East Midlands Flood & Drain Risk Report 2026: Which Areas Are Most at Risk?

The East Midlands has a higher share of homes and businesses in areas at high or medium risk of river and sea flooding than any other English region, according to Environment Agency data. At district level, Lincoln tops our ranking for surface water risk, the flash flooding that happens when rain overwhelms drains. Most of the flooding we deal with as a drainage firm starts with drains that cannot keep up, so this report pulls the official figures together for Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire. It is not a sales document, but if your own drains back up in heavy rain, drain jetting is often the first fix.

Everything below comes from public data we downloaded and checked on 1 October 2026. Where we could not verify a figure from a primary source, we left it out.

Key findings

• Highest regional river and sea risk in England. 103,045 properties in the East Midlands, 3.7% of all properties, are in areas at high or medium risk from rivers and the sea, narrowly ahead of Yorkshire and the Humber (3.7%) and well above England as a whole (2.2%).
• Surface water risk is below the national average. 135,127 East Midlands properties (4.9%) are in high or medium surface water risk areas, against 6.1% for England.
• Lincoln ranks first for surface water. 9.8% of properties in the City of Lincoln are in high or medium surface water risk areas, and the same share is in high or medium river risk areas.
• Cities have the most properties at risk by number. Leicester (12,108), Derby (9,611) and Nottingham (7,796) have the largest counts of properties at high or medium surface water risk.
• Surface water is not only a riverside problem. Harborough, Oadby and Wigston, Mansfield and Hinckley and Bosworth all have under 1% of properties at river risk, but between 3% and 8% at surface water risk.
• The Fens and the coast dominate river and sea risk. 35.3% of properties in South Holland and 18.3% in East Lindsey are in high or medium river and sea risk areas.
• Recent storms confirm the pattern. Storm Babet in October 2023 internally flooded 1,259 homes and businesses in Nottinghamshire and 1,647 properties in Derbyshire, according to the two county councils.

Which districts have the most properties at risk of surface water flooding?

The table ranks the 32 district, borough and city council areas in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire by the share of properties in areas at high or medium risk of surface water flooding. River and sea risk is shown alongside for comparison. "Properties" means homes and non-residential buildings.

Across the 32 districts, 113,671 properties are in high or medium surface water risk areas and 99,285 in high or medium river and sea risk areas. The two groups overlap, so they should not be added together.

How does the East Midlands compare with the rest of England?

For rivers and the sea, the East Midlands has the highest share of properties at high or medium risk of any region in England. For surface water, it sits sixth of nine regions, below the England average.

Nationally, the Environment Agency's National assessment of flood and coastal erosion risk puts about 6.3 million properties in England in areas at risk from rivers, the sea or surface water, including about 4.6 million at risk from surface water. The agency says its surface water estimate is 43% higher than before, largely because of better data and modelling rather than a real-world increase in risk.

What happened in recent storms?

Risk maps describe probability. Recent storms show what that looks like on the ground.

Derbyshire's report found river overtopping was the main cause at most communities, with surface water the main cause at a minority and a contributing cause at many others. The Leicestershire figure is from an early government statement, so treat it as provisional. Our flood prevention guide covers what the Nottinghamshire reports found about blocked gullies and drains that could not empty.

How often do sewers flood homes in the region?

Most of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire is served by Severn Trent, and most of Lincolnshire by Anglian Water. Industry figures published on Discover Water show both companies missed the 2024–25 target for internal sewer flooding.

Both companies are better than the industry average for internal flooding. Severn Trent's external sewer flooding rate, which covers gardens and land around homes, has risen in each of the last three years, from 10.8 to 16.5 per 10,000 connections. Discover Water notes that wet wipes and other items flushed down toilets are a major cause of sewer blockages, which is why our guide to what not to flush matters here too.

Methodology

Data. District, county, regional and England figures come from two Environment Agency datasets on data.gov.uk: Risk of Flooding from Surface Water – Key Summary Information (the September 2025 release) and Risk of Flooding from Rivers and Sea – Key Summary Information (the June 2026 release). Both count properties from the National Receptor Dataset 2023 inside the mapped risk areas, and we downloaded both on 1 October 2026.

Definitions. "High or medium risk" adds the high band (a 3.3% or greater chance of flooding each year) to the medium band (1% to 3.3%). Percentages are the share of all properties in each area. River and sea figures take flood defences into account.

Geography. We included all 32 lower-tier and unitary councils in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, including Nottingham, Derby and Leicester. Rutland, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire are excluded.

Limitations. The Environment Agency says these outputs are generally not suitable for assessing individual properties. They show areas at risk, not homes that will flood. The surface water summary is an older release than the river and sea summary, and the national report figures were calculated separately, so the three are not directly comparable. Storm figures come from council and government reports and use each author's own counting method. Water company figures are company-wide, not district-level.

Next. We plan a follow-up using anonymised Urgent Drainage Solutions job records grouped by postcode district, to show where drain blockages and flooding call-outs cluster. No job data is used in this edition.

Using this data

Journalists, councils, parish councils, flood groups and property websites are welcome to use the tables. Please credit "Urgent Drainage Solutions analysis of Environment Agency data" and link to this page. The underlying Environment Agency data is © Environment Agency and available under the Open Government Licence. For local coverage, see our pages for Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire.

To check a single address, use the government's Check your long term flood risk service.

When to call a professional

The risk maps cannot tell you whether your own drains will cope. If gullies overflow, toilets gurgle or water backs up into the garden during heavy rain, get the drains checked before the next storm. A CCTV drain survey shows whether a pipe is blocked, cracked or collapsed, and jetting clears silt and grease. If a drain is overflowing now, see our emergency drainage page. We offer emergency call-outs 365 days a year on 07300 600 950.

Flooding from rivers and public sewers is a matter for the Environment Agency and the water company, and our guide to who is responsible for blocked drains explains the split.

Sources

• Environment Agency: Risk of Flooding from Surface Water – Key Summary Information (data.gov.uk)
• Environment Agency: Risk of Flooding from Rivers and Sea – Key Summary Information (data.gov.uk)
• Environment Agency: National assessment of flood and coastal erosion risk in England 2024
• Nottinghamshire County Council: Storm Babet report to Place Select Committee (March 2024)
• Derbyshire County Council: Storm Babet Section 19 report, introduction
• gov.uk: Statement on Storm Henk (8 January 2024)
• Leicester City Council: Storm Henk flooding report
• Discover Water: Sewer flooding