Get notified about Writtle — 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:m
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
0.133 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.161 m
24h Min
0.132 m
Typical Range
0.03 - 0.60
m
Highest Recorded
1.30 m
EA official record
1.30 in our data (since Oct 1979)
Current level is 10% 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 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.
9 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 3.0 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 9 report not discharging.
Anglian Water · into Trib R Chelmer · 6.0 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
3 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 0.60 m
on about 11 days.
This year so far: 9 days.
20269 days, 1 of them high · 1 highso far
20253 days, 1 of them high · 1 high
202415 days, 4 of them high · 4 high
202319 days, 3 of them high · 3 high
20226 days
202116 days, 6 of them high · 6 high
202019 days, 5 of them high · 5 high
20199 days, 2 of them high · 2 high
20185 days
20176 days
Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out.
The darker part is days above 0.80 m, the level this gauge tops only a few days a year.
Flood history near this gauge
Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2007 for the 7 flood
areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.7 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 Widford 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.
🌊 FlashyRain runs off fast — levels rise and fall sharply, often 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
0.24
flashy — rain runs off fast
Avg Annual Rainfall
613 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +1% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
7.1%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
14.61 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
25.50 m³/s
21 Nov 1974 · 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.
'Essex' profile gauging a rural catchment on London Clay, flows significantly increased by STW effluent especially in summer.
More detail
The catchment
Low-lying catchment on London Clay with scattered areas of Boulder Clay cover. Mainly rural, mixed arable and grassland, with significant urban component.
The station
'Essex' profile (modified Flat V Crump) weir.
How it measures flow
Rated spillway starts at 1.25m. Full range, modular station. Weir began to subside in 1991. Flow during summer months consists predominantly of STW discharge, of which approximately 0.08 cumecs is derived from outside the catchment, adjustments needed for this. One rating applied across period of record.
Flow regime
Responsive catchment. Runoff increased by STW effluent returns with net import, which significantly affects flows especially in summer. Runoff reduced by industrial/agricultural abstraction.
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 Wid at Writtle flooding today?
The current level is 0.13m, which is within the typical range of 0.03 to 0.60m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Writtle?
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 Wid at Writtle?
The typical range at this station is 0.03m to 0.60m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.60m 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
28 Jul 2017 Control
6 Dec 2016 Downstream from gauging station
24 Aug 2016 Upstream view from gauging station
9 Sep 1994
Downstream view to gauging station
Downstream from gauging station