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0.75

Tavistock

Tavy
Tamar catchment • Tavistock • Devon • ID: 47172 • Level
(1h ago) • 4 readings/hr • 158 views

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Current Level
0.748 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.755 m
24h Min
0.746 m
Typical Range
0.78 - 1.65
m
Highest Recorded
3.22 m
18 Dec 1992
Since Jul 1991
Current level is 23% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
23 Aug 23:45 ▬ steady 0.748 m
23 Aug 23:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.748 m
23 Aug 23:15 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.749 m
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 0.748 m
23 Aug 22:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.748 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.747 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▲ +0.2 cm 0.750 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.748 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.748 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.748 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.748 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.747 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.747 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.747 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.747 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.747 m
23 Aug 18:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.746 m
23 Aug 18:30 ▬ steady 0.747 m
23 Aug 18:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.747 m
23 Aug 18:00 0.748 m

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 6 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.5 km away).

28flood warnings 142flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 27 Jan 2026River Tamar from Greystone Bridge to Cotehele excluding Calstock

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 2 2
2025 2 11
2024 2 6
2023 0 5
2022 0 1
2021 4 6
2020 2 12
2019 0 10
2018 0 4
2017 0 1
2016 4 7
2015 0 10
2014 1 13
2013 2 13
2012 4 22
2011 1 11
2010 0 2
2009 1 2
2008 2 4
2006 1 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 Tavistock flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Tavistock
  • Watercourse: River Tavy
  • Nearest Town: Tavistock
  • County: Devon
  • Nearest reservoir: Roadford (16.7 km) · 61.0% full (as of 16 Aug 2026)
  • Coordinates: 50°33'2"N 4°8'34"W (50.550641, -4.142730)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Aug 1991
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: 47172
  • EA Gauge ID: 47172-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 6 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Tamar
  • Typical Range: 0.780 – 1.648 m
  • Drainage Area: 96 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.75 m (EA at 23 Aug 23:45)
  • 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.

Catchment Character

🌊 Mixed response A 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
0.52
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,859 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +12% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.4%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
92.96 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
70.09 m³/s
18 Dec 2020
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 4.3613.342.720.7265% (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 3%Grassland 69%Arable 1%Heath/scrub 26%Urban 1%

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

Open channel site with ADVP flow gauge.

More detail

The catchment

The Tavy has a reputation as being one of England's fastest flowing rivers. Over the 28km from the source to the tidal limit at Lopwell it drops over 560m at an average gradient of 15.9m/km. As the catchment is impermeable with granite and slate the groundwater store is small. This, in conjunction with the steep topography, means that floods are characterised by a rapid rise and fall in water level. No major changes in catchment.

The station

Open channel site. Stage-discharge is the primary flow calculation derived from gaugings and ADVP flow gauge data.

How it measures flow

Station located in a section where flows are contained to a high level so the high flow dataset can be used with good confidence. Station is located in a natural open section and is controlled by a shoal 30m downstream. At high flows, Abbey Bridge 200m downstream of the station provides good stable hydraulic conditions and is the main control. Flow is well contained at least up to the highest peak on record so far. ADVP data has shown evidence of a backing up effect from about 3m and has been used to refine the upper end of the stage discharge relationship further.

Flow regime

The catchment is almost exclusively rural consisting of farmland and moorland. There are small historical mine working found in the catchment.

The flow record

Flow is now calculated from Feb 1994 (data from 1991 to 1994 has been discounted as it cannot be related to the current station datum). Historically the stage discharge relationship built up from a rated section was known to overestimate high flows. An acoustic Doppler was installed in 2010 and used to recalculate the historical rating to provide consistent peaks though the period of record. The site has undergone independent rainfall - runoff checks to ensure the flood peaks are physically realisable. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2019 (WINFAP Files v8).

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
Velocity–area
Operating since
1994
Flow record
1994–2024 · 30 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 2010
Hydrometric area
47
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Tavy at Tavistock flooding today?

The current level is 0.75m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Tavistock?

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 Tavy at Tavistock?

The typical range at this station is 0.78m to 1.65m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.65m 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 →