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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.
Get notified when recent rainfall near this gauge crosses its learnt rise trigger — an early "watch"
signal, typically hours before a rise. Experimental; not an official flood warning.
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Not an emergency service — if in danger call 999. Alerts rely on
EA/SEPA/NRW data and are best-efforts. Terms
Current Level
0.122 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.129 m
24h Min
0.117 m
Typical Range
0.09 - 1.35
m
Highest Recorded
2.55 m
EA official record
A 3.94 reading (26 Feb 2025) sits in our unverified raw history and is not treated as the record
Current level is 5% of this
Current Flow
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🚽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.
5 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 360 m away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 5 report not discharging.
United Utilities · into Borsdane Brook · 3.6 km away in a straight line · not connected to this gauge on the river map
1 spill · 1 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
33 more within 6 km whose connection is not known.
20 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 Wigan 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.
🌊 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
0.42
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,210 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +9% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
6.8%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
17.70 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
21.70 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.
Ultrasonic station (from end Feb 1995) with earlier flows using levels and rating for Central Park Wigan. Flow regime affected by reservoirs.
More detail
The catchment
Moderate relief catchment. Geology is Coal Measures wholly blanketed by Boulder Clay. Land use mostly rural with some urban development. No significant catchment changes.
The station
Original station, Central Park, Wigan was a velocity-area station opened 1973 in rectangular channel with pipe as low-flow control. Variable bed profile (silt, debris and redistribution) gave poor data. In 1995 an ultrasonic gauge was installed with four transducers (cross-path at two heights) under a footbridge approx. 100m downstream. Dual running from 1995 until December 1999 when consolidated at ultrasonic site and station renamed as Wigan. More transducers at higher levels added May/June 2012. Station photos provided show the ultrasonic station. Ultrasonic flows are only produced up to a stage of 1.53m, beyond this modelled flow data is used due to obstruction caused by footbridge soffit.
How it measures flow
No bypassing reported. Check gaugings suggest the ultrasonic station may under-estimate the higher flows. Wigan Flood Alleviation Scheme (approx 750m upstream of the gauging station) was finally completed around November 2011. The scheme has two large hydrobrake devices which restrict outlet flows through the hydrobrakes to around 20 cumecs. Peak flow ratings and derivation of flows reflect the changes at the station.
Flow regime
Flow regime and effective catchment significantly modified by the Integrated complex of eight reservoirs at Rivington which diverts flow from the Yarrow headwaters to the River Douglas.
The flow record
Flow events are generally affected by the two hydrobrakes in the Wigan Flood Alleviation Scheme. However, the December 2015 event filled the reservoir and flowed over the embankment spillway. Peak flow data from water year 2011/12 are rejected as unrepresentative due to the effect of the flood alleviation scheme on flows. Gaps in data June 2020 and April 2023 due to equipment faults.
How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).
Gauge type
Ultrasonic
Operating since
1973
Station datum
31.7 mAOD
Flow record
1977–2024 · 47 yrs · 95% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1973
Hydrometric area
70
Measured by
Environment Agency
Nearby Groundwater
Soil Moisture
Possible storm-overflow correlation
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Douglas at Wigan flooding today?
The current level is 0.12m, which is within the typical range of 0.09 to 1.35m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Wigan?
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 Douglas at Wigan?
The typical range at this station is 0.09m to 1.35m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.35m 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:
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