← Back
🌊 Tide going out · low water in ~4h

Southend

Thames Tideway 🌊 Tidal
London catchment • Southend • England • ID: 0019 • Level
This gauge is tidally influenced — levels rise and fall with each tide, so rapid changes here are normal and don't necessarily indicate flooding.
(29m ago) • 2 readings/hr • 146 views

Set water level alerts

Get notified about Southend — tick as many as you like, they all share the notify settings below.

You'll be notified when this gauge is rising more than 0.10 mAOD/hr — a sign of rapidly increasing water levels.

Each one is saved as its own alert — pause or remove them individually any time.

Not an emergency service — if in danger call 999. Alerts rely on EA/SEPA data and are best-efforts. Terms

Current Level
0.983 mAOD
▼ Falling (-70cm/hr)
24h Max
1.782 mAOD
24h Min
-1.173 mAOD
Typical Range
-
Highest Recorded
4.11 mAOD
EA official record
3.94 in our data (since Nov 2012)
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Flood predictions aren't generated for tidal gauges — their levels are driven by the tide, not by catchment rainfall, so the forecast models would have no skill here.

Recent Readings

Rising · +137 cm over 6h
23 Aug 23:00 ▼▼ -18 cm 0.983 mAOD
23 Aug 22:45 ▼▼ -60 cm 1.159 mAOD
23 Aug 21:30 ▼ -3 cm 1.754 mAOD
23 Aug 21:15 ▲ +2 cm 1.782 mAOD
23 Aug 21:00 ▲ +4 cm 1.765 mAOD
23 Aug 20:45 ▲▲ +8 cm 1.723 mAOD
23 Aug 20:30 ▲▲ +9 cm 1.648 mAOD
23 Aug 20:15 ▲▲ +11 cm 1.555 mAOD
23 Aug 20:00 ▲▲ +14 cm 1.447 mAOD
23 Aug 19:45 ▲▲ +15 cm 1.309 mAOD
23 Aug 19:30 ▲▲ +16 cm 1.162 mAOD
23 Aug 19:15 ▲▲ +17 cm 1.004 mAOD
23 Aug 19:00 ▲▲ +18 cm 0.831 mAOD
23 Aug 18:45 ▲▲ +20 cm 0.655 mAOD
23 Aug 18:30 ▲▲ +17 cm 0.460 mAOD
23 Aug 18:15 ▲▲ +17 cm 0.287 mAOD
23 Aug 18:00 ▲▲ +19 cm 0.115 mAOD
23 Aug 17:45 ▲▲ +16 cm -0.074 mAOD
23 Aug 17:30 ▲▲ +16 cm -0.236 mAOD
23 Aug 17:15 -0.391 mAOD

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 10 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 2.4 km away).

1severe warning 12flood warnings 75flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 23 Sep 2024The Eastwood Brook and Prittlewell Brook in the Southend area

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2025 0 0 2
2024 0 1 8
2023 0 0 7
2022 0 0 6
2021 0 1 7
2020 0 1 10
2019 0 0 3
2018 0 0 2
2017 0 3 3
2016 0 1 3
2015 0 0 1
2014 0 2 3
2013 1 2 7
2012 0 0 4
2010 0 0 2
2009 0 1 2
2008 0 0 4
2006 0 0 1

Warnings apply to a whole flood area, not necessarily this exact spot. Years before 2006 aren't covered by the EA's historic record. See also the Southend flood history.

Nearby Stations

Loading nearby stations...

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Southend
  • Watercourse: Thames Tideway
  • Nearest Town: Southend
  • County: England
  • Nearest reservoir: Hanningfield (22.0 km) · 54.9% full (as of 28 Dec 2025)
  • Coordinates: 51°30'52"N 0°43'24"E (51.514457, 0.723335)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 26 May 1988
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: Tidal / coastal station
  • Station Reference: 0019
  • EA Gauge ID: 0019-level-tidal_level-i-15_min-mAOD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mAOD
  • Typical rise rate: 115 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: 🌊 Yes — levels follow the tide
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: London
  • EA Cross-check: 1.16 mAOD (EA at 23 Aug 22:45)

Geographic coordinates may reflect the access point for the gauge, and not the precise location in the watercourse that it is taking readings from.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Thames Tideway at Southend flooding today?

The latest recorded level is 0.98m. Compare it with the recent history on the chart above to judge whether levels are unusually high.

Is the river level rising or falling at Southend?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently falling. The chart above shows the last 7 days of measurements, updated roughly every 15 minutes.

Why is the level slowly falling?

When little or no rain has fallen for a while, a river level gradually drops as the water stored in the ground and soil drains away with nothing to replace it. This is called baseflow recession and is normal in dry spells. Only about 3.0mm of rain has fallen nearby in the last 7 days, so the flow is being sustained mainly by groundwater. A gentle decline like this is expected and is not a sign of a problem — downstream gauges often recede a little faster than headwaters further upstream, and levels recover once rain returns.

How often is this river level data updated?

Readings are taken by the Environment Agency gauge roughly every 15 minutes and FloodRadar refreshes its data continuously, so the level shown is normally less than an hour old.

Embed this gauge on your website

Free live river-level widget — ideal for parish councils, angling clubs and local sites. Updates automatically.

Preview

📮 Flood risk by postcode near this gauge

Postcodes within 5 km with properties in the Environment Agency’s rivers-and-sea flood-risk bands:

Check any UK postcode’s flood risk →

🏠 Buying or renting around here? Get the Property Flood-Risk Report for any English postcode — official risk band, floods since 1946, warning history, river behaviour and nearby storm overflows. £19 one-off. Learn more →