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⤴Unusual rise — FloodRadar+Top 1% rise rate for this gauge.
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You'll be notified when this gauge is rising more than 0.10 m/hr — a sign of rapidly increasing water levels.
You'll be notified when a new storm-overflow (sewage) discharge starts within ~3 km of this gauge, based on the water companies' near-real-time feeds.
Get notified when recent rainfall near this gauge crosses its learnt rise trigger — an early "watch"
signal, typically hours before a rise. Experimental; not an official flood warning.
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Current Level
0.197 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.199 m
24h Min
0.193 m
Typical Range
0.22 - 1.50
m
Highest Recorded
2.44 m
EA official record
2.34 in our data (since Mar 1966)
Current level is 8% of this
🚽Sewage overflows nearby
Recent Water Levels
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day
EA forecast (official)
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.
Flow Data: Daily mean flow (m³/s) to 6 Oct (2 days behind — the EA publishes each day's mean a day or two after it ends; unchecked, provisional)via EA Hydrology
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.
5 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 1.8 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 5 report not discharging.
South West Water · into Polbathic Lake (E) · 5.6 km away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Monitor offline: it cannot say whether it is discharging
3 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 →
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 Pillaton flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 5 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.
🌊 Mixed responseA 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
0.55
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,477 mm/yr
1991–2020 · -1% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.8%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
46.30 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
75.91 m³/s
18 Dec 2020 · 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.
Headwaters rise on Bodmin peat covered granite moorland; thence Devonian slates and volcanics; middle reach crosses a Carboniferous shale and sandstone inlier. Drift restricted to alluvium. Responsive upper catchment on Bodmin Moor. Generally low grade land gives rise to a variety of agriculture, grazing and forestry. No major catchment changes.
The station
Velocity area station, channel approx. 10.6m wide, cableway span 16.9m. Downstream shoal as control.
How it measures flow
Flows at site were formerly contained by flood banks on both banks (bankfull level only thought to have been exceeded once in record (12/1979)). However the left hand bank was breached in the 1990s and the left hand entrainment bank then removed so bypassing occurs more readily since 1990; floodplain flows are ungauged. Multiple peak flow ratings across period of record. Generally reasonable rating, well gauged through the range but limited confidence in upper range. Rating shift due to mobile bed and control. Rating reviewed in 2012 with improvements applied to historic record. Out-of-bank flows now calculated using model-derived rating. Low flow rating shifts regularly in response to changes in the downstream shoal. Analysis has shown that the high flow rating is similar through the record due to influence of downstream control at higher levels. Rating formed from a combination of high flow gaugings, 2D hydraulic modelling and observations of the 1979 flood (wrack marks and slope-area analysis). Separate high flow ratings prepared for the situation pre- and post-1990 with the left hand bank in place and removed. As a result rating now considered sound. Acoustic Doppler installed in 02/12 to confirm the rating at higher levels.
Flow regime
Imports from Sibleyback Reservoir exceed direct PWS abstraction, moderate net affect at low flows.
The flow record
Data pre-March 1966 are rejected as they have not been re-rated and are therefore uncertain - there also appears to be some truncation. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in August 2021 (WINFAP Files v10).
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Lynher at Pillaton flooding today?
The current level is 0.20m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Pillaton?
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.
What is a normal level for the River Lynher at Pillaton?
The typical range at this station is 0.22m to 1.50m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.50m are higher than usually seen and may indicate a flood risk.
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:
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27 Jun 2018 Downstream view to gauging station and stage board on left bankb during low flows, stage 0.2m
27 Jun 2018 Upstream view to gauging station and stage board on left bank during low flows, stage 0.2m
19 Jan 2010 Downstream section and natural control
30 Oct 2007 Gauging Station Hut and Cableway
1 Jan 2003 Looking upstream
1 Jan 2003 Looking downstream
Floodplain on r/h bank
Looking downstream
Looking to measuring section from downstream