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🌊 Tide coming in · high water in ~4h

Ilfracombe

Tide 🌊 Tidal
England - South Coast catchment • Ilfracombe • Devon • ID: E72439 • Level
This gauge is tidally influenced — levels rise and fall with each tide, so rapid changes here are normal and don't necessarily indicate flooding.
(1h ago) • 1 reading/hr • 109 views

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Get notified about Ilfracombe — tick as many as you like, they all share the notify settings below.

You'll be notified when this gauge is rising more than 0.10 mAOD/hr — a sign of rapidly increasing water levels.

Each one is saved as its own alert — pause or remove them individually any time.

Not an emergency service — if in danger call 999. Alerts rely on EA/SEPA data and are best-efforts. Terms

Current Level
-1.057 mAOD
▼ Falling (+24cm/hr)
24h Max
1.853 mAOD
24h Min
-1.361 mAOD
Typical Range
-
Highest Recorded
5.70 mAOD
EA official record
5.67 in our data (since Jul 2017)
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Flood predictions aren't generated for tidal gauges — their levels are driven by the tide, not by catchment rainfall, so the forecast models would have no skill here.

Recent Readings

Falling · -274 cm over 7h
23 Aug 22:15 ▲▲ +30 cm -1.057 mAOD
23 Aug 21:00 ▼ -6 cm -1.361 mAOD
23 Aug 20:15 ▼▼ -7 cm -1.304 mAOD
23 Aug 20:00 ▼▼ -9 cm -1.237 mAOD
23 Aug 19:45 ▼▼ -12 cm -1.144 mAOD
23 Aug 19:30 ▼▼ -13 cm -1.026 mAOD
23 Aug 19:15 ▼▼ -15 cm -0.895 mAOD
23 Aug 19:00 ▼▼ -18 cm -0.745 mAOD
23 Aug 18:45 ▼▼ -17 cm -0.569 mAOD
23 Aug 18:30 ▼▼ -19 cm -0.395 mAOD
23 Aug 18:15 ▼▼ -20 cm -0.205 mAOD
23 Aug 18:00 ▼▼ -21 cm -0.002 mAOD
23 Aug 17:45 ▼▼ -20 cm 0.211 mAOD
23 Aug 17:30 ▼▼ -41 cm 0.413 mAOD
23 Aug 17:00 ▼▼ -19 cm 0.825 mAOD
23 Aug 16:45 ▼▼ -17 cm 1.010 mAOD
23 Aug 16:30 ▼▼ -29 cm 1.183 mAOD
23 Aug 16:00 ▼▼ -12 cm 1.477 mAOD
23 Aug 15:45 ▼▼ -9 cm 1.594 mAOD
23 Aug 15:30 1.685 mAOD

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2014 for the 2 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.2 km away).

2severe warnings 14flood warnings 0flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 8 Apr 2024North Devon coast at Ilfracombe

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2024 0 1 0
2022 0 1 0
2020 0 6 0
2019 0 1 0
2018 0 1 0
2016 0 2 0
2014 2 2 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 Ilfracombe flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Ilfracombe
  • Watercourse: Tide
  • Nearest Town: Ilfracombe
  • County: Devon
  • Coordinates: 51°12'40"N 4°6'45"W (51.211131, -4.112362)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 11 Oct 2011
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: Tidal / coastal station
  • Station Reference: E72439
  • EA Gauge ID: E72439-level-tidal_level-Mean-15_min-mAOD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mAOD
  • Typical rise rate: 186 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~37 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: 🌊 Yes — levels follow the tide
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: England - South Coast
  • EA Cross-check: -1.06 mAOD (EA at 23 Aug 22:15)

Geographic coordinates may reflect the access point for the gauge, and not the precise location in the watercourse that it is taking readings from.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Tide at Ilfracombe flooding today?

The latest recorded level is -1.06m. Compare it with the recent history on the chart above to judge whether levels are unusually high.

Is the river level rising or falling at Ilfracombe?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently falling. The chart above shows the last 7 days of measurements, 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.

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 →