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0.38

Braystones

Ehen
Derwent West Cumbria and Duddon catchment • Braystones • Cumberland • ID: 744312 • Level
(22m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 118 views

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Current Level
0.382 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.385 m
24h Min
0.381 m
Typical Range
0.34 - 1.70
m
Highest Recorded
2.41 m
5 Nov 1999
Since Feb 1976
Current level is 16% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
24 Aug 00:30 ▬ steady 0.382 m
24 Aug 00:15 ▬ steady 0.382 m
24 Aug 00:00 ▬ steady 0.382 m
23 Aug 23:45 ▬ steady 0.382 m
23 Aug 23:30 ▬ steady 0.382 m
23 Aug 23:15 ▬ steady 0.382 m
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 0.382 m
23 Aug 22:45 ▬ steady 0.382 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.382 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.381 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.381 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.381 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.382 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.382 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.381 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.381 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.381 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.381 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.382 m
23 Aug 18:45 0.382 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 0.1 km away).

6severe warnings 42flood warnings 226flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 17 Dec 2025River Ehen at Egremont, Bleach Green, Ennerdale Mill, Bridge End, Vale View, Wood Bank, Rugby Club

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2026 0 0 2
2025 0 3 14
2024 0 2 13
2023 0 0 7
2022 0 1 5
2021 0 3 5
2020 0 0 9
2019 0 0 8
2018 0 0 4
2017 0 5 11
2016 0 0 8
2015 6 12 15
2014 0 1 9
2013 0 2 8
2012 0 4 10
2011 0 0 7
2010 0 1 10
2009 0 4 16
2008 0 4 17
2007 0 0 25
2006 0 0 23

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 Braystones flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Braystones
  • Watercourse: River Ehen
  • Nearest Town: Braystones
  • County: Cumberland
  • Coordinates: 54°26'25"N 3°31'46"W (54.440158, -3.529373)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1975
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: 744312
  • EA Gauge ID: 744312-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 4 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Derwent West Cumbria and Duddon
  • Typical Range: 0.340 – 1.700 m
  • Drainage Area: 126 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.38 m (EA at 24 Aug 00:15)
  • 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

🌊 Steep & flashy Steep catchment sheds rain quickly — expect fast, sharp rises after 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
0.50
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,862 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +2% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
1.1%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
73.68 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
100 m³/s
19 Nov 2009
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 5.4417.203.161.005% (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 15%Grassland 65%Arable 7%Heath/scrub 5%Urban 5%Other 3%

Flow affected by: surface-water abstraction, public water supply.

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

Non-standard shallow V weir. Low flows dominated by compensation flow from Ennerdale.

More detail

The catchment

Geology of the upper catchment is impervious Borrowdale Volcanics in east, Skiddaw Slates in west, the whole overlain in north west by Carboniferous Limestone, Coal Measures and patches of Permo-Triassic Sandstone. Drift covered. Some urban development in the small towns of Egremont and Cleator Moor in the lower catchment, middle reaches arable, remainder sheep pasture. Towns situated close to the channel or tributaries. Includes Ennerdale Water. No known catchment changes.

The station

Non-standard shallow V control installed 1997. Superseded a velocity area station with unstable rating. Weir lowered summer 2007.

How it measures flow

Cableway at site. Stony bed. Bypassed in extreme floods - comes out of bank u/s at about 2m and bypasses station; thus flow measured is not total flow. Velocity area station had unstable rating - gravel bar low flow control with significant weed growth problems. Multiple peak flow ratings applied across period of record. Rated by current meter to 2.4m. Ratings allow for changes in channel and weir structure. Change in datum in 2007 when weir was lowered unknown.

Flow regime

Low flows dominated by compensation flow from Ennerdale; major exports for water supply.

The flow record

Significant bypassing in major events, such as November 2009 when embankments were breached. Flows above 1.3m likely to be underestimated. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2019 (WINFAP Files v8) and in September 2023 (WINFAP Files v12).

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
Flat-V weir
Operating since
1974
Station datum
10.1 mAOD
Flow record
1974–2024 · 50 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1973
Hydrometric area
74
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Ehen at Braystones flooding today?

The current level is 0.38m, which is within the typical range of 0.34 to 1.70m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Braystones?

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 Ehen at Braystones?

The typical range at this station is 0.34m to 1.70m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.70m 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 →