Quick answer: Between 2016 and 2025, England’s most frequent flood warnings were concentrated in six clusters: Dorset’s River Frome and River Stour, Somerset and East Devon, the Severn and Avon valleys, the brooks of the West Midlands, York and the Yorkshire coast, and the tidal rivers of the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads. In 2024 to 2025, the single most-warned area was the Lower Frome from East Stoke to Wareham, with 22 Flood Warnings in two years.
In our post on when England floods, we looked at the time of year. This time we’ve looked at place: which warning areas get the most Flood Warnings, and which keep coming back year after year.
How we worked it out
We used the Environment Agency’s Historic Flood Warnings dataset and counted every new Flood Warning and Severe Flood Warning issued from January 2016 to December 2025. We left out Flood Alerts and updates, so each warning counted is a fresh call to act.
Each warning is issued for a defined flood warning area: a stretch of river, a coastline or a group of streets. Over the ten years, more than 2,000 different areas received at least one warning. We ranked them two ways:
- The last two years (2024 to 2025): the areas warned most often recently.
- The long run (2016 to 2025): the areas that keep coming back.
A flood warning means the Environment Agency expected flooding, not that every property in the area flooded. Some of the most-warned areas are campsites, roads or parkland rather than homes.
The most-warned areas in 2024 and 2025
| Rank | Flood warning area | Council area | Warnings 2024 to 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lower Frome from East Stoke to Wareham | Dorset | 22 |
| 2 | River Dene at Walton | Warwickshire | 20 |
| 3 | Illey Brook at Halesowen | Dudley | 20 |
| 4 | Upper Frome from Maiden Newton to Dorchester | Dorset | 19 |
| 5 | River Brue and Glastonbury Millstream, Lovington to Highbridge | Somerset | 18 |
| 6 | River Ouse at York, riverside properties | York | 18 |
| 7 | North Sea coast at Hornsea | East Riding of Yorkshire | 17 |
| 8 | Tidal River Yare, including Cantley, Brundall and Reedham | Norfolk | 17 |
| 9 | Upper Frome at Maiden Newton | Dorset | 17 |
| 10 | Gog Brook at Warwick | Warwickshire | 15 |
| 11 | River Ure at Boroughbridge Camping and Caravanning Site | North Yorkshire | 15 |
| 12 | River Axe (Upper) from Winsham to Axminster | Devon, Dorset, Somerset | 14 |
| 13 | Keswick Campsite | Cumberland | 14 |
| 14 | River Wreake at Hoby, Thrussington and Ratcliffe | Leicestershire | 14 |
| 15 | North Sea coast at Easington and Kilnsea | East Riding of Yorkshire | 13 |
The places that keep coming back
Over the full ten years, these 11 areas each had more than 50 Flood Warnings:
- North Sea coast at Hornsea, East Riding of Yorkshire: 75 warnings
- Keswick Campsite, Cumbria: 66
- River Ouse at York, riverside properties: 60
- Upper Frome at Maiden Newton, Dorset: 60
- River Ure at Boroughbridge campsite, North Yorkshire: 58
- River Ouse at Naburn Lock, York: 58
- North Bank Road alongside the River Nene, east of Peterborough: 55
- River Dene at Walton, Warwickshire: 54
- North Sea coast at Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire: 53
- Lower Frome from East Stoke to Wareham, Dorset: 52
- North Sea coast at Easington and Kilnsea, East Riding of Yorkshire: 52
The six hotspot clusters
Dorset: the Frome and the Stour
Dorset stands out more than anywhere else. Seven of the 60 most-warned areas over the decade are in Dorset, and three of the top four in 2024 to 2025 are on the River Frome: from Maiden Newton through Dorchester and East Stoke to Wareham. The Stour adds more, from Hammoon and Sturminster Marshall down to Christchurch. These chalk-fed rivers can stay high for long periods, so water may sit against homes and barriers for days, not hours.
Somerset and East Devon
The River Brue and Glastonbury Millstream, the River Axe around Axminster, the River Yarty, the upper Parrett and the River Yeo from Sherborne to Yeovil all feature, along with the River Clyst and the lower Torridge in Devon.
