2.4 million people at highest risk of flooding , Friends of the Earth finds

• Ahead of the upcoming local elections, Friends of the Earth is calling on all political parties to commit to making polluters pay for flooding defences and fund local authorities and emergency services to meet the escalating threats of the climate crisis.  
• The environmental justice campaigners’ flood mapping, briefing and local authority and constituency breakdown, is available on their policy website.    

One million homes – home to 2.4 million people across England – are at the highest risk of flooding from rivers, seas and surface water, new analysis by Friends of the Earth reveals.  

The climate crisis is making flooding more frequent and more severe, and it’s already hitting home. Communities across the country still recovering from a barrage of severe storms over January, in which south-east and southern England saw their wettest beginnings to the year on record.  

Britain is now 10% wetter than it was in the late 20th century and six of the ten wettest winters on record have occurred in the last 20 years.  

If governments fail to curb emissions and the climate crisis is left to spiral, a further 1.89 million people will be pushed into the high-risk category, the analysis of Environment Agency data finds.  

This May, 1.2 million people living in areas facing the gravest threat from flooding will have the chance to vote in local elections across England.  

Ahead of the upcoming local elections, Friends of the Earth is calling on all political parties to adopt policies that:

• Make polluters pay. Polluting industries and the super-rich are most responsible for the carbon emissions fuelling the climate crisis. Increasing taxes on climate-polluting companies and extreme wealth is the fairest way to fund flood defences and wider action to tackle climate change.  
• Strengthen national plans to adapt to climate change by funding local authorities and emergency services to protect people, property and infrastructure from the escalating threats of the climate crisis. The Fire Brigades Union is warning that services have been cut at the same time as they’re responding to more frequent and severe flooding and wildfires. Older and disabled people are among those most at risk from flooding and extreme heat, and most in need of urgent protections.  
• Ensure equal access to affordable insurance that includes flooding coverage for those in the most vulnerable situations.

Friends of the Earth’s analysis also highlights the further challenges faced by those living in high-risk areas who are also greatest social risk from flooding. This includes 611,000 people who are least able to prepare for flooding in advance, react when it happens, or recover afterwards due to factors such as living on low-incomes, renting, disability, and lack of insurance.

Kamran Mallick, chief executive at Disability Rights UK, who is campaigning alongside Friends of the Earth for marginalised communities, including disabled people, to be better protected from the impacts of the climate crisis, said:  

"Very few people can say they’ve experienced being stuck in floodwater up to their neck. Most people can’t imagine what it’s like to be in a wheelchair, let alone what it’s like for gushing water to rise from your knees to your chest within the span of five minutes.  

“I’m now on high alert whenever I see a single raindrop, constantly checking the flood alerts and on standby to jump in my car and escape. I’d never even contemplated the threat of flooding before, it hadn’t crossed my mind.  

“The people who get forgotten are always the ones whose voices, understanding and lived experience are missing in decision-making conversations. People in the margins are always on the forefront of crises, it’s no different when it comes to the climate.”

Firefighters are on the frontline of responding to the climate crisis. Steve Wright, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said:

“Firefighters will not be surprised by today’s revelation that millions of people are now at high risk of flooding. They are already wading through the consequences of a climate crisis that is hammering communities across the UK.

“Flooding is becoming more frequent and more destructive. Firefighters are the only professionals trained and equipped to tackle these emergencies, yet the very services the public relies on are being stripped back by relentless cuts.

“This is a political failure, not an unavoidable disaster. Years of underfunding and inaction have left communities exposed while the biggest polluters continue to profit.

“We need political leaders to stop making short-sighted decisions and finally plan for the future. That starts with real investment in our fire and rescue service and forcing those driving the climate crisis to foot the bill for protecting our communities.”

Mike Childs, head of policy, science and research at Friends of the Earth, said:  

“Devastating recent flooding and severe storms are how the climate crisis is already showing up in Britain, not as a distant threat but a reality for millions of people, whose homes are at greatest risk.

