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Water Level Rising
0.09

Sturmer

Stour Brook
Essex catchment • Sturmer • Essex • ID: E22511 • Level
(38m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 155 views

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Current Level
0.088 mASD
▲ Rising (+2cm/hr)
24h Max
0.142 mASD
24h Min
0.074 mASD
Typical Range
0.06 - 0.98
mASD
Highest Recorded
2.22 mASD
EA official record
2.22 in our data (since Dec 1979)
Current level is 4% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Rising · +0.3 cm over 5h
08 Oct 10:15 ▲ +0.5 cm 0.088 mASD
08 Oct 10:00 ▲ +0.3 cm 0.083 mASD
08 Oct 09:45 ▲ +0.4 cm 0.080 mASD
08 Oct 09:30 ▬ steady 0.076 mASD
08 Oct 09:15 ▲ +0.2 cm 0.076 mASD
08 Oct 09:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.074 mASD
08 Oct 08:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.075 mASD
08 Oct 08:30 ▬ steady 0.074 mASD
08 Oct 08:15 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.074 mASD
08 Oct 07:45 ▬ steady 0.076 mASD
08 Oct 07:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.076 mASD
08 Oct 07:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.077 mASD
08 Oct 07:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.078 mASD
08 Oct 06:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.079 mASD
08 Oct 06:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.080 mASD
08 Oct 06:15 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.081 mASD
08 Oct 06:00 ▬ steady 0.083 mASD
08 Oct 05:45 ▬ steady 0.083 mASD
08 Oct 05:30 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.083 mASD
08 Oct 05:15 0.085 mASD

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Sturmer
  • Watercourse: Stour Brook
  • Nearest Town: Sturmer
  • County: Essex
  • Coordinates: 52°4'9"N 0°28'27"E (52.069056, 0.474036)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 28 Dec 1979
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: E22511
  • RLOI id: 6132 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: E22511-level-stage-i-15_min-mASD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mASD
  • Typical rise rate: 2 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~37 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Essex
  • Typical Range: 0.059 – 0.980 mASD
  • Drainage Area: 35 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: 0.08 mASD (EA at 8 Oct 10:00)
  • 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 downstream

Same river system, separate branch

Nearby

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.

1 storm overflow is traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 2.0 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 1 reports not discharging.

💧
Anglian Water · into Stour Brook River Stour Nt · 2.0 km upstream along the river
3 spills · 29 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

Nearby, connection not known

Within 6 km in a straight line, but the river map cannot say whether their water passes this gauge.

💧
Anglian Water · into Bumpstead Brook · 120 m away in a straight line · its recorded watercourse is not the one mapped beside it
4 spills · 41 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into Trib Stour Brook · 3.2 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
3 spills · 35 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

4 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 0.98 m on about 3 days. This year so far: 3 days.

2026 3 days so far
2025 1 day
2024 7 days
2023 4 days
2022 3 days
2021 3 days
2020 4 days
2019 1 day
2018 1 day
2017 1 day

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 5 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.3 km away).

33flood warnings 60flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 27 Jan 2026 — The Stour Brook from Haverhill to Sturmer

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 1 2
2025 2 2
2024 10 7
2023 4 7
2022 2 7
2021 6 7
2020 5 6
2019 2 2
2018 1 1
2016 0 2
2015 0 1
2014 0 4
2013 0 1
2012 0 5
2010 0 1
2009 0 1
2008 0 2
2007 0 2

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 Sturmer flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 5 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
0.38
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
627 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +0% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
10%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
6.79 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
11.90 m³/s
21 Oct 2001 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.2490.8960.1110.0505% (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 5%Grassland 24%Arable 50%Urban 21%
Arable 71% → 50% since 1990

Flow affected by: 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

'Essex' profile weir gauging a small, groundwater-influenced catchment with significant artificial influences.

More detail

The catchment

Chalk with superficial deposits, mainly Boulder Clay. Upper catchment is mainly rural (arable farming), considerable urban development (Haverhill) in lower catchment.

The station

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

How it measures flow

Modular limit approx. 5.0 cumecs. Rating accounts for non-modular flow. One rating applied across period of record.

Flow regime

Gw-influenced regime. Runoff reduced by industrial/agricultural abstraction. Station is immediately d/s of Haverhill - urban runoff and STW discharges cause short, sharp peaks.

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, but in some cases can be below the daily flow as these are not corrected. Flood in Sept 1968 inundated the station and has been separately estimated. Adjustments were made for industrial and sewage effluent and gw abstractions from 1968 to 1976. AMAX events in Nov 2000, Feb 2009 and Nov 2014 rejected as suspect crest tapping data affected non-modular adjustment. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2022 (WINFAP Files v11).

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
1968
Station datum
54.6 mAOD
Flow record
1968–2024 · 56 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1968
Hydrometric area
36
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the Stour Brook at Sturmer flooding today?

The current level is 0.09m, which is within the typical range of 0.06 to 0.98m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Sturmer?

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.

What is a normal level for the Stour Brook at Sturmer?

The typical range at this station is 0.06m to 0.98m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.98m 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

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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 →