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0.26

Bissoe

Carnon River
Fal and St Austell Streams catchment • Bissoe • Cornwall • ID: 48137 • Level
(34m ago) • 3 readings/hr • 148 views

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Current Level
0.255 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.256 m
24h Min
0.251 m
Typical Range
0.24 - 0.86
m
Highest Recorded
1.76 m
27 Jan 2026
Since Oct 1994
Current level is 14% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
23 Aug 23:15 ▬ steady 0.255 m
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 0.255 m
23 Aug 22:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.255 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 0.254 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.254 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.254 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.253 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.253 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 0.253 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.253 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.253 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.253 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.253 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.253 m
23 Aug 18:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.253 m
23 Aug 18:30 ▬ steady 0.254 m
23 Aug 18:15 ▬ steady 0.254 m
23 Aug 18:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.254 m
23 Aug 17:45 ▬ steady 0.255 m
23 Aug 17:30 0.255 m

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2014 for the 7 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 2.7 km away).

20flood warnings 17flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 2 Feb 2026Tidal Fal Estuary

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 2 3
2025 3 6
2024 2 8
2023 1 0
2020 2 0
2018 2 0
2016 1 0
2014 7 0

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 Bissoe flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Bissoe
  • Watercourse: Carnon River
  • Nearest Town: Bissoe
  • County: Cornwall
  • Nearest reservoir: Blackpool Pit (24.9 km) · 79.5% full (as of 31 May 2026)
  • Coordinates: 50°13'46"N 5°7'15"W (50.229401, -5.120933)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 2006
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: 48137
  • EA Gauge ID: 48137-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 2 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Fal and St Austell Streams
  • Typical Range: 0.236 – 0.864 m
  • Drainage Area: 34 km² upstream of this gauge
  • EA Cross-check: 0.26 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

🌊 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
0.62
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,250 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +7% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
2.6%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
4.84 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
7.11 m³/s
1 Jan 2003
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.8392.430.5710.2295% (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 8%Grassland 68%Arable 10%Heath/scrub 2%Urban 11%Other 1%

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 weir opened in 1994 gauging a mainly rural catchment.

More detail

The catchment

The catchment consists mostly of Devonian slates and sandstones and Granite. Also with some areas of alluvium, Greenstones and Quartz Porphyry. Land use mostly rural with some urbanisation. No major changes in catchment.

The station

Station opened in 1994. Flat V weir, crest length approximately 4.0m wide.

How it measures flow

Relatively straight approach. High sediment loads. Bankfull at 2.5m. Three peak flow ratings across period of record. Change in downstream maintenance regime has resulted in gradual infilling of channel and drowning of the weir from an increasingly lower level (0.33m). Early drowning and In addition impacts from backing up from Bissoe bridge has resulted in a rating change from October 2011 based on extensive gauging. Acoustic Time of Flight was installed in 2013 due to the unstable stage discharge relationship. Therefore good confidence in data from 2011 onwards.

Flow regime

No major influences to flow regime.

The flow record

Data removed from 2020 temporarily due to reliability issues.

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
Flat-V weir
Operating since
1994
Flow record
1994–2020 · 26 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1994
Hydrometric area
48
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the Carnon River at Bissoe flooding today?

The current level is 0.26m, which is within the typical range of 0.24 to 0.86m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Bissoe?

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 Carnon River at Bissoe?

The typical range at this station is 0.24m to 0.86m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.86m 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 →