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🌊 Tide coming in · high water in ~2h

Fowey

Tide 🌊 Tidal
Seaton, Looe and Fowey catchment • Fowey • Cornwall • ID: 48184 • 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.
(1h ago) • 4 readings/hr • 141 views

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Get notified about Fowey — 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 m/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/NRW data and are best-efforts. Terms

Current Level
0.265 mAOD
▲ Rising (+101cm/hr)
24h Max
1.868 mAOD
24h Min
-2.042 mAOD
Typical Range
-
Highest Recorded
3.15 mAOD
EA official record
A 5.31 reading (19 Feb 2015) sits in our unverified raw history and is not treated as the record
🚽 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 · +82 cm over 6h
08 Oct 01:30 ▲▲ +25 cm 0.265 mAOD
08 Oct 01:15 ▲▲ +25 cm 0.012 mAOD
08 Oct 01:00 ▲▲ +29 cm -0.241 mAOD
08 Oct 00:45 ▲▲ +30 cm -0.532 mAOD
08 Oct 00:30 ▲▲ +27 cm -0.828 mAOD
08 Oct 00:15 ▲▲ +27 cm -1.095 mAOD
08 Oct 00:00 ▲▲ +22 cm -1.365 mAOD
07 Oct 23:45 ▲▲ +18 cm -1.586 mAOD
07 Oct 23:30 ▲▲ +28 cm -1.764 mAOD
07 Oct 22:30 ▼ -2 cm -2.042 mAOD
07 Oct 22:15 ▼▼ -7 cm -2.024 mAOD
07 Oct 22:00 ▼▼ -9 cm -1.954 mAOD
07 Oct 21:45 ▼▼ -10 cm -1.863 mAOD
07 Oct 21:30 ▼▼ -17 cm -1.760 mAOD
07 Oct 21:15 ▼▼ -19 cm -1.592 mAOD
07 Oct 21:00 ▼▼ -18 cm -1.407 mAOD
07 Oct 20:45 ▼▼ -21 cm -1.223 mAOD
07 Oct 20:30 ▼▼ -24 cm -1.014 mAOD
07 Oct 20:15 ▼▼ -22 cm -0.770 mAOD
07 Oct 20:00 -0.550 mAOD

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Fowey
  • Watercourse: Tide
  • Nearest Town: Fowey
  • County: Cornwall
  • Nearest reservoir: Blackpool Pit (14.4 km) · 79.5% full (as of 31 May 2026)
  • Coordinates: 50°20'10"N 4°38'1"W (50.336116, -4.633573)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 20 Apr 2006
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: Tidal / coastal station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: 48184
  • RLOI id: 3386 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: 48184-level-tidal_level-i-15_min-mAOD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mAOD
  • Typical rise rate: 141 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: Seaton, Looe and Fowey
  • EA Cross-check: 0.51 mAOD (EA at 8 Oct 01:45)

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

Nearby Stations

Gauges connected to this river, and others nearby. A distance “by river” follows the river on the map; any other is in a straight line.

Connected upstream

Nearby

Distances by river: OS Open Rivers. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

💧 Storm overflows upstream of this gauge

Storm overflows whose water reaches this gauge on the mapped river network, nearest first by distance along the river. The status is each water company's monitor: it says whether an overflow is discharging, not how much or what it contains.

3 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 27.9 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 3 report not discharging.

💧
South West Water · into St Neot River · 27.9 km upstream along the river
167 spills · 2,031 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
South West Water · into River Loveny (S) · 28.4 km upstream along the river
82 spills · 1,489 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
South West Water · into Trib Of River Fowey · 33.8 km upstream along the river
127 spills · 1,589 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

Nearby, connection not known

Within 6 km in a straight line, but the river map cannot say whether their water passes this gauge.

💧
Town Quay Pumping Station🏊 Bathing water🦪 Shellfish
South West Water · into River Fowey Estuary (E) · 130 m away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
198 spills · 635 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Caffa Mill Pumping Station🏊 Bathing water🦪 Shellfish
South West Water · into River Fowey Estuary(E) · 380 m away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
38 spills · 107 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
South West Water · into River Fowey Estuary · 440 m away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
3 spills · 1 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Whitehouse Slip (Point) CSO🏊 Bathing water🦪 Shellfish
South West Water · into River Fowey Estuary(E) · 520 m away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
7 spills · 1 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Fowey Wastewater Treatment Works🏊 Bathing water🦪 Shellfish
South West Water · into Fowey Estuary (E) · 550 m away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
72 spills · 557 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Polruan Quay PS🏊 Bathing water🦪 Shellfish
South West Water · into River Fowey Estuary(E) · 730 m away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Readymoney Road Combined Sewer🏊 Bathing water🦪 Shellfish
South West Water · into River Fowey Estuary(E) · 970 m away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Readymoney Cove PS🏊 Bathing water🦪 Shellfish
South West Water · into River Fowey Estuary(E) · 1.1 km away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
2 spills · 3 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

5 more within 6 km whose connection is not known.

1 other overflow within 6 km is downstream of this gauge or on another branch of the river network, so it is not listed.

These are the water companies' monitor statuses; a spill does not by itself explain a change in the gauge level. River connections and distances are traced on OS Open Rivers (edition 2026-04), which leaves out many small channels. Explore the sewage map →

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 8 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 5.2 km away).

10severe warnings 74flood warnings 195flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 2 Feb 2026 — South Cornwall Coast from Lizard Point to Gribbin Head excluding the tidal Fal Estuary

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2026 0 3 13
2025 0 6 17
2024 0 8 20
2023 0 4 10
2022 0 0 5
2021 0 0 8
2020 0 10 20
2019 0 4 16
2018 0 2 24
2017 0 0 11
2016 0 5 19
2015 0 2 12
2014 6 13 5
2013 0 1 3
2012 3 8 7
2011 0 0 4
2010 0 2 1
2008 1 0 0
2007 0 1 0
2006 0 5 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 Fowey flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 8 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Tide at Fowey flooding today?

The latest recorded level is 0.27m. 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 Fowey?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently rising. The chart above shows the last 12 hours of measurements by default (up to 7 days), 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 2.4mm 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 supplied by the Environment Agency gauge. FloodRadar checks for updates roughly every 15 minutes; the timestamp above shows how recent the latest available reading is.

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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, recorded floods, warning history, river behaviour and nearby storm overflows. £19 one-off. Learn more →