected in the EA Flood Risk Map.