The government's flood checks are free, official and genuinely good. Run them — no report, ours included, replaces them. This page explains what each one covers, and exactly what isn't in them, so you know when you're done and when you're not.
The headline one: the Environment Agency's long-term likelihood assessment for an area of England — rivers & sea and surface water, banded High (>3.3% a year) to Very Low, with depth bands. Instant, free. Run it here.
What's happening right now: active flood alerts and warnings and the 5-day outlook. This is the one to follow in bad weather. Run it here.
Flood Zones 2 and 3 — the planning-law view lenders and developers ask about. Different question from the likelihood bands, worth knowing if you're building or extending. Run it here.
One thing the free long-term check makes easy to miss: surface water ("flash flooding") is now England's biggest flood source — the Environment Agency's latest national assessment (NaFRA2, December 2024) puts around 4.6 million properties at some surface-water risk, more than rivers and sea combined. Check that layer on the free service, not just the rivers band.
| Question | Free GOV.UK check | FloodRadar report (£19) |
|---|---|---|
| What's the official long-term risk band? | ✓ yes | ✓ yes (same EA dataset — free in our preview too) |
| Depth bands at the location | ✓ yes | ✓ yes, read at your marked point |
| Has this area actually flooded? | — not shown | ✓ recorded flood outlines since 1946, incl. repeat events |
| How often is this area officially warned? | — live warnings only | ✓ full warning record within 10 km since 2006 |
| How do the nearby rivers behave? | — not shown | ✓ live gauges, typical ranges, highest-on-record, rainfall response where modelled |
| Monitored storm overflows nearby | — not shown | ✓ within 5 km, with official spill records |
| Named storms that hit the area | — not shown | ✓ storm-tagged warning history |
| Keeps watching afterwards | — one-time check | ✓ permanent link that re-checks the data + free postcode flood alerts |
| Insurance framing (Flood Re scope) | — not shown | ✓ band-keyed insurance outlook |
| Price | free | £19 one-off |
Comparison against the GOV.UK long-term check as of July 2026. The official band, recorded outlines, warning history and storm-overflow datasets are England-only — that limit applies to our report too, and we say so before you pay.
Free preview first — the official band costs nothing here either. Full report £19, instant, no account needed. See a complete sample report →
It's the official Environment Agency assessment — the same modelling professionals use, and the single most authoritative statement of long-term flood likelihood for an area in England. "Accurate" has a caveat that applies to every flood product, ours included: it describes areas, not individual properties, and a model is not a history.
Yes — completely. The long-term risk check, the live check-for-flooding service and the planning flood-map service are all free, with no signup. If anyone charges you just to run the government check on an address, walk away.
History and behaviour. It won't tell you whether the area has actually flooded (the recorded flood outlines since 1946 are a separate dataset), how often official warnings have been issued nearby since 2006, how the local rivers behave when it rains, or where the monitored storm overflows are. That compilation is what paid reports — ours and the professional searches — exist for.
Often not — and we'd rather tell you that than sell you a report you don't need. Very low band, no flood history nearby, no insurance questions: the free check has probably answered it. The case for paying is when the band is Low or above, the property is near water, an insurer or lender is asking questions, or you want the actual flood history rather than a model.
Full report £19 · instant · permanent emailed link · 14-day money-back guarantee.
More on flood reports: What's inside the £19 report · Flood checks when buying a house · Flood report prices compared · Free flood-risk answers by postcode district
GOV.UK service descriptions reflect the public services as of July 2026; they are Crown services and not affiliated with FloodRadar. Data on FloodRadar reports: Environment Agency, SEPA and Ordnance Survey / Royal Mail / ONS postcode data under the Open Government Licence v3.0. FloodRadar is not an emergency service — always follow official warnings.
