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0.17

Polson Bridge

Tamar
Tamar catchment • Liftondown • Cornwall • ID: 47115 • Level
(32m ago) • 2 readings/hr • 100 views

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Current Level
0.171 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.189 m
24h Min
0.171 m
Typical Range
0.23 - 3.00
m
Highest Recorded
5.35 m
EA official record
5.29 in our data (since Dec 1987)
Current level is 3% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 0.171 m
23 Aug 22:30 ▬ steady 0.171 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 0.172 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.172 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.172 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.172 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.172 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 0.172 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.172 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.172 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.172 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.173 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.173 m
23 Aug 18:45 ▬ steady 0.172 m
23 Aug 18:30 ▬ steady 0.172 m
23 Aug 18:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.172 m
23 Aug 18:00 ▬ steady 0.173 m
23 Aug 17:45 ▬ steady 0.173 m
23 Aug 17:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.173 m
23 Aug 17:00 0.172 m

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 7 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.9 km away).

29flood warnings 112flood alerts

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

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 0 3
2025 2 7
2024 1 8
2023 0 11
2021 3 5
2020 3 10
2019 1 7
2018 0 4
2017 0 5
2016 2 3
2015 0 4
2014 1 8
2013 4 7
2012 6 8
2011 0 7
2010 1 2
2009 3 4
2008 1 5
2007 0 3
2006 1 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 Liftondown flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Polson Bridge
  • Watercourse: River Tamar
  • Nearest Town: Liftondown
  • County: Cornwall
  • Nearest reservoir: Roadford (8.4 km) · 61.0% full (as of 16 Aug 2026)
  • Coordinates: 50°38'25"N 4°19'51"W (50.640271, -4.330759)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 22 Dec 1987
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: 47115
  • EA Gauge ID: 47115-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: Tamar
  • Typical Range: 0.226 – 3.000 m
  • Drainage Area: 470 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.17 m (EA at 23 Aug 22:30)
  • 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
0.43
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,258 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +6% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.5%
largely rural
Highest Recorded Flow
161 m³/s
18 Dec 1999
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 11.0343.294.620.6165% (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 10%Grassland 79%Arable 8%Urban 3%
Grassland 82% → 79% since 1990

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

An informal Flat V control on the River Tamar upstream of the confluence with the River Lyd.

More detail

The catchment

Moderate relief catchment with Carboniferous sandstones in headwaters and remainder Culm Measures (shales, limestones, grits). Essentially rural, low grade agriculture, some forestry.

How it measures flow

Informal Flat V control 18m wide between high angle trapezoidal gabion wing walls with a reasonably straight approach. Cableway just d/s of Kensey trib. Comes out of lb when Kensey in flood. Rating reasonable to bankfull, but requires low flow gaugings to confirm lower end (below 0.18m).

Flow regime

Significant modification of flow due to Tamar Lake operations.

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
1987
Station datum
48.0 mAOD
Flow record
1987–2024 · 37 yrs · 100% complete
Hydrometric area
47
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Tamar at Polson Bridge flooding today?

The current level is 0.17m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Polson Bridge?

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 Tamar at Polson Bridge?

The typical range at this station is 0.23m to 3.00m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 3.00m 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 →