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0.15

Felsted

Chelmer
Essex catchment • Felsted • Essex • ID: E22862 • Level
(25m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 141 views

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Current Level
0.147 mASD
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.149 mASD
24h Min
0.130 mASD
Typical Range
0.05 - 1.15
mASD
Highest Recorded
2.03 mASD
EA official record
1.90 in our data (since Oct 1979)
Current level is 7% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 5h
08 Oct 13:30 ▬ steady 0.147 mASD
08 Oct 13:15 ▬ steady 0.147 mASD
08 Oct 13:00 ▬ steady 0.147 mASD
08 Oct 12:45 ▬ steady 0.147 mASD
08 Oct 12:30 ▬ steady 0.147 mASD
08 Oct 12:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.147 mASD
08 Oct 12:00 ▬ steady 0.148 mASD
08 Oct 11:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.148 mASD
08 Oct 11:30 ▲ +0.2 cm 0.149 mASD
08 Oct 11:15 ▬ steady 0.147 mASD
08 Oct 11:00 ▬ steady 0.147 mASD
08 Oct 10:45 ▬ steady 0.147 mASD
08 Oct 10:30 ▬ steady 0.147 mASD
08 Oct 10:00 ▬ steady 0.147 mASD
08 Oct 09:45 ▬ steady 0.147 mASD
08 Oct 09:30 ▬ steady 0.147 mASD
08 Oct 09:15 ▬ steady 0.147 mASD
08 Oct 09:00 ▬ steady 0.147 mASD
08 Oct 08:45 ▬ steady 0.147 mASD
08 Oct 08:30 0.147 mASD

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Felsted
  • Watercourse: River Chelmer
  • Nearest Town: Felsted
  • County: Essex
  • Nearest reservoir: Hanningfield (21.8 km) · 54.9% full (as of 28 Dec 2025)
  • Coordinates: 51°50'50"N 0°25'23"E (51.847313, 0.423072)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 2 Oct 1979
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: E22862
  • RLOI id: 6146 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: E22862-level-stage-i-15_min-mASD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mASD
  • Typical rise rate: 0 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Essex
  • Typical Range: 0.051 – 1.150 mASD
  • Drainage Area: 132 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: 0.15 mASD (EA at 8 Oct 13:15)
  • 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.

5 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 1.8 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 5 report not discharging.

💧
Anglian Water · into Stebbing Brook River Chelmer N · 1.8 km upstream along the river
1 spill · 1 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into River Chelmer · 5.8 km upstream along the river
13 spills · 84 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into Trib River Chelmer · 5.9 km upstream along the river
3 spills · 2 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into Tributary River Chelmer · 12.8 km upstream along the river
11 spills · 93 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into Trib River Chelmer · 13.1 km upstream along the river
35 spills · 212 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

2 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 1.15 m on about 6 days. This year so far: 10 days.

2026 10 days so far
2025 2 days
2024 14 days
2023 9 days
2022 2 days
2021 12 days
2020 10 days
2019 3 days
2018 0 days
2017 0 days

Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out.

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2007 for the 3 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.9 km away).

25flood warnings 34flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 15 Feb 2026 — The River Brain through Braintree, to and including Witham

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 3 3
2025 0 1
2024 5 7
2023 0 2
2021 3 3
2020 0 2
2019 1 2
2016 0 1
2014 4 3
2013 0 1
2012 6 3
2011 0 1
2010 0 1
2009 3 0
2008 0 3
2007 0 1

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 Felsted flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 3 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

Catchment Character

🌊 Fairly flashy Responds 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
0.47
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
626 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
1.9%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
12.80 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
24.80 m³/s
30 Oct 2000 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.7562.820.3420.1545% (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 4%Grassland 20%Arable 70%Urban 6%
Arable 83% → 70% since 1990

Flow affected by: 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

'Essex' profile gauging a rural, predominantly London Clay catchment with minor artificial influences.

More detail

The catchment

Chalk in N, London Clay elsewhere, largely overlain with Boulder Clay and some glacial gravel. Rural, agricultural land use, predominantly arable land.

The station

'Essex' profile (modified Flat V Crump) weir with crest tapping.

How it measures flow

Drowning commences at 0.6m, and varies in severity. Limit of reliable gauging is at 1.21m, higher flows estimated. Flood plain storage starts at 1.1m. No spillway. Hydraulic model used to derive rating for high flows. Reasonable fit to gaugings. One peak flow rating applied across period of record.

Flow regime

Minimal abstractions, adjustments needed for STW and industrial effluent discharges.

The flow record

Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in August 2021 (WINFAP Files v10).

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
1970
Station datum
40.1 mAOD
Flow record
1970–2024 · 54 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1970
Hydrometric area
37
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Chelmer at Felsted flooding today?

The current level is 0.15m, which is within the typical range of 0.05 to 1.15m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Felsted?

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 Chelmer at Felsted?

The typical range at this station is 0.05m to 1.15m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.15m 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 →