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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
0.108 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.110 m
24h Min
0.106 m
Typical Range
0.10 - 1.80
m
Highest Recorded
2.22 m
EA official record
2.22 in our data (since Feb 1993)
Current level is 5% 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.
30 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 650 m away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 30 report not discharging.
United Utilities · into Culverted Tributary Of Trub Brook · 3.0 km away in a straight line · not connected to this gauge on the river map
40 spills · 122 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
9 more within 6 km whose connection is not known.
11 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 →
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 Rochdale flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 14 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.
🌊 Fairly flashyResponds 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
1,369 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +7% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
14%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
44.65 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
50.41 m³/s
26 Dec 2015 · 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.
Non-standard broad-crested weir on artificial channel. Many small reservoirs in the catchment influence the flow regime.
More detail
The catchment
The upper catchment is peat-covered moorland, consisting mostly of coal measures and Millstone Grit. The lower part of the catchment is highly urbanised and contains Rochdale. No catchment changes known.
The station
Station opened February 1993 on a non-standard, round-nosed broad-crested weir 12.2m wide with crest length of 1.25m and sloping downstream face. Side walls on approach 3.4m high. Situated on a reach of artificial channel.
How it measures flow
There is a drop of several metres at the weir so will not drown. No bypassing. There is no cableway, and gaugings are taken upstream at Oaken Road footbridge. One peak flow rating applied across period of record confirmed by gaugings and hydraulic modelling. Primary level measurement by pressure sensor in stilling well superseded by external radar in June 2024.
Flow regime
Many small reservoirs in headwaters, controlling less than 25% of catchment.
The flow record
Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2022 (WINFAP Files v11).
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Roch at Rochdale flooding today?
The current level is 0.11m, which is within the typical range of 0.10 to 1.80m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Rochdale?
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 Roch at Rochdale?
The typical range at this station is 0.10m to 1.80m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.80m 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:
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