“We need our political leaders to ensure the climate-polluting companies and super rich most responsible for the emissions fuelling the climate crisis, pay for the urgent action needed to protect us all.  

“Politicians can’t claim to be on the side of flooded communities if at the same time they aren't acting fast enough – or at all – on reducing carbon emissions. It’s like bailing out a bathtub with a teaspoon, while the taps are still running.  

“We need to protect people from flooding now, while also investing in our futures through smart, green policies that cut emissions, ramp up homegrown renewables to bring down our bills and boost energy security, create jobs and, ultimately, help prevent the worst of climate breakdown.”

Friends of the Earth has written to the five main political parties asking them to spell out how they will protect people against flooding now and in the future. Based on publicly available information, the Green Party and Liberal Democrats have the strongest flooding plans, while Reform UK’s anti-climate rhetoric would lead to increased flooding in the future:  

• Labour: The government has increased funding for flood defences, announcing £7.9 billion over 10 years, but this falls short of the Environmental Audit Committee’s recommendation of the £1.5 billion needed per year. It has also failed to strengthen the National Adaptation Programme, inherited from the previous government, despite its own climate advisors saying it’s not up to scratch. While the government’s overall climate plan has improved under Labour, it’s overly reliant on new technologies that are unlikely to scale up and deliver the emissions reductions needed.  
• Reform UK: Despite making some blustering statements about the need to protect communities from flooding, Reform UK has failed to outline how much they would spend on flood defences. But they have pledged to scrap net zero, cut support for renewable energy and simultaneously increase oil and gas exploration in the UK. This would undoubtedly worsen flooding the UK and put more communities at risk as the climate crisis heightens due to spiralling emissions.
• Conservatives: In government, the Conservatives oversaw the building of more than 110,000 homes in flood zones over the past decade and produced a dangerously weak National Adaptation Programme. They continue to defend their record in office despite the condition of flood defences deteriorating under their watch, to the point where additional funding for flood defences from Labour still equals real-term cuts. Since the election, they have pledged to scrap the Climate Change Act.
• Liberal Democrats: Flooding risk and management is part of the Lib Dems’ 2025 For People, For Planet plan, in which they welcome government levels of funding but don’t say they would increase them. They also make numerous policy commitments to reduce flood risk and ensure affordable insurance into the future.
• Green Party: In May 2025, the party committed an additional £7 billion annually to be invested in climate adaptation – including flood defences and also extreme heat – which is far greater than other political parties. The Greens also have a strong focus on natural flood management and small-scale household resilience measures.

Notes to editors:

1. All analysis is based on Environment Agency flood risk data combined with Census 2021 and deprivation indicators. The numbers exclude flooding from groundwater as the Environment Agency is yet to publish data on. High risk of flooding is categorised as being flooded at least once in 30 years.
2. Neighbourhoods are defined by the Office as National Statistics (ONS) as LSOAs [Lower layer Super Output Areas] and they have an average population of around 1,500. The geographical size varies considerably, with rural LSOAs much larger than urban LSOAs.

3. Friends of the Earth data analysis rankings:

   Table 1 - top 20 parliamentary constituencies with highest number of residential properties at high risk of flooding

Table 2 - top 20 local authorities with the greatest number of residential properties at high risk of flooding

Table 3 - top 10 Mayoral Areas with the greatest number of residential properties at high risk of flooding

4. Friends of the Earth’s mapping also looks into identifying the populations that are least able to prepare in advance of flooding (renters, low-income households), responding when flooding occurs (older and disabled people), or recover afterwards (those without insurance, low-income, lone-parents, and single pensioners), and where those populations reside in high flood risk areas.  

The analysis finds that nearly 3,000 neighbourhoods sit in this ‘high flood risk: high social risk’ category, constituting 8.1% of all English neighbourhoods and home to 611,000 people. Full dataset available upon request, please contact [email protected].