National Flood Risk Maps for Wales Covering Rivers, Sea, and Surface Water

National Flood Hazard and Risk Maps for Wales, created to comply with EU Directive 2007/60/EC and the Flood Risk Regulations (2009). The maps cover three flooding sources—rivers, the sea, and surface water—and categorize risk to people, economic, and environmental receptors at a community scale. The dataset was published by the Government Digital Service under the OGL-UK-3.0 license.

Use Cases

• Assess community-scale flood risk to people, economic assets, and the environment based on the three defined flooding sources.
• Compare flood risk probability thresholds (e.g., 1 in 30 year for high risk) between river, sea, and surface water sources.
• Inform regional flood risk management strategies based on the aggregated risk categories described.
• Study the application of EU flood directives (2007/60/EC) in national mapping efforts.

Strengths

• Maps are based on three distinct flooding sources: rivers, the sea, and surface water & small watercourses.
• Risk is categorized into High, Medium, and Low based on specific Annual Exceedance Probability thresholds (e.g., 1 in 30 year for high river risk).
• Risk information is aggregated and displayed for three receptor categories: People, Economic, and Environment.

Limitations

• The description explicitly states the maps have no official status for Planning or Insurance purposes and advises using more up-to-date sources.
• Row count, column definitions, and file formats are unknown, limiting suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service

Collection Method

Generalised modelling published to comply with the Flood Risk Regulations (2009) and EU Directive 2007/60/EC.

Time Range

2019

Freshness

null

Geography

Wales