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View of Market Street from Poole Register OfficePhoto: John Norris · CC BY-SA 2.0
CHazard risk Grade
Flood & hazards in Poole · Environment Agency

Heavy rain is Poole’s main flood risk: 3.8% of homes, against 0.8% from rivers or the sea

On the Environment Agency’s maps, which allow for flood defences, “high or medium” means at least a 1 in 100 chance of flooding from rivers or the sea in any year. Hazard risk puts Poole at C: #17 of 30 in Dorset.

1989worst recorded flood45flood warnings since 20061%at low risk
In brief

What stands out about Poole’s hazards

From the Environment Agency’s maps and records and the BGS radon atlas, below.

Rain, more than the river3.8% of homes sit where heavy rain can flood the streets, against 0.8% at risk from rivers and the sea.45 flood warnings since 2006For the parts of Poole the Environment Agency warns directly; the most recent on 2 February 2026.Low radonEvery 1 km square over Poole is in the lowest radon band: under 1% of homes above the action level.
By hazard

What Poole faces

Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.

Rivers and the sea

0.8%of homes at high or medium risk
More than the typical UK town · more than 65% of towns
641 homes by the EA’s own count

Surface water

3.8%of homes at high or medium risk
More than 54% of UK towns
Rivers and sea: 0.8%

Past floods

1years with a recorded flood
Last recorded: December 1989
53 households inside past outlines

Flood warnings

45flood warnings since 2006
377 flood alerts for the wider area
Last warning 2 February 2026

Radon

0%of the city in a radon Affected Area
Highest band here: Under 1% of homes
No square of 5% or more
Not on this page: coastal erosion, subsidence and shrink-swell ground (the British Geological Survey licenses it), groundwater flooding and reservoir failure.
Hazard risk Grade

Poole grades C for hazard risk

Flood risk from rivers and the sea, against all UK towns.

Homes at high or medium flood risk (0.8%)Fewer than 35% of UK towns

The share of homes at high or medium risk from rivers and the sea, ranked against every UK town of 1,000 or more: fewer homes at risk is better. Towns with none at high or medium risk are ordered by their share at low risk, so they don’t all share one score. Surface water and radon aren’t graded: they are described below.

Flood map

Where the water goes in Poole

Turn layers on and off. Blue is the risk from rivers and the sea; pink is where heavy rain collects. Both allow for flood defences.

Recorded flood: 1989© OpenStreetMap contributors · EA NaFRA2
HighMediumLowrivers & seaHighMediumLowsurface waterPoole’s built-up area

The river and sea risk follows the English Channel and the Poole Harbour. Surface-water risk is spread across the city, in dips, underpasses and along small streams, which is why more homes are exposed to it.

Rivers and the sea

0.8% of Poole’s homes are at high or medium risk from rivers or the sea

The Environment Agency’s national map, allowing for defences. A further 1% are at low risk.

High risk0.2%of homes · 1 in 30 a year or more183 homes, EA count
Medium risk0.6%of homes · 1 in 30 to 1 in 100458 homes, EA count
Low risk1%of homes · 1 in 100 to 1 in 1,000771 homes, EA count
Where Poole sits among 3,735 UK towns
35%None
23%Under 0.5%
9%0.5–1%Poole
11%1–2%
11%2–5%
5%5–10%
3%10–20%
2%20% +

Share of each UK town’s homes at high or medium risk from rivers and the sea. 35% of UK towns have none; Poole has more than 65% of towns.

Towns its size: 27th of 49 from the fewest homes at risk
#TownPeopleHigh or med.
1Oldham Greater Manchester110,7220%
2Birkenhead Merseyside109,8540%
3Kensington and Chelsea London143,348under 0.1%
…
25Swindon Wiltshire183,6870.8%
26Gillingham Kent108,4850.8%
27Poole Dorset141,0090.8%
28Newport Gwent130,8820.8%
29Blackburn Lancashire124,9580.9%
…
48Oxford Oxfordshire170,7994.7%
49Lincoln Lincolnshire104,5536%

UK towns of 99,000 to 197,000 people.

The Environment Agency’s Risk of Flooding from Rivers and Sea (NaFRA2, June 2026) counts each postcode’s homes by band; the shares weight those postcodes by Census 2021 households. The EA counts include homes built since 2021.

Surface water

Heavy rain puts about 4.6 times as many Poole homes at risk as rivers and the sea do

Surface water is rain that falls faster than drains and the ground can take it. It is mapped separately from rivers and the sea, and it is not in the Hazard risk Grade.