The Severn and Avon valleys
Tewkesbury’s Severn Ham, the River Vyrnwy at Melverley and Maesbrook in Shropshire, the River Teme at Stanford Bridge, and the Worcestershire Avon at Wyre Piddle, Strensham and Bredon all receive warnings year after year.
The West Midlands brooks
This is the cluster that surprised us. Small brooks, including the River Dene at Walton, Illey Brook at Halesowen, Gog Brook at Warwick, the Leam, the Alne and the Anker, now rank among the most-warned areas in England. Illey Brook and Gog Brook had no warnings at all from 2016 to 2019, yet both are in the top ten for 2024 to 2025. Brooks like these can rise quickly after heavy rain, so the time between a warning and water arriving can be short.
York and the Yorkshire coast
The River Ouse through York has been warned 60 times in ten years, and the Holderness coast at Hornsea, Easington, Kilnsea and Bridlington tops the long-run list. Coastal warnings are often tide-related, so they can come in clusters around high tides and storms.
The Norfolk and Suffolk Broads
Riverside homes along the tidal River Yare (Cantley, Brundall, Reedham) and low-lying properties along the tidal River Waveney have both been warned frequently in recent years.
What it means if you live in one of these areas
Check your exact risk. A flood warning area can be small, and being in the same town isn’t the same as being in the warning area. Use the government’s long term flood risk service and sign up for flood warnings for your address.
Match your pump to how your area floods.
- Long-lasting river flooding (the Frome, Stour, Severn and Ouse): water can sit against barriers for days, so you need enough flow to keep up with seepage, ideally a second pump, and automatic control. Our guide to what size pump you need behind a flood barrier or wall shows how to estimate it.
- Fast-rising brooks (the West Midlands cluster): warning times can be short, so an automatic pump that’s already in place is worth more than a bigger one in the shed.
- Coastal and tidal flooding (Yorkshire coast, the Broads): repeat warnings around high tides mean a pump that’s easy to deploy again and again, or a permanently installed pump station.
Whichever applies, have your pump before the season starts. Most flood warnings come between October and February; see when does England flood? and hire or buy a flood pump?
The caveat: surface water flooding
Importantly, the Environment Agency’s flood warning service covers flooding from rivers and the sea, and some groundwater locations, but does not currently provide property-level flood warnings for surface water flooding. Intense rainfall can develop quickly and its precise location and impact can be difficult to forecast, so surface water flooding can sometimes occur with relatively little warning.
Surface water flooding occurs when heavy rainfall cannot soak into the ground or drain away quickly enough, causing water to collect or flow over the surface. It is often associated with intense rainfall overwhelming drainage systems, but the way water moves across the landscape is also influenced by ground levels, buildings, roads, soil conditions and existing drainage.
Around 4.6 million properties in England are in areas at risk of surface water flooding, according to the Environment Agency’s National Assessment of Flood Risk.
Choosing a pump for surface water flooding
If you are considering a pump, it is important first to understand the source, pathway and receptor of the flooding: where the water is coming from, how it reaches the area you want to protect, and where it can safely be discharged.
For occasional or relatively shallow flooding, a portable or deployable puddle pump may form part of an emergency response. For more persistent problems, a properly designed system might involve drainage channels, a collection chamber or sump, level controls and a permanently installed pump arrangement.
Where a permanent solution is being considered, pumping should normally be looked at as part of the wider surface water drainage strategy. Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) can manage water closer to where it falls through measures such as infiltration, attenuation, storage and controlled discharge, while rainwater capture and reuse can help reduce the volume of runoff entering the drainage system.
Understanding the flooding mechanism first allows the right combination of drainage, resilience and pumping measures to be selected, rather than simply reacting to the presence of water.
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Source: Environment Agency, Historic Flood Warnings (AfA435), data.gov.uk, file dated July 2026. England only. New Flood Warnings and Severe Flood Warnings issued 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2025; Flood Alerts and updates excluded. Contains Environment Agency data © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2026. Map basemap: Natural Earth.
