Barkingside has no river or sea flood risk to speak of, but some of its streets have a real problem with surface water. None of it is in the river-and-sea flood zones. Even with climate change allowed for, that stays the same. Yet nearly a quarter of its postcodes are rated high risk on at least one flood measure. The water that worries Barkingside comes from rainstorms and drains.
On the Environment Agency's river-and-sea flood maps, 0% of Barkingside's postcodes fall in flood zone 3, the highest-probability band, and 0% in flood zone 2, the medium-probability band outside it. In both bands the figure is zero, so no river or tidal flooding is mapped anywhere in the area.
Surface water is a different measure, and it is the one that matters here. Heavy rain that the ground and drains cannot take collects on roads and gardens, and the Environment Agency maps that separately from rivers. Its surface-water results go into the postcode figures further down, and they explain almost all of Barkingside's flood exposure. Check the exact address on the Environment Agency's long-term flood risk service, and look at the surface-water result in particular, since it can change from one end of a street to the other.
The Environment Agency's climate-adjusted flood zone, which models how far the river-and-sea zones could spread under future climate conditions, also covers 0% of Barkingside's postcodes. Even on the long-term outlook, the river-and-sea maps still leave Barkingside out.
For insurance, being clear of the river-and-sea zones helps, but insurers also price surface-water risk. On a postcode rated high for surface water, the quote can still come in higher than the clear river maps would lead a buyer to expect. Get a quote on the specific address as early as possible, so the cover and its cost are known before a mortgage offer depends on them.
Looking at every Barkingside postcode with flood data, about 23% are rated high on at least one of several flood measures, about 30% medium, and about 54% low. Each figure counts a postcode once if any of its measures reaches that level, surface water included. Since none of the area is in a river or sea flood zone, the high ratings come from the other measures. A buyer who checks only the flood zone will be told there is no risk, even though nearly a quarter of postcodes are rated high on another measure.
Counted by property, the Environment Agency's rivers-and-sea mapping lists only three Barkingside postcodes with any risk at all, covering 67 properties. Of those, one property is at high risk, none at medium and 16 at low, and none of the high-risk properties is a home. That mapping only lists postcodes with some river-or-sea risk, which is why the count is so small. It tells a buyer nothing about surface water.
On the Environment Agency's modelled flood extents, 0% of Barkingside's postcodes sit in a high-risk area with defences and 0% in one without. A defence counted in that model would only mean a structure exists, and would not mean the house behind it stays dry. Barkingside does not have any to count. Without a river, there is nothing to build a defence against.
There are no recorded historic floods anywhere in Barkingside. The absence of a record is a reassuring point in the area's favour, though it only shows nothing big enough to be recorded has happened.
Rivers and the sea pose no threat to Barkingside, but surface water puts flooding among the weaker parts of the place. For a buyer, the street and the drains outside a particular house decide the flood risk, and the river-and-sea maps do not show it.