Abstract
Previous research has shown that many vulnerable communities experience disproportional exposure to flood risk but this article is the first to look at broad ethnic/racial group differences in the UK. It is argued that differences in language and culture, especially of new immigrants, bestow vulnerabilities on such communities resulting in a lack of knowledge to be aware, be prepared, or to recover expediently following a flood emergency. Using 2011 UK Census data and Environment Agency flood maps, this article has shown that it is the non-white communities in Wales that live at greatest disproportionate flood risk, where 23% of the non-white populations live at flood risk compared to 11.4% of their white neighbours. In contrast, in areas in England, the difference in flood risk between white and non-white ethnic/racial groups is within ±2%, excepting Yorkshire and Humberside where it is the white populations who live at greatest flood risk.