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Launceston

Name: Launceston River Level Data
Creator: FloodRadar

Kensey

Tamar catchment • Launceston • Cornwall • ID: 47171 • Level

10:15 (38m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 126 views

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▲ Above a heightTriggers when the level passes a height you choose. ✓ ↗ Rising fastTriggers when it's climbing more than 0.10 m/hr. ✓ 🌊 Upstream wave betaA flood wave detected upstream is heading this way. ✓ 🚱 Sewage nearbyA storm overflow starts discharging within ~3 km. ✓

⤴ Unusual rise — FloodRadar+Top 1% rise rate for this gauge.

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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

0.124 m

▬ Steady

24h Max

0.148 m

24h Min

0.124 m

Typical Range

0.12 - 0.96

Highest Recorded

1.88 m

EA official record

A 3.18 reading (14 Aug 2025) sits in our unverified raw history and is not treated as the record

Current level is 7% of this

🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk

1 day

RainfallRain Zoom to dataZoom Nearby sewage releases (≤3 km)Sewage ≤3 km

Prediction V2

Prediction Eris

Nimbus beta

Experimental model fusing soil moisture, river flow, groundwater and catchment character. The shaded band is its 10–90% range, widened so that about 80% of recent outcomes fall inside it. 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

—

Show major eventsEvents RainfallRain Rain daysRain days Nearby sewage releases (≤3 km)Sewage ≤3 km

Days Above Normal

This year vs 5-year monthly range

Recent Readings

Falling · -0.3 cm over 7h

10 Sep 10:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.124 m

10 Sep 10:00 ▬ steady 0.125 m

10 Sep 09:45 ▬ steady 0.125 m

10 Sep 09:30 ▬ steady 0.125 m

10 Sep 09:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.125 m

10 Sep 08:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.126 m

10 Sep 08:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.127 m

10 Sep 07:45 ▬ steady 0.126 m

10 Sep 07:30 ▬ steady 0.126 m

10 Sep 07:00 ▬ steady 0.126 m

10 Sep 06:45 ▬ steady 0.126 m

10 Sep 06:30 ▬ steady 0.126 m

10 Sep 06:00 ▬ steady 0.126 m

10 Sep 05:30 ▬ steady 0.126 m

10 Sep 05:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.126 m

10 Sep 04:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.127 m

10 Sep 04:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.126 m

10 Sep 03:45 ▬ steady 0.127 m

10 Sep 03:15 ▬ steady 0.127 m

10 Sep 03:00 0.127 m

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 8 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.3 km away).

29flood warnings 451flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 9 Dec 2025 — River Lyd from Sydenham to Lifton

Year by year

Year	Warnings	Alerts
2026	0	13
2025	2	20
2024	1	30
2023	0	34
2022	0	11
2021	3	22
2020	3	35
2019	1	31
2018	0	29
2017	0	28
2016	2	19
2015	0	19
2014	1	27
2013	4	21
2012	6	35
2011	0	19
2010	1	6
2009	3	17
2008	1	15
2007	0	14
2006	1	6

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 Launceston flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

Monitoring Station: Launceston
Watercourse: River Kensey
Nearest Town: Launceston
County: Cornwall
Nearest reservoir: Roadford (10.2 km) · 55.0% full (as of 30 Aug 2026)
Coordinates: 50°38'30"N 4°21'46"W (50.641712, -4.362839)
Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
Date Opened: 19 Jun 2002
Status: Active
Station Type: River level station

Station Reference: 47171
EA Gauge ID: 47171-level-stage-i-15_min-m
Parameter: Level
Unit: m
Typical rise rate: 1 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
Tidal: No
Lock / structure: No
Catchment Area: Tamar
Typical Range: 0.115 – 0.961 m
Drainage Area: 33 km² upstream of this gauge
Flow Data: Daily mean flow (m³/s) to 8 Sep (2 days behind — the EA publishes each day's mean a day or two after it ends; unchecked, provisional) via EA Hydrology
EA Cross-check: 0.13 m (EA at 10 Sep 10:00)
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 i

🌊 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). What does this mean?

Baseflow Index

0.58

mixed response

Avg Annual Rainfall

1,375 mm/yr

1991–2020 · +8% since 1941–70

Urban Extent

1.7%

largely rural

Median Annual Flood

13.85 m³/s

QMED — typical yearly peak flow

Highest Daily Mean Flow

13.50 m³/s

22 Dec 2012 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak

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.

Land Cover (2023)

Woodland 8%Grassland 79%Arable 6%Urban 6%

Arable 11% → 6% since 1990

Photos

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

About this gauge

Open channel rated section in canalised channel.

More detail

The catchment

The River Kensey catchment overlies Shale and Grit. Over this area, extensive mechanical deformation has taken place resulting in minor folding and faulting. Igneous activity in the form of Spilitic Lavas and intrusive Dolerite and Diabase is also evident within the catchment. From its source it flows through gently undulating or relatively level land with a fairly wide level valley floor. The Kensey flows from its source in a westerly direction towards Launceston. Just upstream of the town, the river passes under the rail embankment and then flows through a narrow, well defined floodplain. No major changes to catchment.

The station

Velocity area station, initially installed to collect data for feasibility studies surrounding flood defence scheme and was then upgraded to a permanent station forming part of the flood warning system for River Kensey.

How it measures flow

As the station is within a defended reach, flood flows are contained to a high level and all flows contained to date. Bankfull discharge is around 37m3/s. Two peak flow ratings across the period of record to take into account changes in the natural bed control. Rating developed by gaugings. Gauged to QMED and to around half of AMAX 1 but extrapolation considered reasonable as flows in bank. Some uncertainty exists in the low flow data due to the stony mobile bed conditions but flows are generally within 15-20%.

Flow regime

Predominantly rural catchment.

The flow record

Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in August 2021 (WINFAP Files v10).

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

Velocity–area

Operating since

2002

Flow record

2002–2024 · 22 yrs · 100% complete

Peak-flow record

since 2002

Hydrometric area

Measured by

Environment Agency

Nearby Groundwater

Soil Moisture

Possible storm-overflow correlation

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Kensey at Launceston flooding today?

The current level is 0.12m, which is within the typical range of 0.12 to 0.96m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Launceston?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently steady. 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. 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.

What is a normal level for the River Kensey at Launceston?

The typical range at this station is 0.12m to 0.96m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.96m 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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