Does NE38 flood?

Yes — parts of the NE38 district carry real flood risk: 4 of its 5 at-risk postcodes reach the Environment Agency's High likelihood band. The NE38 postcode district covers Washington East, close to Chester-Le-Street, Houghton Le Spring, Lamesley, and surrounding villages in parts of Tyne and Wear and County Durham.

5 postcodes in the NE38 district appear in the Environment Agency's rivers-and-sea flood-risk dataset — worst bands: 4 high, 1 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 NE38 postcodes are at risk?

NE38 8AH up to High NE38 8AJ up to High NE38 8AS up to High NE38 8QH up to High NE38 8LQ up to Low

Rivers and flooding history near NE38

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

Chester-Le-Street on the River Wear — 5.1 km away, highest on record 4.06m
Houghton Le Spring on the Moors Burn — 5.2 km away, highest on record 1.77m
Team Valley on the River Team — 7.7 km away, highest on record 1.74m
Tanfield on the River Team — 12.5 km away, highest on record 2.78m

162 official flood warnings and alerts have been raised within ~10 km of the district's centre since 2006 (86 at warning level or above), most recently 5 February 2026. Warnings cover flood areas, not individual addresses.

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

Fatfield (2000) — about 0.9 km from the centre
River Wear (1995) — about 21 km from the centre
Chester-Le-Street (1968) — about 5.9 km from the centre
Fatfield (1968) — about 0.9 km from the centre

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

🏠 Buying or renting in NE38? 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

NE37 NE39 NE36 NE40 NE35 NE41 NE34 NE42

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.