Surface Water Flood Maps: Extent, Depth, and Velocity for UK Return Periods

United Kingdom surface water flood hazard maps from the Government Digital Service. The data includes flood extent, depth, and velocity for three probability scenarios: a high probability 10-year return period, a medium probability 200-year return period, and a low probability 200-year return period combined with a UKCP09 high emissions climate change scenario for the 2080s.

Use Cases

• Model flood risk for infrastructure planning based on the provided flood extent and depth layers.
• Assess climate change impacts on future flood hazards based on the 2080s high emissions scenario.
• Inform land-use and development policies based on return periods aligned with Scottish Planning Policy.
• Validate hydrodynamic flood models using the provided flood velocity data where available.

Strengths

• Maps include three distinct probability scenarios (10-year, 200-year, and 200-year with climate change).
• Hazard layers are defined for multiple attributes: extent, depth, and velocity.
• Climate change scenario is based on a specific, cited projection (UKCP09 high emissions 95%ile for the 2080s).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service

Collection Method

Hazard modeling based on return periods and UKCP09 climate projections.

Time Range

Climate change scenario projects to the 2080s.

Freshness

Last updated date is unknown.

Geography

United Kingdom