Brits urged to check flood risk now as 'extreme' El Nino winter looms

Verified facts

1. Confirmed Around 6.3 million homes and businesses in England are in flood risk areas, according to the Environment Agency.

   AI Several results state that around 6.3 million homes and businesses (properties) in England are in areas at risk of flooding, attributed to the Environment Agency's National Flood Risk Assessment. The GOV.UK national assessment is the primary source, and the other results repeat its figure.

   • gov.uk National assessment of flood and coastal erosion risk in England 2024 - GOV.UK supports
   • environmentagency.blog.gov.uk Tackling flood risk inequality – Environment Agency: For homes and habitats. supports
   • bbc.com UK launch flood taskforce to prepare for extreme winter weather supports
   • homesandhedge.co.uk How Many UK Homes Are at Flood Risk? (2024 Data) supports
   • ceh.ac.uk Flooding supports

2. Confirmed The government has previously announced investment of £4.2 billion into new and existing flood defences.

   AI Multiple results state that the government committed £4.2 billion over three years (2026/27 to 2028/29) to flood defences, covering both building new defences and repairing and maintaining existing ones, which matches the claim's core. The GOV.UK release reports this from the Spending Review, and the other sources repeat the same figure, so they may trace back to the same government announcement.

   • gov.uk Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses to benefit from largest flood defence investment programme in history - GOV.UK supports
   • theyworkforyou.com Flood risk management in England: 9 Jun 2026 supports
   • thefloodhub.co.uk £1.4bn flood investment unleashed to protect homes and businesses | The Flood Hub supports
   • unda.co.uk £1.4bn Flood Defence Funding 2026/27 Explained | Unda supports

3. Confirmed The Environment Agency launched its annual Flood Action Week campaign to encourage the public to prepare.

   AI The Environment Agency's own gov.uk news item says it is urging people to prepare during Flood Action Week, and its CEO's blog describes Flood Action Week as the agency's annual media campaign to raise awareness and help people prepare. The exact launch date and wording of the launch were not confirmed beyond the 20-26 November 2023 dates in the Chobham parish notice.

   • gov.uk Flood Action Week: Households need to know their ... supports
   • environmentagency.blog.gov.uk flooding – Environment Agency: For homes and habitats. supports

4. Confirmed Meteorologists have warned that this year's El Nino over the Pacific is set to be the strongest in living memory.

   AI The Met Office warned that the developing El Niño over the Pacific is likely to be the strongest in living memory, and its own blog describes 2026 as the year of the largest El Niño in living memory. A WMO statement reported by Reuters also says it could be the strongest ever recorded. The results do not explicitly confirm the exact wording 'this year' beyond the 2026 dating in the Met Office blog.

   • bbc.com El Niño set to be 'strongest in living memory', says Met Office - BBC Weather supports
   • metoffice.gov.uk An ‘unprecedented’ El Niño and its implications for the weather forecast - Met Office supports
   • reuters.com 'Supersized' El Niño may become strongest ever recorded, UN says | Reuters supports

Could not verify

No independent source settled these either way. That doesn’t mean they are wrong.

1. Unverified The government urged people to check their flood risk on a new website called Flood action online, which reveals the flood risk level for any property in England.

   AI None of the results mention a website called "Flood action online" or a government call for people to check property-level flood risk. The results describe other services (the GOV.UK Check for flooding service, a third-party flood map, and the national NaFRA assessment), which do not address the named website or the government's call, and nothing explicitly contradicts the claim.

2. Unverified Number 10 has set up a taskforce to meet this week to discuss the UK's flood preparedness.

   AI Result 1 supports the core event: a Floods Resilience Taskforce meeting that week (Wednesday 14 October) focused on flood preparedness. However, it attributes the taskforce to the government and Defra, not Number 10, and no result mentions Number 10, so the 'who set it up' part of the claim cannot be confirmed.

   • gov.uk New taskforce to boost Britain’s resilience to flooding and drought - GOV.UK supports

3. Unverified Floods minister Emma Hardy said: "Climate change means that extreme weather can switch quickly, but we're more prepared than ever before for the challenges posed by floods."

   AI Neither search result addresses the claim. One is a weather page for a city in Missouri, and the other is a document about Kenyan students' educational website, so nothing confirms or contradicts that UK Floods minister Emma Hardy made this statement.

4. Unverified The Environment Agency's director for floods, Caroline Douglass, said the agency's teams are ready to respond around the clock, backed by hundreds of pumps and kilometres of temporary barriers.

   AI The results confirm Caroline Douglass is Executive Director for Floods, and an FSM article mentions 40km of temporary flood barriers and a truncated pump figure, but none of the snippets contain her quoted statement about around-the-clock readiness. The 2023 stakeholder update lists a smaller equipment set (3 high-volume and 6 mobile pumps, 15km of barriers) that is not attributed to her and does not clearly contradict the claimed totals.

   • gov.uk New 'one stop shop' for flood preparedness launched as ... supports
   • fsmatters.com FSM - Environment Agency and Fire Service team up supports

Author’s assumptions

Predictions or inferences in the article. They can’t be fact-checked.

• Britain could be set for a winter of 'extreme weather'.
• The knock-on effects of the El Nino will increase the risk of wet, stormy weather hitting the British Isles.
• The government's flood investment aims to support the country against severe weather in the coming years.

Opinions

Views and judgements, the author’s or someone quoted. Not fact-checked.

• The new flood website will make it easier than ever to access helpful guidance.
• Britain is more prepared than ever before for the challenges posed by floods.