Get notified about Lexden — 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
0.228 mASD
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.245 mASD
24h Min
0.222 mASD
Typical Range
0.10 - 1.54
mASD
Highest Recorded
2.38 mASD
EA official record
2.38 in our data (since Oct 1979)
Current level is 10% of this
ⓘ
Flood alert
The Essex coast from Clacton to and including, St Peters Flat and the Colne and Blackwater estuaries
High tides today may lead to flooding.
Flooding is possible from 11:15am to 1:15pm on Saturday 10th October.
Clacton Promenade, Lee-over-Sands and Brightlingsea sea front may see some wave overtopping and spray. The Strood at Mersea Island, Coast Road and car parks on the front at West Mersea, and the Hythe and Promenade at Maldon may be flooded. The detailed forecast is for a peak level at Clacton of 2.77 mAODN at 12:15pm, on Saturday 10th October, which is 0.28m above tide tables, Wind Force 5, Westerly. Tides will remain high over the next couple of days.
We are closely monitoring the situation .
Avoid coastal roads, footpaths and carparks, which may be flooded.
This message will be updated by 5:00PM on Saturday 10 October or as the situation changes.
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
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.
13 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 560 m away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 13 report not discharging.
Anglian Water · into Salary Brook · 5.2 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
47 spills · 45 hours in 2025
No live feed for this overflow
12 more within 6 km whose connection is not known.
1 other overflow within 6 km is downstream of this gauge or on another branch of the river network, so it is 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 →
In a typical year this gauge reaches its typical high of 1.54 m
on about 2 days.
This year so far: 4 days.
20264 days so far
20250 days
20246 days
20232 days
20220 days patchy data
20214 days
20201 day
20192 days
20180 days
20170 days
Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out, so a year marked patchy may have run high more often than shown.
Flood history near this gauge
Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2007 for the 6 flood
areas linked to this gauge (nearest 3.5 km away).
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 Beacon End 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.
🌊 Mixed responseA 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
0.54
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
611 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +3% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
2.2%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
11.95 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
30.27 m³/s
22 Oct 2001 · 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.
Land Cover (2023)
Woodland 7%Grassland 29%Arable 57%Urban 7%
Arable 72% → 57% since 1990
Flow affected by: reservoir influence, public water supply, industrial / agricultural abstraction.
Photos
Gauging-station photographs from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).
Large trapezoidal flume, station provides flood warning for Colchester.
More detail
The catchment
Mainly London Clay and some Upper Chalk, with superficial deposits of semi-pervious Boulder Clay and some sands and gravels. Rural, predominantly arable land.
The station
Large trapezoidal flume with d/s level recorder. Provides flood warning for Colchester.
How it measures flow
Bypassed on the left bank at very high flows, at 1.75 m stage. Suffers badly from weed growth issues, which is cleared monthly. Out of bank flows may be underestimated due to bypassing. One peak flow rating applied across period of record. Reasonable fit to gaugings although rated flows are adjusted for non-modular conditions.
Flow regime
Runoff reduced by surface water/groundwater abstraction for public water supply, industry and agriculture.
The flow record
No POT data are presented for this station as they have no non-modular flow correction applied. AMAX data have been corrected. Naturalised flows for period 1959 to 1976. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in August 2024 (WINFAP Files v13).
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Colne at Lexden flooding today?
The current level is 0.23m, which is within the typical range of 0.10 to 1.54m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Lexden?
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 River Colne at Lexden?
The typical range at this station is 0.10m to 1.54m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.54m 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
15 Mar 2018 Downstream section
15 Mar 2018 Upstream section
15 Mar 2018 Gauging station structure (looking downstream)
16 Feb 2014 Looking DS of weir
7 Feb 2013 Looking US of weir
22 Jul 1994 Structure viewed from downstream
