Does DH4 flood?

Yes — parts of the DH4 district carry real flood risk: 11 of its 28 at-risk postcodes reach the Environment Agency's High likelihood band. The DH4 postcode district covers Houghton, Washington East, Shiney Row, Hetton, close to Houghton Le Spring, Chester-Le-Street, Lamesley, and surrounding villages in parts of County Durham and Tyne and Wear.

28 postcodes in the DH4 district appear in the Environment Agency's rivers-and-sea flood-risk dataset — worst bands: 11 high, 5 medium, 12 low. A postcode not listed here has no properties in any recorded risk band (which is good news, but never proof it cannot flood).

Free preview first · full report £19

Which DH4 postcodes are at risk?

DH4 4PL up to High DH4 5NL up to High DH4 6NE up to High DH4 7AH up to High DH4 7AR up to High DH4 7AS up to High DH4 7PY up to High DH4 7PZ up to High DH4 7SF up to High DH4 7SH up to High DH4 7SJ up to High DH4 5ND up to Medium DH4 5NH up to Medium DH4 5NQ up to Medium DH4 5PL up to Medium DH4 7SD up to Medium DH4 5DH up to Low DH4 5DL up to Low DH4 5DN up to Low DH4 5PX up to Low DH4 5PY up to Low DH4 5PZ up to Low DH4 5QA up to Low DH4 6FW up to Low DH4 7AW up to Low DH4 7SE up to Low DH4 7SL up to Low DH4 7SW up to Low

Rivers and flooding history near DH4

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

Houghton Le Spring on the Moors Burn — 2 km away, highest on record 1.77m
Chester-Le-Street on the River Wear — 4.1 km away, highest on record 4.06m
Team Valley on the River Team — 10.1 km away, highest on record 1.74m
Durham New Elvet Bridge on the River Wear — 10.4 km away, highest on record 3.83m

80 official flood warnings and alerts have been raised within ~10 km of the district's centre since 2006 (4 at warning level or above), most recently 4 February 2026. Warnings cover flood areas, not individual addresses.

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

Fatfield (2000) — about 2.6 km from the centre
River Wear (1995) — about 19.1 km from the centre
Sedgeletch (1975) — about 1.1 km from the centre
Fatfield (1968) — about 2.7 km from the centre

Records, not floods: no outline on the record is not evidence a place has not flooded.

🏠 Buying or renting in DH4? 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

DH3 DH5 DH2 DH6 DH1 DH7 DH8 DH9

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.