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Conditions are worth watching: heavy rain has fallen nearby (15 mm in the last 24 hours at Rainfall station). Keep an eye on updates if heavy rain continues.
Updated 2026-10-09 13:00:41 UTC · Official GOV.UK warnings · Flood preparation & help guide
Kirkby Stephen is a market town and civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. It lies on the A685 and is surrounded by sparsely populated hill country, about 25 miles (40 km) from the nearest larger towns, Kendal and Penrith. The River Eden rises 6 miles (10 km) away in the peat bogs below Hugh Seat and passes the eastern edge of the town. At the 2001 census the parish had a population of 1,832. In 2011, it had a population of 1,822.
The nearest watercourse on the river map is the River Eden, about 10 m from the middle of Kirkby Stephen's gauges. It flows on to the sea.
A gauge downstream shows water that has already passed this point; one upstream sees it first. Distances along the river are from the point on the River Eden nearest the middle of Kirkby Stephen's gauges. From Ordnance Survey’s river map (OS Open Rivers), which leaves out small streams, ditches and culverts, so a nearer one may exist. This describes where water goes on the map; it says nothing about flooding at any address. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.
Kirkby Stephen is monitored by 1 Environment Agency river level station on the River Eden, in Westmorland and Furness. Water levels are updated every 15 minutes, providing real-time flood monitoring for the area.
The River Eden is monitored by 1 station (Kirkby Stephen). Each station records water levels continuously, with data synced to FloodRadar every 5 minutes.
No Environment Agency flood warning area is mapped within 10km of Kirkby Stephen. That means the EA has not defined a warning target area here, which is not evidence the town cannot flood: warning areas exist where the EA runs a warning service, and surface-water and groundwater flooding have no warning areas at all.
There are 9 storm overflows within 5km of Kirkby Stephen. None of the 9 with a reporting monitor are currently discharging. Enable "Sewage" on the map above to see their locations.
6 of them, nearest first, with their own page of live status and past discharges:
If flooding is forecast in Kirkby Stephen, call Floodline on 0345 988 1188 for the latest information. Move valuables upstairs, turn off gas and electricity if safe to do so, and avoid walking or driving through flood water. Sign up for flood warnings on any station page above to receive email alerts when water levels rise. For emergency numbers, a preparation checklist and insurance guidance, see our flood help & preparation guide.
Kirkby Stephen gets about 1,245 mm of rain a year on average (wettest month December, 156 mm; driest April, 64 mm). That is close to the UK as a whole, which averages 1,163 mm a year. See the rain gauges →
A thirty-year average for the area, not a forecast and not a flood risk on its own. Source: Met Office HadUK-Grid 1991–2020 (5 km grid), 2.2 km away. Average rainfall: HadUK-Grid v1.3.2, Met Office. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Floods whose mapped extent (EA Recorded Flood Outlines) reached within ~5 km of the town centre — most recent first. These are records of mapped extents, not a full list of floods. See them on the map →
Records, not floods: no outline on the record is not evidence a place has not flooded.
Current verdict: Watch. Conditions are worth watching: heavy rain has fallen nearby (15 mm in the last 24 hours at Rainfall station). Keep an eye on updates if heavy rain continues.
Kirkby Stephen has river level monitoring on River Eden — 1 monitoring station in total.
Use the GOV.UK Check for Flooding service (check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk) or call Floodline on 0345 988 1188 (24 hours). You can also set up free FloodRadar email or browser alerts from any station page above.
Follow official advice: move valuables and vehicles to safety, never walk or drive through flood water, turn off gas and electricity if safe, and check on vulnerable neighbours. See our flood preparation guide at floodradar.co.uk/flood-help.
Yes — the Environment Agency's Recorded Flood Outlines dataset shows 5 recorded flood extents around the town centre since 1703, most recently in 2020. That is a count of mapped extents, not of separate floods. Records, not floods: no outline on the record is not evidence a place has not flooded. See the flood history link below.
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