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⤴Unusual rise — FloodRadar+Top 1% rise rate for this gauge.
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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.
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Current Level
0.347 mASD
▲▼ Crested · peaked 0.35
24h Max
0.351 mASD
24h Min
0.073 mASD
Typical Range
0.02 - 1.67
mASD
Highest Recorded
2.69 mASD
EA official record
2.69 in our data (since Jan 1994)
Current level is 13% of this
🚽Sewage overflows nearby
Recent Water Levels
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day
EA forecast (official)
Prediction V2
Prediction Eris
Nimbus beta
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 6 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.
8 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 1.2 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 7 report not discharging, and for 1 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.
Anglian Water · into Trib Of River Crouch · 4.4 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
8 spills · 52 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
5 more within 6 km whose connection is not known.
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 →
In a typical year this gauge reaches its typical high of 1.67 m
on about 1 day.
This year so far: 0 days.
20260 days so far
20250 days
20240 days
20230 days
20220 days patchy data
20213 days
20202 days patchy data
20191 day patchy data
20180 days
20171 day patchy data
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 2008 for the 7 flood
areas linked to this gauge (nearest 3.9 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 Wickford flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 7 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.
🌊 Urban & flashyHeavily built-up — rain runs off hard surfaces fast, so levels can spike within hours of heavy rain.
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
0.22
flashy — rain runs off fast
Avg Annual Rainfall
596 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +0% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
24%
heavily urbanised
Median Annual Flood
15.70 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
29.10 m³/s
14 Jan 2021 · 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 32%Arable 21%Urban 40%
Urban 35% → 40% since 1990
Flow affected by: effluent returns.
Photos
Gauging-station photographs from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).
Low lying, undulating terrain. London Clay, negligible superficial deposits. Urban areas (Basildon, Billericay) make up about third of catchment, particularly developed in S. Remaining area in N of catchment is mixed farming.
The station
Crump weir and a rated channel for high flows. Station is approaching tidal limit.
How it measures flow
Crump weir has very small fall because approaching tidal limit. Rated channel for high flows calibrated by current meter and float measurements (2.85m high). Low modular limit. Rating confirmed by gaugings to 1.2m. One rating applied across period of record.
Flow regime
Responsive regime. Significant urban runoff from Billericay and Basildon. Low flows heavily influenced by STW discharge.
The flow record
Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2019 (WINFAP Files v8).
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Crouch at Wickford flooding today?
The current level is 0.35m, which is within the typical range of 0.02 to 1.67m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Wickford?
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 Crouch at Wickford?
The typical range at this station is 0.02m to 1.67m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.67m 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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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:
FloodRadar
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22 Jan 2018 Downstream from gauging station
5 Oct 2017 Gauging Station hut
5 Oct 2017 Downstream from gauging station
5 Oct 2017 Downstream from gauging station
5 Oct 2017 Downstream from gauging station
1 Jan 2000 Upstream view from gauging station