Information on how to use the online flood warning service.
The online flood warning service shows the current flood warning situation across England and Wales for rivers, the sea and groundwater. It is automatically updated every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Flood warnings
This online service provides flood warnings and related information on locations where we offer our direct flood warning service - Floodline Warnings Direct.
We issue flood warnings using three different types of warning:
- Flood Alert
- Flood Warning
- Severe Flood Warning.
Severe flood warnings are not issued for flooding from groundwater. This is because groundwater does not generally pose a risk to life.
You will also see 'warnings no longer in force' and 'no warnings'. 'Warnings no longer in force' shows where warnings have been removed in the last 24 hours and 'no warnings' means that no flooding is expected.
Flood warning information for Scotland can be found on the Scottish Environment Protection Agency's website.
Using the service
The first page provides you with a national summary of the number and type of warnings in force in each of the Environment Agency's regions. A map is available that shows at a glance where warnings are currently in force. You can also access a three day flood risk forecast for England and Wales.
From the national summary page you can get further information by:
- Clicking on the region you are interested in on the map or the name of an Environment Agency region in the table. This will take you to a list of all the flood warning areas in that region, regardless of whether they have a warning in force. The most severe warnings are always listed first.
- Clicking on the number or type of warning in the table. This will take you to a list of flood warnings areas that match the type of warning or are in the region that you selected in the table (for example, areas with the status 'Flood Warning' in Anglian Region).
- Performing a search - You can search for warnings in your area by postcode, river or town.
The text above the national summary table will tell you when the flood warning information was last updated. Remember to refresh the page in your browser to ensure you view the latest information.
Information available
When you perform a search, or click an entry in the national summary table or the map, you will be given a list of flood warning areas that matched your selection. This list shows the flood warning status (Flood Alert, Flood Warning, Severe Flood Warning, no warning in force), the name of the flood warning area, the time the warning was issued and some additional information about location to help you decide if it's relevant to you.
You can then select the flood warning area you are interested in by clicking on the name. By doing this, you can access the following additional types of information for that specific area:
- Location - a link to a map, showing the flood warning area shaded purple over a map of England and Wales.
- Region - the Environment Agency region that the flood warning area is located in.
- Latest information - additional local information about what is happening in that area such as the estimated time that flooding is expected, tide heights and what locations will be affected. This section will also show the time and date this information was added to the website.
- Floodline quickdial number - that you can use when calling our Floodline call centre. The quickdial number will give you faster access to recorded flood information for this area.
- Related areas - tells you if there are any other flood warning areas that cover this location and the warning status (for example, Flood Alert, Flood Warning or Severe Flood Warning).
- Radio & TV - details of local broadcasters who broadcast information about flooding.
- Previous status - historic information providing the last five warnings for this area.
