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🌊 Tide coming in · high water in ~4h

Harwich

Tide 🌊 Tidal
England - South Coast catchment • Harwich • Essex • ID: E71439 • Level
This gauge is tidally influenced — levels rise and fall with each tide, so rapid changes here are normal and don't necessarily indicate flooding.
(1h ago) • 3 readings/hr • 148 views

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Get notified about Harwich — tick as many as you like, they all share the notify settings below.

You'll be notified when this gauge is rising more than 0.10 m/hr — a sign of rapidly increasing water levels.

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
-0.416 mAOD
▲ Rising (+48cm/hr)
24h Max
2.047 mAOD
24h Min
-1.228 mAOD
Typical Range
-
Highest Recorded
4.02 mAOD
EA official record
A 9.46 reading (21 Jan 2025) sits in our unverified raw history and is not treated as the record
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Flood predictions aren't generated for tidal gauges — their levels are driven by the tide, not by catchment rainfall, so the forecast models would have no skill here.

Recent Readings

Falling · -233 cm over 6h
08 Oct 05:15 ▲▲ +24 cm -0.416 mAOD
08 Oct 04:45 ▲▲ +7 cm -0.654 mAOD
08 Oct 04:30 ▲ +0.6 cm -0.722 mAOD
08 Oct 04:00 ▼▼ -29 cm -0.728 mAOD
08 Oct 03:00 ▼▼ -13 cm -0.438 mAOD
08 Oct 02:45 ▼▼ -15 cm -0.307 mAOD
08 Oct 02:30 ▼▼ -15 cm -0.160 mAOD
08 Oct 02:15 ▼▼ -16 cm -0.008 mAOD
08 Oct 02:00 ▼▼ -15 cm 0.148 mAOD
08 Oct 01:45 ▼▼ -15 cm 0.294 mAOD
08 Oct 01:30 ▼▼ -15 cm 0.442 mAOD
08 Oct 01:15 ▼▼ -16 cm 0.587 mAOD
08 Oct 01:00 ▼▼ -17 cm 0.743 mAOD
08 Oct 00:45 ▼▼ -18 cm 0.915 mAOD
08 Oct 00:30 ▼▼ -18 cm 1.094 mAOD
08 Oct 00:15 ▼▼ -18 cm 1.271 mAOD
08 Oct 00:00 ▼▼ -18 cm 1.454 mAOD
07 Oct 23:45 ▼▼ -15 cm 1.634 mAOD
07 Oct 23:30 ▼▼ -13 cm 1.783 mAOD
07 Oct 23:15 1.917 mAOD

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Harwich
  • Watercourse: Tide
  • Nearest Town: Harwich
  • County: Essex
  • Nearest reservoir: Alton (12.7 km) · 57.2% full (as of 5 Oct 2026)
  • Coordinates: 51°56'53"N 1°17'32"E (51.947978, 1.292108)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 13 Feb 2012
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: Tidal / coastal station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: E71439
  • RLOI id: 6283 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: E71439-level-tidal_level-Mean-15_min-mAOD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mAOD
  • Typical rise rate: 75 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~37 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: 🌊 Yes — levels follow the tide
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: England - South Coast
  • EA Cross-check: -0.42 mAOD (EA at 8 Oct 05:15)

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.

Nearby

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2009 for the 10 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.2 km away).

6severe warnings 73flood warnings 245flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 1 Jan 2026 — Bawdsey Quay and Felixstowe Ferry

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2026 0 1 14
2025 0 0 20
2024 0 6 33
2023 0 5 21
2022 0 7 22
2021 0 2 16
2020 0 6 24
2019 0 6 14
2018 0 0 9
2017 2 19 22
2016 0 0 9
2015 0 2 13
2014 0 1 10
2013 4 14 8
2012 0 0 2
2011 0 1 3
2010 0 1 2
2009 0 2 3

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 Harwich flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 10 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

Show 2 more

Frequently asked questions

Is the Tide at Harwich flooding today?

The latest recorded level is -0.42m. 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 Harwich?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently rising. 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 5.4mm 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.

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 →