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0.28

Sunderland Bridge

Wear
Wear catchment • Sunderland Bridge • County Durham • ID: 024001 • Level
(47m ago) • 2 readings/hr • 132 views

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Current Level
0.276 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.283 m
24h Min
0.275 m
Typical Range
0.25 - 2.20
m
Highest Recorded
3.71 m
EA official record
3.67 in our data (since Oct 1967)
Current level is 7% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
23 Aug 22:45 ▬ steady 0.276 m
23 Aug 22:30 ▬ steady 0.276 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.276 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.276 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.277 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.277 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 0.277 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.277 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.278 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.277 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.278 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.278 m
23 Aug 18:45 ▬ steady 0.277 m
23 Aug 18:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.277 m
23 Aug 18:15 ▬ steady 0.278 m
23 Aug 18:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.278 m
23 Aug 17:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.277 m
23 Aug 17:30 ▬ steady 0.276 m
23 Aug 17:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.276 m
23 Aug 17:00 0.277 m

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2012 for the 9 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.2 km away).

16flood warnings 46flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 16 Mar 2023River Wear at Croxdale riverside

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 0 8
2025 0 3
2024 0 3
2023 1 8
2022 0 2
2021 0 2
2020 1 2
2019 0 1
2016 1 3
2015 5 5
2013 5 4
2012 3 5

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 Sunderland Bridge flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Station Reference: 024001
  • EA Gauge ID: 024001-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 2 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~37 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Wear
  • Typical Range: 0.250 – 2.200 m
  • Drainage Area: 658 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.28 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

🌊 Flashy Rain runs off fast — levels rise and fall sharply, often within hours of heavy rain.

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
0.34
flashy — rain runs off fast
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,003 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +3% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
1.9%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
192 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
317 m³/s
17 Jul 2009
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 11.4540.505.912.025% (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 9%Grassland 47%Arable 8%Heath/scrub 32%Urban 4%
Heath/scrub 25% → 32% since 1990

Flow affected by: surface-water abstraction, reservoir influence, groundwater abstraction, effluent returns.

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

Compound broad-crested weirs provide longest flow record on the Wear, reservoirs affect 7% of the upstream catchment.

More detail

The catchment

Predominantly upland catchment on mainly Carboniferous formations (Limestone, Millstone Grit and Coal Measures). Half the catchment is overlain by superficial deposits (peat in headwaters, Boulder Clay in lower reaches). Land use is half grass pasture, with moorland headwaters, arable and some urban development in lower reaches. No known catchment changes.

The station

Compound broad-crested weirs within the arches of road bridge; total crest length 38.7m.

How it measures flow

Control is a compound broad-crested weir within the arches of the downstream road bridge. Flows up to 1.06m stage are contained by vertical arch walls, high flows are well above this, the tapping point is within the drawdown effect. Weed growth in summer may cause overestimation of flows. Rating originally based on theoretical weir rating, subsequently fitted to check gaugings up to 3.4m (375 cumecs), wade gaugings at low flows and cableway above. One peak flow rating applied throughout. Flood Studies Report grade B.

Flow regime

Gives steep sided hydrographs, often with multiple peaks. Significant artificial influences: reservoirs in catchment (Burnhope, Waskerley and Tunstall with total direct catchment area of 45 sq.km); STW effluent forms significant portion of low flows; minewater discharges (regime altered by pit closure) and, in drought years, minimum flows supported by Kielder transfer.

The flow record

Flows for the period 1957-73 reprocessed using rating fitted to current meter gaugings. Full record reprocessed in 2001 to give improved fit to gaugings, reviewed again in 2019 and reprocessed with rating D to slightly increase flows below 7 cumecs, high flows unchanged. 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
Gauging structure
Operating since
1957
Station datum
40.2 mAOD
Flow record
1957–2024 · 67 yrs · 99% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1957
Hydrometric area
24
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Wear at Sunderland Bridge flooding today?

The current level is 0.28m, which is within the typical range of 0.25 to 2.20m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Sunderland 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 Wear at Sunderland Bridge?

The typical range at this station is 0.25m to 2.20m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 2.20m 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.

Embed this gauge on your website

Free live river-level widget — ideal for parish councils, angling clubs and local sites. Updates automatically.

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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 →