Surface water3.8%
Rivers and the sea0.8%
0%7%14% of homes

About 2.5% of homes are at high risk of surface-water flooding (a 1 in 30 chance or more each year) and 1.3% at medium risk: roughly 2,340 households. A further 3.9% face a low risk from surface water. That is more than 54% of UK towns.

~2,340
households at high or medium risk
3.9%
of homes at low risk
54%
of UK towns have a smaller share
81,786
addresses read on the map

Our estimate: every address in the city (ONS NSUL) read on the Environment Agency’s Risk of Flooding from Surface Water map (NaFRA2, 2025), each postcode’s share weighted by its Census 2021 households. Neither agency publishes a count of homes for surface water, so treat it as a guide; one street can differ from the next.

Flood history

Poole has flooded in 1 recorded year since 1989

Every flood the Environment Agency has mapped inside Poole’s built-up area, newest first. The record is fullest for big river floods; small and surface-water floods are often missing.

  1. 1989December 1989: The sea came in2 hectares inside today’s built-up area · Green Gardens

53 of Poole’s households today live inside the outline of a recorded flood.

Flood warnings

No flood warning or alert is in force for Poole · 45 warnings in 20 years

The Environment Agency has 3 flood warning areas and 2 alert areas reaching into the city; warnings since the service began in 2006.

Now: no flood warnings or alerts for Poole (checked 4 November 2026, 10:01). Check for flooding on GOV.UK →
Warnings and alerts each year for areas in Poole
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Flood warning (flooding expected)Flood alert (flooding possible)

Of the 45 warnings, 41 were for Poole Harbour at West Quay and Lower Hamworthy Quay and 2 for Poole Harbour at Hamworthy Park. 2014 had the most warnings (7).

The most recent warning was on 2 February 2026.

Show the 5 warning and alert areas
AreaKindSince 2006Now
Poole Harbour at West Quay and Lower Hamworthy QuayWarning area41None
Poole Harbour at the Town QuayWarning area2None
Poole Harbour at Hamworthy ParkWarning area2None
Dorset coast at Poole HarbourAlert area209None
East coast of DorsetAlert area168None

Environment Agency Historic Flood Warnings (first issues only, not updates; “flood watch” counted as an alert before 2011) and the real-time flood-monitoring API. Sign up for free warnings on GOV.UK or call Floodline, 0345 988 1188.

Radon

Poole is in the lowest radon band

Radon is a natural radioactive gas from the ground; long exposure raises the risk of lung cancer. The atlas gives the chance that a home in each 1 km square is above the UK action level (200 Bq/m³).

SY9790: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSY9791: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSY9890: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSY9891: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSY9892: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSY9990: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSY9991: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSY9992: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSY9993: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSY9994: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSY9995: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSY9996: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0089: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0090: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0091: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0092: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0093: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0094: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0095: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0096: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0189: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0190: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0191: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0192: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0193: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0194: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0195: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0196: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0290: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0291: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0292: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0293: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0294: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0295: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0387: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0389: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0390: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0391: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0392: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0393: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0394: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0487: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0488: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0489: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0490: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0491: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0492: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0493: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0494: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0495: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0588: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0589: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0590: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0591: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0592: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0593: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0594: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0689: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0690: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0691: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0692: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0693: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0694: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0789: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0790: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0792: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0793: Under 1% of homes above the action levelSZ0794: Under 1% of homes above the action level© OpenStreetMap contributors · BGS/UKHSA
Under 1%
Share of the city’s area in each band
Under 1% of homes100%

Every 1 km square over Poole is in the lowest band: fewer than 1 in 100 homes are expected to be above the action level.

BGS/UKHSA Indicative Atlas of Radon in Great Britain, version 3. Check an address at UKradon.org.

Neighbours

Flood risk in the places around Poole

Share of homes at high or medium and at low risk from rivers and the sea. Tap a town for its page.

Bearwood: Hazard risk AUpton: Hazard risk AMerley: Hazard risk B−Corfe Mullen: Hazard risk ABournemouth: Hazard risk B−Wimborne Minster: Hazard risk C−West Parley: Hazard risk B+BearwoodUptonMerleyCorfe MullenBournemouthWimborne MinsterWest ParleyPoole
ABCD
TownPeopleHigh or mediumLowHazard
Poole141,0090.8%1%C
Bearwood4,1340%0%A
Upton8,4010%0%A
Merley5,4890.3%under 0.1%B−
Corfe Mullen10,0360%0%A
Bournemouth196,4530.3%0.4%B−
Wimborne Minster16,6291.6%20%C−
West Parley3,6650%0.1%B+

Wimborne Minster, 4.9 miles north, has the most homes at risk around Poole (1.6% at high or medium).

