Yes. Queenborough sits on low ground that defences keep dry. Most of the town is in the highest-risk river-and-sea flood zone, and nearly all of it is once climate change is allowed for. The last major flood came over the sea wall. Only a handful of homes are rated high risk today, and that is because of the sea wall, not because the town sits high.
On the Environment Agency's river-and-sea flood zones, about 64% of Queenborough's postcodes are in flood zone 3, the highest-probability band. A further 8% are in flood zone 2, the medium-probability band just beyond it. The two bands don't overlap, so together they take in most of the town. In planning terms, most of Queenborough is land the sea would cover if nothing stood in its way.
No separate surface-water figure is published for the town. Surface water is counted in the postcode indicators further down, alongside rivers and sea, not as a standalone measure.
The Environment Agency's climate-change allowance puts about 89% of postcodes inside the flood zone. That is the forward view, and it takes in almost everywhere the current zones leave out.
For insurance, expect questions. A home in flood zone 3 near a tidal estuary will get closer attention from insurers than an inland one. Some will ask about flood history, defences and floor levels before they quote. The quote can change what a house is really worth to a buyer, so get one early.
Some flood measures also count surface water. On those, about 10% of postcodes are rated high risk on at least one measure, 14% medium and 37% low. These bands overlap with the flood zones above and can't be added to them. They answer a different question: whether a postcode is flagged by any indicator at all.
The Environment Agency's rivers-and-sea mapping counts properties, not postcodes. Across the 80 postcodes that carry some risk, it lists 1,824 properties: 2 at high risk, 4 at medium, 76 at low and 1,446 at very low. None of the high-risk properties are homes. Postcodes with no risk at all don't appear in the list. The counts are the Environment Agency's assessment of how likely flooding is, and they read very differently from the zone maps.
About 64% of postcodes fall inside the high-probability flood extent with no defence recorded in the model. None fall inside a defended high-probability extent. A defence being present in the model would not make a house safe anyway. Here the model does not record one against the high-probability extent at all, and a buyer should ask a surveyor what protects their particular street.
About 56% of postcodes are within 500 metres of the coast, a threshold set by the data, not a statement about any one house. The closest postcode is about 32 metres from the shoreline, and the median is about 470 metres. Every postcode falls within the Lower Medway Internal Drainage Board's district, and the town's recorded history holds 16 flood events. The most recent was in February 1953, when the sea came over the defences.
The shoreline management plan's policy for this coast is to hold the line over the next 20, 50 and 100 years. That means the stated plan is to keep the defences where they are. It is a plan, not a guarantee, and it is not a defence that already exists or has been paid for.
The nearest tide gauge, at Dover, recorded sea level rising by about 2.2 millimetres a year between 1961 and 2010. That is a measured rate over that period, not a forecast.
Before offering on a home here:
- Put the exact address into the Environment Agency's long-term flood risk service, not just the postcode.
- Get an insurance quote before instructing a solicitor.
- Ask the seller for any flood history, claims or defence work on the property.
- Ask a surveyor about floor levels and the defences between the house and the water.
Flood risk is Queenborough's weakest point. The town stays dry because of defences and a stated policy to maintain them, and a buyer should price a house here on that basis.