Photo: Adrian S Pye · CC BY-SA 2.0Heavy rain is Hickling’s main flood risk: 11% of homes, against 5.1% 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. Hickling has no Hazard risk Grade.
What stands out about Hickling’s hazards
From the Environment Agency’s maps and records and the BGS radon atlas, below.
What Hickling faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Rivers and the sea
Surface water
Past floods
Flood warnings
Radon
Where the water goes in Hickling
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.
The river and sea risk follows the Bure, the Ant and the Thurne. Surface-water risk is spread across the village, in dips, underpasses and along small streams, which is why more homes are exposed to it.
5.1% of Hickling’s homes are at high or medium risk from rivers or the sea
The Environment Agency’s national map, allowing for defences. None are in the low-risk band.
Share of each UK town’s homes at high or medium risk from rivers and the sea. 35% of UK towns have none; Hickling has more than 90% of towns.
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.
Heavy rain puts about 2.1 times as many Hickling 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.
About 6.8% of homes are at high risk of surface-water flooding (a 1 in 30 chance or more each year) and 3.9% at medium risk: roughly 40 households. A further 6.4% face a low risk from surface water. That is more than 93% of UK towns.
Our estimate: every address in the village (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.
Hickling has flooded in 2 recorded years since 1938, most of all in 1953
Every flood the Environment Agency has mapped inside Hickling’s built-up area, newest first. The record is fullest for big river floods; small and surface-water floods are often missing.
- 1953January 1953: The sea came in58 hectares inside today’s built-up area · Coast Flood Norfolk
- 1938February 1938: The sea came in6 hectares inside today’s built-up area · Horsey Flood
Floodwater covered 58 hectares of what is now Hickling in 1953, the largest flood the record holds here (January).
205 of Hickling’s households today live inside the outline of a recorded flood.
No flood warning or alert is in force for Hickling · 2 warnings in 20 years
The Environment Agency has 2 flood warning areas and 1 alert area reaching into the village; warnings since the service began in 2006.
Of the 2 warnings, 1 were for Outlying villages on the Bure, Ant and Thurne and 1 for Riverside properties on the River Thurne including Hickling Broad. 2023 had the most warnings (1); 2025 the most alerts (22).
The most recent warning was on 20 November 2024.
Show the 3 warning and alert areas
| Area | Kind | Since 2006 | Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlying villages on the Bure, Ant and Thurne | Warning area | 1 | None |
| Riverside properties on the River Thurne including Hickling Broad | Warning area | 1 | None |
| The tidal Rivers Bure, Ant and Thurne | Alert area | 152 | None |
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.
Hickling 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).
Every 1 km square over Hickling 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.
Flood risk in the places around Hickling
Share of homes at high or medium and at low risk from rivers and the sea. Tap a town for its page.
| Town | People | High or medium | Low | Hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hickling | 603 | 5.1% | 0% | — |
| Sutton | 1,026 | 0% | 0% | A |
| Stalham | 3,383 | 0% | 0% | A |
| Martham | 3,633 | 0% | 0% | A |
| Hemsby | 5,724 | 0% | 0% | A |
| Ormesby St Margaret | 2,741 | 0% | 0% | A |
| Hoveton and Wroxham | 3,620 | 4.8% | 0.9% | D |
| Acle | 2,268 | 2.8% | 1.2% | C− |
Hickling has more homes at high or medium risk than any neighbour in the table.
Get ready for what Hickling faces
Free warnings, what to do in a cloudburst, and what to check before you move.
- Sign up free for Environment Agency flood warnings by text, call or email.
- Floodline: 0345 988 1188, 24 hours.
- Hickling’s warning areas include Outlying villages on the Bure, Ant and Thurne and Riverside properties on the River Thurne including Hickling Broad.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Hickling
Does Hickling flood?
The last flood the Environment Agency recorded inside the village was in January 1953. 5.1% 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 11% of homes are at high or medium risk from surface water, when heavy rain overwhelms the drains.
Which parts of Hickling are at risk of flooding?
From rivers and the sea, the places the Environment Agency warns directly: Outlying villages on the Bure, Ant and Thurne and Riverside properties on the River Thurne including Hickling Broad. Surface water can collect in low spots anywhere in the village. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s long-term flood risk service.
When did Hickling last flood?
The recorded flood outlines inside the village run from 1938 to 1953 (2 years); the largest was in 1953. Flood warnings have been issued for parts of the village since 2006, most recently on 20 November 2024.
Is Hickling at risk of surface water flooding?
About 6.8% of homes are at high risk and 3.9% at medium risk from surface water, against 5.1% 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 Hickling?
Not by the atlas: every 1 km square over Hickling 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 Hickling now?
No flood warning or alert was in force near Hickling at 5 November 2026, 00:48. 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.