Be ready

Get ready for what Poole faces

Free warnings, what to do in a cloudburst, and what to check before you move.

Get the warnings
  • Sign up free for Environment Agency flood warnings by text, call or email.
  • Floodline: 0345 988 1188, 24 hours.
  • Poole’s warning areas include Poole Harbour at West Quay and Lower Hamworthy Quay and Poole Harbour at Hamworthy Park.
Sign up ↗
In a cloudburst
  • Surface water rises in minutes, often with no warning issued: stay out of underpasses and dips.
  • Keep the gullies and drains outside your home clear of leaves.
  • Report a blocked road drain to the council.
When the river rises
  • Never walk or drive through floodwater: 30 cm of moving water can float a car.
  • Move valuables, papers and medicines upstairs.
  • Turn off gas, electricity and water if you’re told to.
Before you buy or rent in Poole
  • Check the address on GOV.UK’s long-term flood risk service: it gives rivers and sea and surface water separately.
  • Ask whether the home has flooded or had a flood insurance claim; the TA6 property form asks the seller.
  • Homes built before 2009 can get flood cover through Flood Re, the government-backed scheme; newer homes can’t.
How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

  • Defences are counted. Both agencies’ maps allow for flood defences and the chance they are overtopped or fail, so a town behind a defence scheme can show few homes at high risk and many at low risk.
  • Surface water is our estimate. Neither agency publishes a count of homes at risk from surface water, so we read each address on the map. A flat on a hill and a basement in a dip can share a postcode.
  • Past floods are what was recorded. The flood outlines come from surveys, aerial photographs and reports; many small floods, and most surface-water floods, were never mapped.
  • One town, many streets. Risk is street by street. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s long-term flood risk service before you buy or rent.

Check the long-term flood risk for an address on GOV.UK →

Questions about flooding and hazards in Poole

Does Poole flood?

The last flood the Environment Agency recorded inside the city was in December 1989. 0.8% of homes are at high or medium risk from rivers and the sea on the Environment Agency’s maps, which allow for flood defences. About 3.8% of homes are at high or medium risk from surface water, when heavy rain overwhelms the drains. Poole grades C for hazard risk against UK towns.

Which parts of Poole are at risk of flooding?

From rivers and the sea, the places the Environment Agency warns directly: Poole Harbour at West Quay and Lower Hamworthy Quay, Poole Harbour at Hamworthy Park and Poole Harbour at the Town Quay. Surface water can collect in low spots anywhere in the city. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s long-term flood risk service.

When did Poole last flood?

The recorded flood outlines inside the city run from 1989 to 1989 (1 years); the largest was in 1989. Flood warnings have been issued for parts of the city since 2006, most recently on 2 February 2026.

Is Poole at risk of surface water flooding?

About 2.5% of homes are at high risk and 1.3% at medium risk from surface water, against 0.8% at high or medium risk from rivers and the sea. Surface water floods come with little warning, and the agencies don’t issue warnings for them.

Is radon a problem in Poole?

Not by the atlas: every 1 km square over Poole is in the lowest band, where fewer than 1 in 100 homes are expected to be above the action level.

Are there flood warnings in Poole now?

No flood warning or alert was in force near Poole at 4 November 2026, 10:01. Live warnings are on GOV.UK’s Check for flooding service and Floodline, 0345 988 1188.

Contains Environment Agency information © Environment Agency and/or database right 2026. Contains British Geological Survey materials © UKRI 2026.

Sources: Environment Agency Risk of Flooding from Rivers and Sea, postcodes in areas at risk (June 2026); Natural Resources Wales Flood Risk Assessment Wales (May 2026); ONS Census 2021 households by postcode · Environment Agency Risk of Flooding from Surface Water (NaFRA2, 2025) and Natural Resources Wales Flood Risk Assessment Wales surface water and small watercourses, read at every address (ONS National Statistics UPRN Lookup, September 2026) and weighted by Census 2021 households by postcode · Environment Agency Recorded Flood Outlines and Natural Resources Wales historic flood map, inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary · Environment Agency real-time flood-monitoring API · Environment Agency Historic Flood Warnings (January 2006 to June 2026) and flood warning and alert areas · BGS/UKHSA Indicative Atlas of Radon in Great Britain, version 3, by 1 km square · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.