Ribble Douglas and Crossens catchment
• Wigan • Greater Manchester • ID: 700325 • Level
(32m ago) • 2 readings/hr • 135 views
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Current Level
0.119 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.123 m
24h Min
0.111 m
Typical Range
0.09 - 1.35
m
Highest Recorded
3.94 m
26 Feb 2025
Since Dec 1999
Current level is 3% of this
Current Flow
Loading...
🚽Sewage overflows nearby
Recent Water Levels
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day
Prediction V2
Prediction Eris
Nimbus beta
Experimental model fusing soil moisture, river flow, groundwater and catchment
character. Shown with its calibrated 10–90% confidence band. 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.
Long Term
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
—
Consecutive rainy days0 → 10+
Days Above Normal
This year vs 5-year monthly range
Recent Readings
Falling · -0.3 cm over 6h
23 Aug 23:00▬ steady0.119 m
23 Aug 22:45▼ -0.1 cm0.119 m
23 Aug 21:30▼ -0.1 cm0.120 m
23 Aug 21:15▬ steady0.121 m
23 Aug 21:00▬ steady0.121 m
23 Aug 20:45▬ steady0.121 m
23 Aug 20:30▬ steady0.121 m
23 Aug 20:15▼ -0.1 cm0.121 m
23 Aug 20:00▬ steady0.122 m
23 Aug 19:45▬ steady0.122 m
23 Aug 19:30▬ steady0.122 m
23 Aug 19:15▼ -0.1 cm0.122 m
23 Aug 19:00▬ steady0.123 m
23 Aug 18:45▬ steady0.123 m
23 Aug 18:30▬ steady0.123 m
23 Aug 18:15▬ steady0.123 m
23 Aug 18:00▬ steady0.123 m
23 Aug 17:45▲ +0.1 cm0.123 m
23 Aug 17:30▬ steady0.122 m
23 Aug 17:150.122 m
Rainfall & Weather
Loading rainfall and weather data...
Flood history near this gauge
Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2008 for the 10 flood
areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.1 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 Wigan flood history.
Geographic coordinates may reflect the access point for the gauge, and not the precise location in the watercourse that it is taking readings from.
Catchment Character
🌊 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 Recorded Flow
21.70 m³/s
26 Dec 2015
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
🚽 Storm overflows on this river
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 7 days of measurements, 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 taken by the Environment Agency gauge roughly every 15 minutes and FloodRadar refreshes its data continuously, so the level shown is normally less than an hour old.
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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:
