Does St Ives flood?

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

Ordnance Survey places 100 postcodes in St Ives 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 819 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 St Ives

Environment Agency gauges within 10 km of St Ives watch North Cornwall Coast, River Stennack, River Hayle, River Red.

• St Ives Tidal
  North Cornwall Coast · 0.7 km away 3.58 mAOD
  rises and falls with the tide · 56 min ago
• St Ives Consols Farm
  River Stennack · 1.2 km away 0.08 m
  normal range · rising · 41 min ago
• Hayle Tideflap Tidal
  River Hayle · 5.2 km away 3.67 mAOD
  rises and falls with the tide · 41 min ago
• St Erth
  River Hayle · 7.1 km away 0.30 m
  normal range · 56 min ago
• Gwithian
  River Red · 7.1 km away 0.63 m
  below normal · 56 min ago
• Relubbus
  River Hayle · 9.9 km away No recent reading
  last reported 26 Oct 2026 02:45

Distances are from the middle of St Ives'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 St Ives

8 Environment Agency flood warning areas lie within 10 km of St Ives. The EA has issued 630 flood warnings and alerts for them since 2006, most recently on 30 Sep 2026.

• Lands End to Chapel Porth including Sennen, St Ives, Carbis Bay, Lelant, Hayle, Portreath and Porthtowan
  59 warnings and alerts since 2006, latest Dec 2025 5.4 km
• Lands End to Chapel Porth including Sennen, St Ives, Carbis Bay, Lelant, Hayle, Portreath and Porthtowan
  206 warnings and alerts since 2006, latest Feb 2026 5.4 km
• Low-lying areas around Copperhouse Pool including the B3301
  10 warnings and alerts since 2006, latest Sep 2024 5.6 km
• River Hayle from Relubbus to St Erth including Relubbus, St Erth and Hayle Causeway
  16 warnings and alerts since 2006, latest Jan 2026 6.1 km
• Penzance, Newlyn, Crowlas, Porthleven, St Ives, Hayle, Camborne, Portreath and Perranporth
  159 warnings and alerts since 2006, latest Mar 2026 8.1 km
• South Cornwall coast at Mounts Bay, properties located behind the sea front in Newlyn, Penzance, Longrock and Marazion
  6 warnings and alerts since 2006, latest Oct 2023 9.1 km
• Lands End to Lizard Point including Mousehole, Newlyn, Penzance, Longrock, Marazion, Praa Sands and Porthleven
  137 warnings and alerts since 2006, latest Sep 2026 9.3 km
• South Cornwall coast at Mounts Bay, seafront properties in Newlyn, Penzance, Longrock and Marazion
  37 warnings and alerts since 2006, latest Dec 2025 9.5 km

Recorded floods near St Ives

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

• 9 Apr 2024 — St Ives Sea
• 29 Oct 2023 — St Ives Sea
• 31 Jan 2021 — CW9668 - St Erth
• 31 Jan 2021 — CW9667 - Lelant Ordinary watercourse
• 11 Mar 2020 — CW9630 - Hayle Drainage
• 19 Dec 2019 — CW9620 - Hayle Drainage
• 2 Jan 2018 — CW9588 - St Ives Sea
• 2 Jun 2016 — CW9517 - Hayle Main river
• 12 Feb 2016 — CW9484 - St Ives Sea
• 8 Feb 2016 — CW9479 - St Ives Sea
• 21 Feb 2015 — CW9432 - St Ives Sea
• 3 Mar 2014 — CW9397 - St Ives Sea

…and 19 earlier recorded floods on the map.

Rainfall near St Ives

St Ives gets about 1,175 mm of rain a year on average (wettest month November, 141 mm; driest May, 61 mm). That is close to the UK as a whole, which averages 1,163 mm a year. Source: Met Office HadUK-Grid 1991–2020 (5 km grid), 3.2 km from the place centre.

The nearest rain gauge, Rainfall station (3.1 km away), recorded 2.7 mm in the last 24 hours and 91.8 mm in the last 7 days (latest reading 41 min ago).

At-risk postcodes in St Ives

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

High likelihood (37)

Medium likelihood (57)

Low likelihood (3)

Very low likelihood (3)

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.