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Water Level Easing
Easing — down from 0.79 at 22:45, now 0.77
0.77

Tavistock

Tavy
Tamar catchment • Tavistock • Devon • ID: 47172 • Level
(50m ago) • 3 readings/hr • 197 views

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Current Level
0.771 m
▼ Easing
24h Max
0.824 m
24h Min
0.765 m
Typical Range
0.78 - 1.65
m
Highest Recorded
3.05 m
EA official record
3.22 in our data (since Jul 1991)
Current level is 25% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
08 Oct 09:00 ▬ steady 0.771 m
08 Oct 08:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.771 m
08 Oct 08:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.772 m
08 Oct 08:00 ▬ steady 0.771 m
08 Oct 07:45 ▬ steady 0.771 m
08 Oct 07:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.771 m
08 Oct 07:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.772 m
08 Oct 06:45 ▬ steady 0.771 m
08 Oct 06:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.771 m
08 Oct 06:15 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.772 m
08 Oct 06:00 ▬ steady 0.771 m
08 Oct 05:45 ▬ steady 0.771 m
08 Oct 05:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.771 m
08 Oct 05:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.772 m
08 Oct 04:30 ▬ steady 0.771 m
08 Oct 04:00 ▬ steady 0.771 m
08 Oct 03:30 ▬ steady 0.771 m
08 Oct 03:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.771 m
08 Oct 03:00 ▲ +0.2 cm 0.772 m
08 Oct 02:45 0.770 m

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Tavistock
  • Watercourse: River Tavy
  • Nearest Town: Tavistock
  • County: Devon
  • Nearest reservoir: Roadford (16.7 km) · 43.0% full (as of 27 Sep 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
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: 47172
  • RLOI id: 3340 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: 47172-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 4 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: 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: 0.77 m (EA at 8 Oct 09:00)
  • 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.

2 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 860 m away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 2 report not discharging.

💧
South West Water · into Trib Of The River Tavy · 860 m upstream along the river
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
South West Water · into Cholwell Brook · 5.4 km upstream along the river
126 spills · 2,547 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

16 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 1.65 m on about 11 days. This year so far: 5 days.

2026 5 days so far
2025 15 days, 6 of them high · 6 high
2024 9 days, 1 of them high · 1 high
2023 12 days, 2 of them high · 2 high
2022 8 days, 3 of them high · 3 high
2021 18 days, 4 of them high · 4 high
2020 13 days, 2 of them high · 2 high
2019 8 days, 1 of them high · 1 high
2018 11 days, 2 of them high · 2 high
2017 6 days, 1 of them high · 1 high

Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out. The darker part is days above 1.99 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 6 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.5 km away).

28flood warnings 142flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 27 Jan 2026 — River 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.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 6 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

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 Daily Mean Flow
70.09 m³/s
18 Dec 2020 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
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 0.77m, 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 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 1.8mm 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 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 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:

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 →