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No official flood warning is active nearby and the closest river stations are within normal ranges.
Updated 2026-10-09 18:46:33 UTC · Official GOV.UK warnings · Flood preparation & help guide
Long Melford, colloquially and historically also referred to as Melford, is a large village and civil parish in the Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is on Suffolk's border with Essex, which is marked by the River Stour, 3 miles (4.8 km) from Sudbury, approximately 16 miles (26 km) from Colchester and 14 miles (23 km) from Bury St Edmunds. It is one of Suffolk's "wool towns" and is a former market town. The parish also includes the hamlets of Bridge Street and Cuckoo Tye. In 2011 the parish had a population of 3918.
Towns and villages near Long Melford with a page of their own: the homes in a flood risk area there, the nearest river gauges, and recorded floods.
Place names: Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026. Contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026. Contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
The nearest watercourse on the river map is an unnamed stream, about 10 m from the middle of Long Melford's gauges. It flows into Chad Brook about 30 m downstream.
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 an unnamed stream nearest the middle of Long Melford'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.
Long Melford is monitored by 1 Environment Agency river level station on the Chad Brook, in Suffolk. Water levels are updated every 15 minutes, providing real-time flood monitoring for the area.
The Chad Brook is monitored by 1 station (Long Melford). Each station records water levels continuously, with data synced to FloodRadar every 5 minutes.
There are 2 Environment Agency flood warning areas within 10km of Long Melford. When the EA issues a flood warning for any of these areas, it will appear on this page. These include: The River Stour from downstream of Kedington to Sudbury, including Clare and Cavendish; The upper Stour and surrounding tributaries, at Little Yeldham, Steeple Bumpstead, Haverhill, Kedington, Glemsford and Brockley, to and including, Sudbury.
There are 5 storm overflows within 5km of Long Melford. None of the 5 with a reporting monitor are currently discharging. Enable "Sewage" on the map above to see their locations.
Each has its own page of live status and past discharges:
If flooding is forecast in Long Melford, 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.
Long Melford gets about 609 mm of rain a year on average (wettest month November, 62 mm; driest March, 38 mm). That is 48% drier than 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), 1.7 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: Normal. No official flood warning is active nearby and the closest river stations are within normal ranges.
Long Melford has river level monitoring on Chad Brook — 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 4 recorded flood extents around the town centre since 1703, most recently in 1968. 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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