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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.
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Not an emergency service — if in danger call 999. Alerts rely on
EA/SEPA/NRW data and are best-efforts. Terms
Current Level
0.144 m
▼ Easing
24h Max
0.186 m
24h Min
0.143 m
Typical Range
0.16 - 1.80
m
Highest Recorded
3.48 m
EA official record
3.62 in our data (since Jun 1975)
Current level is 4% 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.
17 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 1.6 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 17 report not discharging.
South West Water · into River Tavy (S) · 4.3 km away in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure
83 spills · 431 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
12 more within 6 km whose connection is not known.
3 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 →
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 Buckland Monachorum flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 7 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
1,741 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +12% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
1.2%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
158 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
182 m³/s
27 Dec 1979 · 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.
Unconventional structure comprising a flume set within shallow wing walls which curve through 90 degrees.
More detail
The catchment
A responsive catchment draining from the western flank of the Dartmoor Granite plateau; valleys are steeply incised and forested below Tavistock. Land cover is moorland, rough grazing and low-grade agriculture. No major catchment changes.
The station
Unconventional control opened in 1981 comprising a flume set within shallow (0.3m) wing walls which curve through 90 deg. W to fill the whole channel (20m). Cableway spans 32m.
How it measures flow
Well contained but highest flows out-of-bank. Greater uncertainty at higher flows due to lack of gaugings. Additional gaugings are available for the site prior to installation of the flume. Two peak flow ratings across period of record; not confirmed for out-of-bank flow and theoretical rating extrapolated beyond 1.5m.
Flow regime
Low flows dominated by abstractions for hydropower station and public water supply for Plymouth and the Morwellham canal.
The flow record
Peak flows rejected from 1981-2011 as stilling well issues causing significant under-recording of peak river levels.
How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).
Gauge type
Gauging structure
Operating since
1976
Station datum
10.0 mAOD
Flow record
1976–2024 · 48 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1981
Hydrometric area
47
Measured by
Environment Agency
Nearby Groundwater
Soil Moisture
Possible storm-overflow correlation
Rain upstream
This gauge has no rain model of its own, but it usually follows Horrabridge: when about 10mm of rain falls near Horrabridge in 6h, this gauge usually starts rising about 2 hours later.
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Tavy at Ludbrook flooding today?
The current level is 0.14m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Ludbrook?
Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently falling slightly. 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. Only about 3.2mm of rain has fallen nearby in the last 7 days, so the flow is being sustained mainly by groundwater. 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 Tavy at Ludbrook?
The typical range at this station is 0.16m to 1.80m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.80m 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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