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⚠ No recent data · last reading 17h ago
0.04

Ponsanooth

Kennall
Fal and St Austell Streams catchment • Ponsanooth • Cornwall • ID: 48183 • Level
(17h ago) • 4 readings/hr • 125 views

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Last Level
0.041 m
⚠ 17h ago · may be out of date
24h Max
0.043 m
24h Min
0.041 m
Typical Range
0.04 - 0.49
m
Highest Recorded
0.83 m
EA official record
0.81 in our data (since Oct 1968)
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 5h
23 Aug 06:00 ▬ steady 0.041 m
23 Aug 05:45 ▬ steady 0.041 m
23 Aug 05:30 ▬ steady 0.041 m
23 Aug 05:15 ▬ steady 0.041 m
23 Aug 05:00 ▬ steady 0.041 m
23 Aug 04:45 ▬ steady 0.041 m
23 Aug 04:30 ▬ steady 0.041 m
23 Aug 04:15 ▬ steady 0.041 m
23 Aug 04:00 ▬ steady 0.041 m
23 Aug 03:45 ▬ steady 0.041 m
23 Aug 03:30 ▬ steady 0.041 m
23 Aug 03:15 ▬ steady 0.041 m
23 Aug 03:00 ▬ steady 0.041 m
23 Aug 02:45 ▬ steady 0.041 m
23 Aug 02:30 ▬ steady 0.041 m
23 Aug 02:15 ▬ steady 0.041 m
23 Aug 02:00 ▬ steady 0.041 m
23 Aug 01:45 ▬ steady 0.041 m
23 Aug 01:30 ▬ steady 0.041 m
23 Aug 01:15 0.041 m

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2014 for the 6 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 2.1 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 Ponsanooth flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Ponsanooth
  • Watercourse: River Kennall
  • Nearest Town: Ponsanooth
  • County: Cornwall
  • Coordinates: 50°11'47"N 5°8'12"W (50.196411, -5.136703)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Oct 1968
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: 48183
  • EA Gauge ID: 48183-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: 0.044 – 0.490 m
  • Drainage Area: 27 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.04 m (EA at 23 Aug 06:00)
  • 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

🌊 Groundwater-fed Slow and steady — fed largely by groundwater, so levels change gradually, not in sudden spikes.

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
0.74
groundwater-fed — slow & steady
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,388 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +7% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
1.1%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
4.23 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
6.06 m³/s
1 Jan 2003
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.5231.650.3250.0845% (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 5%Grassland 70%Arable 11%Heath/scrub 6%Urban 4%Other 4%
Grassland 82% → 70% since 1990

Flow affected by: surface-water abstraction, reservoir influence, public water supply, groundwater abstraction, industrial / agricultural abstraction.

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

Crump Profile weir with substantial modification of flows owing to exports to Stithians Reservoir.

More detail

The catchment

Moderate to steep catchment draining the Carnmenellis Granite, with small area of metamorphosed shales and grits. Granite well weathered, giving high baseflow. Responsive to heavy rainfall. No major changes to catchment.

The station

Crump profile weir with 4.88m crest length, wing walls and flood banks at height of 2.2m. Weir face retrofitted with Low Cost Baffles and vertically mounted eel tiles in April 2014. Station approximately 4 miles downstream of Stithians reservoir (Wendron Moor).

How it measures flow

Modular at all recorded stages. No drowning out. Verified by survey of wrack mark levels following 11/2012 flood, the highest on record. Gauged to 0.37m (2.5 cumecs) with good fit to theoretical rating, but insensitivity means low flows are susceptible to errors. Good theoretical peak flow rating curve applied across period of record. Confirmed by gaugings to 0.37m and all flows contained in bank.

Flow regime

Abstraction for public water supply. Some industrial usage produces unpredictable hydrographs. Substantial modification to flows owing to exports from Stithians Reservoir (4 miles upstream).

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
Crump weir
Operating since
1968
Station datum
13.6 mAOD
Flow record
1968–2024 · 56 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1968
Hydrometric area
48
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Kennall at Ponsanooth flooding today?

The current level is 0.04m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Ponsanooth?

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 Kennall at Ponsanooth?

The typical range at this station is 0.04m to 0.49m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.49m 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 →