Get notified about Newnham Park — tick as many as you like, they all share the notify settings below.
Alert me when (tick one or more)
⤴Unusual rise — FloodRadar+Top 1% rise rate for this gauge.
Height for "Above a height"
Drag the line on the chart, or type a value:mASD
Quick pick:
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.
Notify by (tick one or more)
Your browser will ask permission, then you'll get a notification even when FloodRadar isn't open.
On iPhone: tap Share → Add to Home Screen first, then open it from there and set the alert. Show me how
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/NRW data and are best-efforts. Terms
Current Level
0.353 mASD
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.358 mASD
24h Min
0.347 mASD
Typical Range
0.31 - 1.16
mASD
Highest Recorded
1.45 mASD
EA official record
1.45 in our data (since Apr 1979)
Current level is 24% 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 8 Oct (2 days behind — the EA publishes each day's mean a day or two after it ends; unchecked, provisional)via EA Hydrology
None of the storm overflows FloodRadar holds is traced upstream of this gauge on the mapped river network. That is not the same as none: the map leaves out many small streams and culverts, so an overflow it cannot place may still drain here, and not every company publishes every overflow. Those nearby are listed below.
Nearby, connection not known
Within 6 km in a straight line, but the river map cannot say whether their water passes this gauge.
South West Water · into River Plym (Estuarine) · 3.9 km away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
27 more within 6 km whose connection is not known.
6 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 Plympton flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 12 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.
🌊 Fairly flashyResponds 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
0.43
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,482 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +2% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
1.4%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
6.18 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
5.38 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.
Open channel rated section influenced by China clay works in catchment.
More detail
The catchment
The upper Tory Brook catchment, to Lee Moor and Wotter, is primarily underlain by Granite with alluvium and river gravel along the watercourses. The majority of the rest of the catchment is underlain by Slate of the Upper Devonian period, with alluvium along the watercourses. This impermeable geology with steep topography leads to a reasonably rapid catchment response to storm events. However as a result of the artificial influences response may be considered muted compared to the catchment pre- china clay mining. No major changes to catchment.
The station
Open channel rated section, opened in 1979 to collect data for licence determination in connection with upstream mine. Original site decommissioned in 1988. In 2003 the site was reopened as a Flood Warning station positioned slightly further downstream at Newnham Park road bridge. Current set up includes an ADVP gauge to assist in calibration of the stage-discharge relationship alongside current meter gaugings.
How it measures flow
Until August 2018, the low flow stage-discharge relationship underwent multiple shifts as a result of a mobile bed at site. In August 2018, rip rap was installed in an attempt to stabilise the control at the lower end. Multiple ratings applied over the period of record.
Flow regime
China clay works have affected the catchment hydrology for over 200 years. The river flow regime may be affected by these works in a number of ways including; cross-catchment transfers, the potential for attenuation of catchment runoff in lagoons; changes in topography caused by the development of waste tips, which could increase catchment steepness leading to faster runoff; and the permeability of the soils may be reduced due to compaction and clay being brought to the surface. With the exception of these areas of china clay works, the upper catchment is predominantly rural containing only the small settlements of Lee Moor and Wotter.
The flow record
WY2006/2007 rejected as likely occured during period of equipment failure. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2022 (WINFAP Files v11).
How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).
Gauge type
Velocity–area
Operating since
1979
Flow record
1979–2024 · 45 yrs · 55% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1979
Hydrometric area
47
Measured by
Environment Agency
Nearby Groundwater
Soil Moisture
Possible storm-overflow correlation
Frequently asked questions
Is the Tory Brook at Newnham Park flooding today?
The current level is 0.35m, which is within the typical range of 0.31 to 1.16m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Newnham Park?
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.
What is a normal level for the Tory Brook at Newnham Park?
The typical range at this station is 0.31m to 1.16m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.16m 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
Free live river-level widget — ideal for parish councils, angling clubs and local sites. Updates automatically.
Preview
📮 Flood risk by postcode near this gauge
Postcodes within 5 km with properties in the Environment Agency’s rivers-and-sea flood-risk bands:
FloodRadar
Log inCreate free account
16 Dec 2021 Downstream view from kios
16 Dec 2021 Downstream view to kios
16 Dec 2021 Section showing both banks
16 Dec 2021 Stage board from bridge
16 Dec 2021 Upstream view from bridge
16 Dec 2021 Upstream view from kiosk
15 Oct 2018 Upstream view to kiosk
9 Jul 2008 High flow
Water level at 0.9 m