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0.18

Rotherham Forge Island

Don
Don and Rother catchment • Rotherham • South Yorkshire • ID: F0600 • Level
(34m ago) • 3 readings/hr • 122 views

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Current Level
0.182 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.190 m
24h Min
0.163 m
Typical Range
0.23 - 1.70
m
Highest Recorded
3.32 m
EA official record
3.03 in our data (since Nov 2005)
Current level is 5% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Rising · +0.4 cm over 6h
23 Aug 23:15 ▬ steady 0.182 m
23 Aug 23:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.182 m
23 Aug 22:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.183 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.182 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.181 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.180 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.180 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.179 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.180 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.179 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.179 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.179 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.178 m
23 Aug 18:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.178 m
23 Aug 18:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.177 m
23 Aug 18:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.176 m
23 Aug 18:00 ▬ steady 0.177 m
23 Aug 17:45 ▬ steady 0.177 m
23 Aug 17:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.177 m
23 Aug 17:15 0.178 m

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2011 for the 26 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.2 km away).

68flood warnings 116flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 5 Jan 2025Whiston Brook at Whiston

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 0 2
2025 1 4
2024 1 10
2023 14 5
2022 11 5
2021 2 6
2020 6 8
2019 22 18
2018 2 7
2017 0 16
2016 1 7
2015 0 7
2014 2 5
2013 1 4
2012 5 11
2011 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 Rotherham flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Rotherham Forge Island
  • Watercourse: River Don
  • Nearest Town: Rotherham
  • County: South Yorkshire
  • Nearest reservoir: Broomhead Ire (16.1 km) · 41.6% full (as of 10 Aug 2026)
  • Coordinates: 53°25'49"N 1°21'32"W (53.430253, -1.358801)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 8 Nov 2005
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: F0600
  • EA Gauge ID: F0600-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 4 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Don and Rother
  • Typical Range: 0.233 – 1.700 m
  • Drainage Area: 826 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.18 m (EA at 23 Aug 23:15)
  • 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

🌊 Fairly flashy Responds 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
0.46
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
900 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +5% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
14%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
153 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
394 m³/s
25 Jun 2007
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 13.1538.707.793.885% (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 11%Grassland 40%Arable 13%Heath/scrub 11%Urban 24%Other 1%
Grassland 31% → 40% since 1990

Flow affected by: surface-water abstraction, public water supply, effluent returns, industrial / agricultural abstraction.

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

A large masonry weir at an angle to the u/s channel. Heavily influenced by headwater reservoirs. Station closed in December 1971. Reopened in 2005, initially as a level only station but subsequently re-rated and flows calculated again from 8/11/2005.

More detail

The catchment

Mixed geology: Millstone Grit (headwaters), Coal Measures, Magnesian Limestone and Triassic Sandstones. Moorland headwaters, mixed agriculture in valleys with significant urban areas, including Sheffield. Headwaters are heavily reservoired. Decline of coal mining and manufacturing industries throughout the period of record. Extensive urban development around Sheffield (with several large green field developments during the 1970s) and Chesterfield during period of record.

The station

A large masonry weir 61m wide calibrated at a velocity area station 360m d/s. The weir is at an angle to the upstream channel. Recorders u/s and d/s of the weir (the d/s gauge was removed in 1966). Chart records from u/s recorder since 1924. New recorder installed in 1958 and flow calculated from October 1960. Station closed in 1971. The station was reinstated in 2005 as a level only station when a level recorder and an H-ADVP in a 24m wide channel ~80m upstream of the weir were installed. The H-ADVP gauge has since been removed but a new rating was established and used to calculate flows again from November 2005.

How it measures flow

Good measuring reach enclosed by steep riverbanks and weir not thought to drown. One peak flow rating applied across original period of record (1960-1970). Rating derived from multipoint current meter gaugings from cableway. Flood Studies Report grade A2 at all flows. New rating developed following re-opening of gauge and applied to period from 11/2005 to date. Gauged up to bankfull stage and rating gives a good fit to gaugings.

Flow regime

Headwaters are heavily reservoired with around two thirds of the catchment draining through some 27 impoundments and valleys are highly developed. The Rother has significant washlands (although few were controlled by 1971). Traditional industries including steel and mining are now in decline. Sewage effluent augmentation with approximately 2/3 of abstraction to public water supply returned to Rother above gauge. Import from Derwent Valley, but overall net loss of water from Don to Dearne. Abstraction into the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation canal just upstream of the gauge.

The flow record

Record thought to be of little use before 1961. Records pre-1947 now thought lost. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in October 2018 (WINFAP Files v7).

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
1960
Station datum
23.2 mAOD
Flow record
1960–2024 · 64 yrs · 46% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1958
Hydrometric area
27
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Don at Rotherham Forge Island flooding today?

The current level is 0.18m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Rotherham Forge Island?

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 Don at Rotherham Forge Island?

The typical range at this station is 0.23m to 1.70m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.70m 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 →