Does BL3 flood?

Yes — parts of the BL3 district carry real flood risk: 3 of its 13 at-risk postcodes reach the Environment Agency's High likelihood band. The BL3 postcode district covers Rumworth, Great Lever, Little Lever & Darcy Lever, close to Farnworth, Kearsley, Eagley, and surrounding villages in parts of Greater Manchester and Lancashire.

13 postcodes in the BL3 district appear in the Environment Agency's rivers-and-sea flood-risk dataset — worst bands: 3 high, 3 medium, 7 low. A postcode not listed here has no properties in any recorded risk band (which is good news, but never proof it cannot flood).

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Which BL3 postcodes are at risk?

BL3 1SD up to High BL3 2PP up to High BL3 2RB up to High BL3 2QJ up to Medium BL3 2RD up to Medium BL3 5EN up to Medium BL3 1RP up to Low BL3 1RS up to Low BL3 1RU up to Low BL3 2NH up to Low BL3 5EL up to Low BL3 5NX up to Low BL3 5QA up to Low

Rivers and flooding history near BL3

The rivers that matter here, each monitored live on FloodRadar:

Farnworth on the River Croal — 2.4 km away, highest on record 1.83m
Kearsley on the River Irwell — 4 km away, highest on record 6.33m
Threadfold Way on the Eagley Brook — 5.1 km away, highest on record 1.71m
Bessy Brook on the Bessy Brook — 5.2 km away, highest on record 1.78m

66 official flood warnings and alerts have been raised within ~10 km of the district's centre since 2006 (65 at warning level or above), most recently 20 September 2025. Warnings cover flood areas, not individual addresses.

Recorded flood extents near the district (Environment Agency record):

Bolton Breightmet - NYE/NYD 25 (2025) — about 1.5 km from the centre
Spa Road, Bolton (2015) — about 2 km from the centre
Breightmet (2015) — about 3.2 km from the centre
EA01313_21 January 2008_Bradshaw Brook_Breightmet (2008) — about 2.1 km from the centre

🏠 Buying or renting in BL3? The full property flood-risk report covers any postcode here — the official likelihood band, every recorded flood nearby with distances, warning history year by year, how the local rivers behave, and an insurance outlook, print-ready for £19. See what's in the report →

Flood risk in nearby postcode districts

BL2 BL4 BL1 BL5 BL0 BL6 BL7 BL8

Band = the worst likelihood band of any property in that postcode (EA Risk of Flooding from Rivers & Sea, defence-adjusted, area-level). Check any postcode in detail — or get the full £19 property report — at the property flood-risk report. © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2025. All rights reserved. Some features of this map are based on digital spatial data from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, © NERC (CEH). © Crown Copyright and Database Rights 2025 OS AC0000807064. This product is produced in part from PAF® and Multiple Residence Data, the copyright in which is owned by Royal Mail Group Limited and/or Royal Mail Group plc. All rights reserved. Licence number AC0000807064.