How bythenumbers measures designated Environment Agency flood warning and alert zones around a postcode.
This category counts designated flood warning and alert areas around the location, and how close the nearest one is. Those mapped zones come from the Environment Agency and stay on the map in dry weather. They are not the same as live alerts and warnings in force today, which appear separately on reports and on the flood warnings page, and do not change this figure.
Flood exposure affects insurance, peace of mind, and whether a home is practical in a wet winter. The designated zones are the published geography of where the Environment Agency expects to warn people. They are not a survey of a single house, and they are not a weather forecast.
Before you offer on a home, you should know whether the postcode sits among designated warning areas. A higher figure here means fewer of those areas nearby, not more flooding. Check the property itself with a surveyor and with GOV.UK Check for flooding. Use this category to compare areas on the published map, then do the house-level work on the one you shortlist.
Licences and refresh cadence are on the sources page. Live alerts are on the flood warnings page. They do not change this measure.
Search any UK postcode to see this category on a live report, beside the rest of the Area Measure.