Does M40 flood?

Yes — parts of the M40 district carry real flood risk: 22 of its 33 at-risk postcodes reach the Environment Agency's High likelihood band. The M40 postcode district covers Moston, Harpurhey, Miles Platting & Newton Heath, close to Manchester, Ancouts, Broughton, and surrounding villages in Greater Manchester.

33 postcodes in the M40 district appear in the Environment Agency's rivers-and-sea flood-risk dataset — worst bands: 22 high, 8 medium, 3 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 M40 postcodes are at risk?

Rivers and flooding history near M40

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

London Road on the River Medlock — 3.8 km away, highest on record 1.80m
Manchester Racecourse on the River Irwell — 4.9 km away, highest on record 5.67m
Littleton Road River on the River Irwell — 6.1 km away, highest on record 4.98m
Broomstairs Bridge on the River Tame — 8.7 km away, highest on record 2.54m

136 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 15 December 2025. Warnings cover flood areas, not individual addresses.

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

Manchester Harpurhey - NYE/NYD 25 (2025) — about 1.8 km from the centre
Collyhurst Road, (2019) — about 2.3 km from the centre
Waterloo Street (2019) — about 2.1 km from the centre
Higher Blackley (2015) — about 4.1 km from the centre

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

🏠 Buying or renting in M40? 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

M41 M43 M44 M45 M34 M46 M33 M32

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.