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0.08

Oak Cottage

Dowles Brook
Worcestershire Middle Severn catchment • Wyre Forest • Worcestershire • ID: 2034 • Level
(33m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 125 views

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

Current Level
0.080 mASD
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.080 mASD
24h Min
0.080 mASD
Typical Range
0.08 - 1.00
mASD
Highest Recorded
3.32 mASD
EA official record
3.23 in our data (since Aug 1971)
Current level is 2% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
24 Aug 00:15 ▬ steady 0.080 mASD
24 Aug 00:00 ▬ steady 0.080 mASD
23 Aug 23:45 ▬ steady 0.080 mASD
23 Aug 23:30 ▬ steady 0.080 mASD
23 Aug 23:15 ▬ steady 0.080 mASD
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 0.080 mASD
23 Aug 22:45 ▬ steady 0.080 mASD
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 0.080 mASD
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.080 mASD
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.080 mASD
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.080 mASD
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.080 mASD
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 0.080 mASD
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.080 mASD
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.080 mASD
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.080 mASD
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.080 mASD
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.080 mASD
23 Aug 18:45 ▬ steady 0.080 mASD
23 Aug 18:30 0.080 mASD

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 13 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.1 km away).

1severe warning 131flood warnings 137flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 17 Nov 2025River Severn Sandy Lane and Severnside, Stourport

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2026 0 0 4
2025 0 5 5
2024 0 19 7
2023 0 25 2
2022 1 9 3
2021 0 7 4
2020 0 28 4
2019 0 9 6
2018 0 0 4
2017 0 0 1
2016 0 2 6
2015 0 1 0
2014 0 10 9
2013 0 6 11
2012 0 5 18
2011 0 5 0
2010 0 0 3
2009 0 0 12
2008 0 0 18
2007 0 0 16
2006 0 0 4

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 Wyre Forest flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Oak Cottage
  • Watercourse: Dowles Brook
  • Nearest Town: Wyre Forest
  • County: Worcestershire
  • Coordinates: 52°23'7"N 2°20'16"W (52.385318, -2.337878)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 24 Aug 1971
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: 2034
  • EA Gauge ID: 2034-level-stage-i-15_min-mASD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mASD
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Worcestershire Middle Severn
  • Typical Range: 0.084 – 1.000 mASD
  • Drainage Area: 41 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.08 mASD (EA at 24 Aug 00:15)
  • Flow Archive: National River Flow Archive ↗

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

Catchment Character

🌊 Mixed response A balance of quick runoff and slower groundwater baseflow.

Your catchment is all the land that drains rainfall into the river above this gauge. Its character — how steep, wet, wooded, urban or chalky that land is — decides how fast rain here turns into a rising river. A steep, bare or clay catchment is “flashy” (rises and falls quickly, floods easily); a flat, chalk or well-wooded one is slow and steady. The tiles below put numbers to that; the flow-duration curve reads left-to-right from the river’s typical high flows (Q5) down to its low flows (Q95) — a steep curve means a flashy river.

The physical character of the land that drains to this gauge, and how it shapes its flood response — from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).

Baseflow Index
0.63
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
749 mm/yr
1991–2020 · -1% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
1.1%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
9.61 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
31.16 m³/s
15 Feb 2020
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.3781.500.1480.0305% (high)% of days exceeded95% (low)
Daily flow (m³/s) exceeded each % of the time — a steep curve is flashy, a flat one is steady. Q5 high · Q50 median · Q95 low.
Land Cover (2023)
Woodland 43%Grassland 37%Arable 17%Urban 3%

Photos

Gauging-station photographs from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).

Photos © NRFA / UKCEH & the measuring authority — shown at web resolution. Full gallery on the NRFA ↗

About this gauge

Flat V Crump profile weir with cableway with flood banks on a 36m wide floodplain that should contain high flows but with some bypassing.

More detail

The catchment

The catchment is mostly Drift free, situated on sandstones and marls of Upper Carboniferous age. The river bisects the Wyre Forest; all but the headwaters are afforested.

The station

Flat V Crump profile weir 6m wide, with a cableway to allow high flow gauging.

How it measures flow

Mostly modular even at high flows. Flood banks on a 36m wide floodplain should contain most flows but bypassing does occur- high range defined by few gaugings of dubious quality (weir only 1m deep). Cableway rated for high flows. Very few gaugings at high flows, but reasonably good fit at most levels.

Flow regime

Flashy response. No significant abstractions or returns but flow patterns can be affected by sluice operation.

The flow record

Reliability of summer 2007 high flows uncertain due to station bypassing and possible elevated levels through backing up. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2020 (WINFAP Files v9).

Descriptions from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH). NRFA station record ↗

Gauge Details

How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).

Gauge type
Gauging structure
Operating since
1971
Station datum
24.2 mAOD
Flow record
1971–2024 · 53 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1971
Hydrometric area
54
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the Dowles Brook at Oak Cottage flooding today?

The current level is 0.08m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Oak Cottage?

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

What is a normal level for the Dowles Brook at Oak Cottage?

The typical range at this station is 0.08m to 1.00m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.00m are higher than usually seen and may indicate a flood risk.

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.

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📮 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 →