Does Crawley flood?

What the Environment Agency's rivers-and-sea flood-risk data says about Crawley

Ordnance Survey places 258 postcodes in Crawley in the Environment Agency's rivers-and-sea flood-risk dataset (Risk of Flooding from Rivers and Sea). Each postcode is counted once, under the worst band any of its properties reaches; together they hold 2,859 properties in the EA dataset's likelihood bands.

This dataset covers flooding from rivers and the sea only — one of five flood sources. Surface water, groundwater, sewers and reservoirs are assessed separately, so a postcode missing from it is not proof that a place cannot flood. The band describes the land around properties (allowing for defences), not any single address and not today's conditions.

Rivers and live river levels near Crawley

Environment Agency gauges within 10 km of Crawley watch Gatwick Stream, Ifield Brook, River Mole, Burstow Stream.

• Three Bridges
  Gatwick Stream · 1.3 km away 0.61 m
  normal range · falling · 28 min ago
• Maidenbower
  Gatwick Stream · 1.9 km away 0.76 m
  normal range · falling · 28 min ago
• Ifield
  Ifield Brook · 2.9 km away 0.88 m
  normal range · just past its peak · 28 min ago
• Stafford Bridge
  River Mole · 2.9 km away 0.71 m
  normal range · 28 min ago
• Gatwick Airport
  River Mole · 3.6 km away 0.37 m
  normal range · rising · 28 min ago
• Gatwick Link
  Gatwick Stream · 5.2 km away 0.19 m
  normal range · rising · 28 min ago
• Peeks Brook Lane
  Burstow Stream · 6.1 km away 1.13 m
  normal range · steady · 28 min ago
• Horley
  River Mole · 6.6 km away 0.57 m
  normal range · just past its peak · 28 min ago
• Bonehurst Bridge
  Burstow Stream · 8.1 km away 1.98 m
  normal range · steady · 28 min ago
• Kinnersley Manor
  River Mole · 9.7 km away 0.24 m
  normal range · rising · 28 min ago

Distances are from the middle of Crawley's at-risk postcodes. Tidal and structure gauges are shown as readings only — the tide and sluice gates move them, not floods. A gauge with no recent reading shows no level.

Flood warning areas near Crawley

10 Environment Agency flood warning areas lie within 10 km of Crawley. The EA has issued 159 flood warnings and alerts for them since 2006, most recently on 23 Oct 2026.

• Tilgate Brook at Tilgate and Furnace Green
  no warning on record since 2006 1.4 km
• Gatwick Stream at Maidenbower and Crawley including Tinsley Green, West Sussex
  2 warnings and alerts since 2006, latest Jan 2014 2.7 km
• Ifield Brook and the River Mole at Ifield and the River Mole at Lowfield Heath including Gatwick Airport, West Sussex
  3 warnings and alerts since 2006, latest Nov 2019 3.0 km
• Ifield Brook, Upper River Mole, Burstow Stream and Salfords Stream including Ifield, Lowfield Heath, Charlwood, Hookwood, Bewbush, Furnace Green, Maidenbower, Crawley, Horley and Copthorne
  122 warnings and alerts since 2006, latest Oct 2026 4.6 km
• Gatwick Stream at South West Horley including Gatwick Airport, West Sussex and Surrey
  5 warnings and alerts since 2006, latest Feb 2014 4.9 km
• River Mole at Charlwood and Hookwood including Povey Cross Road and Gatwick Airport, West Sussex and Surrey
  11 warnings and alerts since 2006, latest Nov 2022 6.0 km
• Burstow Stream, Haroldslea Stream, Silverlea Ditch and Weatherhill Stream at East and North Horley, Surrey
  10 warnings and alerts since 2006, latest Nov 2022 7.2 km
• Weatherhill Stream at Smallfield and Weatherhill
  2 warnings and alerts since 2006, latest Dec 2022 7.8 km
• Salfords Stream at Salfords, Surrey
  no warning on record since 2006 9.9 km
• Sussex River Ouse and tributaries from Slaugham to Ardingly including the Shell Brook
  4 warnings and alerts since 2006, latest Nov 2022 10.0 km

Recorded floods near Crawley

Floods whose mapped extent (EA Recorded Flood Outlines) reached within ~5 km of Crawley, most recent first. Records, not floods: no outline on the record is not evidence a place has not flooded. See them on the map →

• 23 Dec 2013 — Ifield_Dec2013 Main river
• 23 Dec 2013 — Maidenbower_Jan2014 Main river
• 23 Dec 2013 — ThreeBridges_Jan2014 Main river
• 14 Sep 1968 — 06SeptemberAutumn1968 Main river
• 7 Mar 1947 — 06MarchSpring1947 Main river

Rainfall near Crawley

Crawley gets about 848 mm of rain a year on average (wettest month November, 97 mm; driest June, 52 mm). That is 27% drier than the UK as a whole, which averages 1,163 mm a year. Source: Met Office HadUK-Grid 1991–2020 (5 km grid), 0.9 km from the place centre.

The nearest rain gauge, Rainfall station (4.1 km away), recorded 5.0 mm in the last 24 hours and 93.8 mm in the last 7 days (latest reading 28 min ago).

At-risk postcodes in Crawley

Every postcode Ordnance Survey places in Crawley that appears in the EA's rivers-and-sea dataset, worst band first. Each links to its own flood-risk page.

High likelihood (83)

Medium likelihood (20)

Low likelihood (140)

Very low likelihood (15)

Postcode districts

Sources

FloodRadar summarises public flood data. It is not a flood-risk survey of any property, and it does not replace official GOV.UK flood warnings or the GOV.UK long-term flood risk service.