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0.38

Cummersdale

Caldew
Eden and Esk catchment • Cummersdale • Cumberland • ID: 765013 • Level
(33m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 135 views

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Current Level
0.380 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.405 m
24h Min
0.380 m
Typical Range
0.28 - 1.60
m
Highest Recorded
3.39 m
EA official record
3.23 in our data (since Sep 1997)
Current level is 11% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -0.4 cm over 5h
08 Oct 10:00 ▬ steady 0.380 m
08 Oct 09:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.380 m
08 Oct 09:30 ▬ steady 0.381 m
08 Oct 09:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.381 m
08 Oct 09:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.382 m
08 Oct 08:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.381 m
08 Oct 08:30 ▬ steady 0.382 m
08 Oct 08:15 ▬ steady 0.382 m
08 Oct 08:00 ▬ steady 0.382 m
08 Oct 07:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.382 m
08 Oct 07:30 ▬ steady 0.383 m
08 Oct 07:15 ▬ steady 0.383 m
08 Oct 07:00 ▬ steady 0.383 m
08 Oct 06:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.383 m
08 Oct 06:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.382 m
08 Oct 06:15 ▬ steady 0.383 m
08 Oct 06:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.383 m
08 Oct 05:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.384 m
08 Oct 05:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.385 m
08 Oct 05:15 0.384 m

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Cummersdale
  • Watercourse: River Caldew
  • Nearest Town: Cummersdale
  • County: Cumberland
  • Coordinates: 54°51'56"N 2°56'40"W (54.865626, -2.944447)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1996
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: 765013
  • RLOI id: 5039 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: 765013-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: Eden and Esk
  • Typical Range: 0.280 – 1.600 m
  • Drainage Area: 244 km² upstream of this gauge
  • 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
  • EA Cross-check: 0.38 m (EA at 8 Oct 09:45)
  • 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.

Nearby Stations

Gauges connected to this river, and others nearby. A distance “by river” follows the river on the map; any other is in a straight line.

Connected upstream

Connected downstream

Same river system, separate branch

Distances by river: OS Open Rivers. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

💧 Storm overflows upstream of this gauge

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.

4 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 2.9 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 3 report not discharging, and for 1 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.

💧
United Utilities · into River Caldew · 2.9 km upstream along the river
28 spills · 333 hours in 2025
Monitor offline: it cannot say whether it is discharging
💧
United Utilities · into River Caldew · 20.6 km upstream along the river
26 spills · 60 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
United Utilities · into Cald Beck · 20.7 km upstream along the river
83 spills · 607 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
United Utilities · into Trib Grise Beck · 24.9 km upstream along the river
45 spills · 183 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

Nearby, connection not known

Within 6 km in a straight line, but the river map cannot say whether their water passes this gauge.

💧
United Utilities · into Dow Beck Culvert · 2.9 km away in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure
7 spills · 10 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
United Utilities · into Leeds/Liverpool Canal · 3.7 km away in a straight line · its recorded watercourse is not the one mapped beside it
19 spills · 24 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
United Utilities · into Pow Beck Via Sws · 4.8 km away in a straight line · reaches the river through a sewer or culvert
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
United Utilities · into Collar Beck · 4.9 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
26 spills · 122 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
United Utilities · into The River Petteril · 5.7 km away in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure
32 spills · 83 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

18 other overflows within 6 km are downstream of this gauge or on another branch of the river network, so they are 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 →

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

How often this river runs high

In a typical year this gauge reaches its typical high of 1.60 m on about 6 days. This year so far: 2 days.

2026 2 days so far
2025 5 days, 2 of them high · 2 high
2024 7 days, 4 of them high · 4 high
2023 7 days, 3 of them high · 3 high
2022 1 day, 1 of them high · 1 high
2021 9 days, 4 of them high · 4 high
2020 11 days, 6 of them high · 6 high
2019 8 days, 6 of them high · 6 high
2018 2 days, 2 of them high · 2 high
2017 6 days, 4 of them high · 4 high

Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out. The darker part is days above 1.97 m, the level this gauge tops only a few days a year.

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 10 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.4 km away).

6severe warnings 40flood warnings 205flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 13 Nov 2025 — Little Caldew at Carlisle

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2026 0 0 4
2025 0 8 8
2024 1 4 9
2023 0 1 7
2022 0 2 2
2021 0 1 10
2020 0 6 13
2019 0 2 13
2018 0 0 3
2017 0 1 10
2016 0 0 4
2015 5 8 17
2014 0 0 9
2013 0 2 10
2012 0 4 7
2011 0 0 3
2010 0 0 5
2009 0 1 11
2008 0 0 14
2007 0 0 22
2006 0 0 24

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 Cummersdale flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 10 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

Show 2 more

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
0.42
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,327 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +2% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.2%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
159 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
223 m³/s
5 Dec 2015 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 6.7022.303.550.9245% (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 7%Grassland 76%Arable 8%Heath/scrub 7%Urban 1%
Grassland 82% → 76% 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

Non-standard broad crested shallow V weir gauging a rural catchment. Steep catchment produces very responsive flow regime. Previously station number 76809.

More detail

The catchment

Rural catchment. Headwaters in Carboniferous Limestone of Pennines to east, impervious Lower Palaeozoics of Lake District Massif to west; moorland. Extensive boulder clay covered Permo-Triassic sandstone in Vale of Eden. Very steep catchment, producing responsive hydrograph. No significant catchment changes.

The station

Non-standard broad crested shallow V weir, 17m wide. Opened September 1997, replacing Holm Hill (76009) and Holm Head stations.

How it measures flow

High flows measured in channel using a cableway. One peak flow rating applied across period of record with a modelled top-end. Upper limb developed by hydraulic modelling. Out of bank flow on right bank, and also some out of bank flow on left bank in extreme events.

Flow regime

Very responsive catchment. No known artificial influences.

The flow record

Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2020 (WINFAP Files v9).

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
1997
Flow record
1997–2024 · 27 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1997
Hydrometric area
76
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Caldew at Cummersdale flooding today?

The current level is 0.38m, which is within the typical range of 0.28 to 1.60m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Cummersdale?

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.

Why is the level slowly falling?

When little or no rain has fallen for a while, a river level gradually drops as the water stored in the ground and soil drains away with nothing to replace it. This is called baseflow recession and is normal in dry spells. A gentle decline like this is expected and is not a sign of a problem — downstream gauges often recede a little faster than headwaters further upstream, and levels recover once rain returns.

What is a normal level for the River Caldew at Cummersdale?

The typical range at this station is 0.28m to 1.60m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.60m 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.

Embed this gauge on your website

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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, recorded floods, warning history, river behaviour and nearby storm overflows. £19 one-off. Learn more →