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DOTTON

Unknown
• ID: E73973 • Flow
(24m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 31 views
Current Flow
1.066 m3/s
▬ Steady
24h Max
1.122 m3/s
24h Min
0.991 m3/s
Typical Range
-
Highest Recorded
2.96 m3/s
8 Sep 2026
Since Aug 2026
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Flow Readings

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -2 cm over 6h
20 Sep 07:30 ▬ steady 1.066 m3/s
20 Sep 07:15 ▼ -1 cm 1.066 m3/s
20 Sep 07:00 ▲ +1 cm 1.077 m3/s
20 Sep 06:45 ▼ -1 cm 1.066 m3/s
20 Sep 06:30 ▬ steady 1.077 m3/s
20 Sep 06:15 ▬ steady 1.077 m3/s
20 Sep 06:00 ▼ -1 cm 1.077 m3/s
20 Sep 05:45 ▬ steady 1.088 m3/s
20 Sep 05:30 ▬ steady 1.088 m3/s
20 Sep 05:15 ▼ -1 cm 1.088 m3/s
20 Sep 04:30 ▼ -1 cm 1.099 m3/s
20 Sep 04:15 ▬ steady 1.110 m3/s
20 Sep 04:00 ▼ -1 cm 1.110 m3/s
20 Sep 03:30 ▬ steady 1.122 m3/s
20 Sep 03:15 ▬ steady 1.122 m3/s
20 Sep 03:00 ▬ steady 1.122 m3/s
20 Sep 02:45 ▲ +1 cm 1.122 m3/s
20 Sep 02:30 ▲ +1 cm 1.110 m3/s
20 Sep 02:15 ▲ +1 cm 1.099 m3/s
20 Sep 02:00 1.088 m3/s

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2008 for the 5 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.2 km away).

1severe warning 18flood warnings 0flood alerts

Most recent severe flood warning: 27 Jan 2026River Otter (Lower) at Ottery St. Mary

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2026 1 3 0
2023 0 1 0
2021 0 2 0
2016 0 4 0
2013 0 1 0
2012 0 6 0
2008 0 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.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: DOTTON
  • Watercourse:
  • Coordinates: 50°41'18"N 3°17'40"W (50.688388, -3.294331)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: Flow gauging station (inferred)
  • Station Reference: E73973
  • Also at this site: Dotton (45212, level, reporting)
  • EA Gauge ID: E73973-flow-water-i-15_min-m3_s
  • Parameter: Flow
  • Unit: m3/s
  • Typical rise rate: 10 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Drainage Area: 203 km² upstream of this gauge
  • 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
0.55
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,055 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
2.4%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
69.81 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
86.40 m³/s
7 Jul 2012 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 3.2610.401.900.9755% (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 10%Grassland 68%Arable 15%Heath/scrub 2%Urban 5%

Flow affected by: public water supply, groundwater abstraction, effluent returns, industrial / agricultural abstraction.

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

Velocity-area station opened in 1962 and rebuilt after 1968 flood, weir built in 1971.

More detail

The catchment

Rises in Greensand and Gault Clay of the Blackdown Hills. Predominantly Keuper sandstones and marls. Extensive alluvium and valley gravels lower down. Some heathland, woodland and pasture, and a wide range of agriculture. No major catchment changes.

The station

Velocity area station with cableway. Station opened in 10/1962. Hut rebuilt after July 1968 flood. 14m wide informal shallow Flat V weir installed 1971. Initially for Water Resources, more recently considered full range with FCRM interest.

How it measures flow

Natural control up until weir installed in 1971. Now considered a full range station. Low embankments at field level extend containment. Gabions stabilise bed and banks. Bypassing occurs during exceptional events (>2.1m). Multiple ratings applied across period of record; high flow events in Nov/Dec 2000 altered channel geometry u/s and d/s of station. Ratings after this period include estimates for out of bank flow.

Flow regime

Substantial groundwater and surface water abstractions in catchment for public water supply and industrial/agricultural purposes. Flows increased by effluent returns.

The flow record

Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2020 (WINFAP Files v9).

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
Gauging structure
Operating since
1963
Station datum
14.5 mAOD
Flow record
1962–2024 · 62 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1962
Hydrometric area
45
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is DOTTON flooding today?

The latest recorded level is 1.07m. 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 DOTTON?

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.

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.

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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 →