Ribble Douglas and Crossens catchment
• Lower Darwen • Blackburn with Darwen • ID: 713120 • Level
(30m ago) • 2 readings/hr • 96 views
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Current Level
0.274 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.275 m
24h Min
0.274 m
Typical Range
0.30 - 1.25
m
Highest Recorded
2.37 m
17 Apr 2025
Since Jan 1976
Current level is 12% of this
🚽Sewage overflows nearby
Recent Water Levels
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day
Prediction V2
Prediction Eris
Nimbus beta
Experimental model fusing soil moisture, river flow, groundwater and catchment
character. Shown with its calibrated 10–90% confidence band. Under evaluation —
not yet promoted, so treat as a second opinion.
River Flow
90 days
Daily mean discharge (m³/s) with the daily min–max band, from the EA Hydrology API. Flow is the volume of water passing the gauge — often a more direct flood signal than level.
Long Term
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
—
Consecutive rainy days0 → 10+
Days Above Normal
This year vs 5-year monthly range
Recent Readings
Steady over 6h
23 Aug 23:00▬ steady0.274 m
23 Aug 22:45▬ steady0.274 m
23 Aug 21:30▬ steady0.274 m
23 Aug 21:15▬ steady0.274 m
23 Aug 21:00▬ steady0.274 m
23 Aug 20:45▬ steady0.274 m
23 Aug 20:30▬ steady0.274 m
23 Aug 20:15▬ steady0.274 m
23 Aug 20:00▬ steady0.274 m
23 Aug 19:45▬ steady0.274 m
23 Aug 19:30▬ steady0.274 m
23 Aug 19:15▬ steady0.274 m
23 Aug 19:00▬ steady0.274 m
23 Aug 18:45▬ steady0.274 m
23 Aug 18:30▬ steady0.274 m
23 Aug 18:15▬ steady0.274 m
23 Aug 18:00▬ steady0.274 m
23 Aug 17:45▬ steady0.274 m
23 Aug 17:30▬ steady0.274 m
23 Aug 17:150.274 m
Rainfall & Weather
Loading rainfall and weather data...
Flood history near this gauge
Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 14 flood
areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.5 km away).
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 Lower Darwen flood history.
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
🌊 Fairly flashyResponds fairly quickly to rain, with moderate baseflow between events.
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
0.42
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,383 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
14%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
28.95 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
26.20 m³/s
22 Jun 2012
Flow-Duration Curve
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.
Velocity area station gauging catchment with steep headwaters and urbanised in lower reaches.
More detail
The catchment
Steep headwater catchment, particularly in the west, that drains north to the outskirts of Blackburn. Solid geology of Millstone Grit and Coal Measures, with intermittent Boulder Clay, hill peat and glacial gravel in main valley. Heavily urbanised at Darwen. No significant catchment changes.
The station
Open channel velocity area station opened in 1973. A vertical concrete wall forms the left bank with a high natural bank on the right.
How it measures flow
Fixed stone bed downstream provides some control. Bed rough, stony but stable, approach channel silty. No bypassing. No cableway. Multiple ratings applied across period of record derived from current meter gauging, with modelled top-end.
Flow regime
Small reservoirs in southwest. Station affected by non-continuous abstractions and releases upstream. Compensation flows are activated automatically.
The flow record
Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in August 2021 (WINFAP Files v10).
How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).
Gauge type
Velocity–area
Operating since
1973
Station datum
98.3 mAOD
Flow record
1976–2024 · 48 yrs · 97% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1973
Hydrometric area
71
Measured by
Environment Agency
Nearby Groundwater
Soil Moisture
Possible storm-overflow correlation
🚽 Storm overflows on this river
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Darwen at Ewood flooding today?
The current level is 0.27m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Ewood?
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 River Darwen at Ewood?
The typical range at this station is 0.30m to 1.25m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.25m 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.
Embed this gauge on your website
Free live river-level widget — ideal for parish councils, angling clubs and local sites. Updates automatically.
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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:
