Meopham is safe from rivers and the sea, and its flood risk comes from rain. The village is on high ground on the North Downs. The Environment Agency's river and sea flood zones cover none of it. About one postcode in eight still carries a high flag on at least one flood measure. That comes from rainwater with nowhere to go, and being high up doesn't protect you from rain.
None of Meopham's postcodes are in the Environment Agency's flood zone 3, the highest-probability band for river and sea flooding, and none are in flood zone 2, the medium-probability band outside it. Both figures are 0%. On rivers and the sea, the village is about as clear as anywhere gets.
Surface water is a different matter. Heavy rain that can't drain fast enough collects on roads and in gardens, and a village on a slope sends it downhill to whoever lives at the bottom. Meopham's flood flags come from this kind of measure, because the river and sea maps leave the village blank.
The climate-adjusted version of the Environment Agency's flood zones, which allows for heavier future rainfall and higher seas, also puts 0% of Meopham's postcodes inside them. On rivers and the sea, the forward look is as clear as today.
For insurance, zero flood-zone figures usually help with quotes, but insurers rate surface water separately, so a house with a high surface-water flag can still cost more to cover. Get an indicative buildings quote on the exact address early in the process. If it comes back high, you'll know which kind of water the insurer is worried about.
The wider postcode picture counts a postcode if it reaches a rating on any of several flood measures, surface water included. On that count, about 13% of Meopham's postcodes rate high on at least one measure, 9% medium and 23% low. The risk is real, and it's concentrated on particular streets.
The Environment Agency's modelled flood extents put 0% of postcodes in the high-risk area with defences and 0% without them. That's not a sign that defences are protecting the village. It's that the river and sea flooding those defences would hold back doesn't reach it.
Meopham's nearest coastline is about 5.2 kilometres away at its closest. The shoreline management plan for that stretch says hold the line, meaning keep the existing defences where they are, at every horizon it covers: 20 years, 50 years and 100 years. That's what the plan intends if the money is found, and no funding has been committed for it. The plan also describes intentions, not the defences that exist today.
The nearest tide gauge is at Dover, which recorded sea level rising by about 2.2 millimetres a year between 1961 and 2010. That rate describes Dover over those years, and Dover is a long way to go for a reading on a village up on the Downs.
There's no recorded history of flooding anywhere in the area. That's reassuring, but a record can only include what somebody wrote down.
Meopham's flood risk is middling. The hill keeps out the rivers and the sea, and it does nothing to stop the rain that falls on it.