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🌊 Tide going out · low water in ~2h

Sheerness

Tide 🌊 Tidal
England - East Coast catchment • Sheerness • Kent • ID: E71539 • Level
This gauge is tidally influenced — levels rise and fall with each tide, so rapid changes here are normal and don't necessarily indicate flooding.
(53m ago) • 3 readings/hr • 189 views

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Get notified about Sheerness — tick as many as you like, they all share the notify settings below.

You'll be notified when this gauge is rising more than 0.10 m/hr — a sign of rapidly increasing water levels.

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
-0.129 mAOD
▼ Falling (-100cm/hr)
24h Max
2.773 mAOD
24h Min
-1.763 mAOD
Typical Range
-
Highest Recorded
4.10 mAOD
EA official record
A 8.55 reading (20 Aug 2023) sits in our unverified raw history and is not treated as the record
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Flood predictions aren't generated for tidal gauges — their levels are driven by the tide, not by catchment rainfall, so the forecast models would have no skill here.

Recent Readings

Rising · +17 cm over 8h
08 Oct 03:00 ▼▼ -50 cm -0.129 mAOD
08 Oct 02:30 ▼▼ -26 cm 0.369 mAOD
08 Oct 02:15 ▼▼ -127 cm 0.629 mAOD
08 Oct 01:00 ▼▼ -23 cm 1.898 mAOD
08 Oct 00:45 ▼▼ -22 cm 2.130 mAOD
08 Oct 00:30 ▼▼ -18 cm 2.346 mAOD
08 Oct 00:15 ▼▼ -13 cm 2.526 mAOD
08 Oct 00:00 ▼▼ -12 cm 2.657 mAOD
07 Oct 23:30 ▲▲ +58 cm 2.773 mAOD
07 Oct 22:15 ▲▲ +21 cm 2.191 mAOD
07 Oct 22:00 ▲▲ +43 cm 1.986 mAOD
07 Oct 21:30 ▲▲ +23 cm 1.553 mAOD
07 Oct 21:15 ▲▲ +22 cm 1.325 mAOD
07 Oct 21:00 ▲▲ +23 cm 1.103 mAOD
07 Oct 20:45 ▲▲ +23 cm 0.877 mAOD
07 Oct 20:30 ▲▲ +23 cm 0.649 mAOD
07 Oct 20:15 ▲▲ +23 cm 0.416 mAOD
07 Oct 20:00 ▲▲ +24 cm 0.183 mAOD
07 Oct 19:45 ▲▲ +24 cm -0.055 mAOD
07 Oct 19:30 -0.296 mAOD

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Sheerness
  • Watercourse: Tide
  • Nearest Town: Sheerness
  • County: Kent
  • Coordinates: 51°26'44"N 0°44'36"E (51.445627, 0.743415)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 31 Jan 2012
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: Tidal / coastal station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: E71539
  • RLOI id: 1157 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: E71539-level-tidal_level-Mean-15_min-mAOD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mAOD
  • Typical rise rate: 116 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~37 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: 🌊 Yes — levels follow the tide
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: England - East Coast
  • EA Cross-check: 0.37 mAOD (EA at 8 Oct 02:30)

Geographic coordinates may reflect the access point for the gauge, and not the precise location in the watercourse that it is taking readings from.

Nearby Stations

Gauges connected to this river, and others nearby. A distance “by river” follows the river on the map; any other is in a straight line.

Nearby

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2008 for the 6 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 2.6 km away).

8flood warnings 73flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 30 Jan 2021 — Scrapsgate Drain and Warden Bay Drain

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2025 0 2
2024 0 5
2023 0 1
2022 0 5
2021 4 7
2020 2 8
2019 0 3
2018 0 1
2017 1 1
2016 0 7
2015 0 5
2014 1 11
2013 0 9
2012 0 6
2009 0 1
2008 0 1

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 Sheerness flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 6 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Tide at Sheerness flooding today?

The latest recorded level is -0.13m. Compare it with the recent history on the chart above to judge whether levels are unusually high.

Is the river level rising or falling at Sheerness?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently falling. The chart above shows the last 12 hours of measurements by default (up to 7 days), updated roughly every 15 minutes.

Why is the level slowly falling?

When little or no rain has fallen for a while, a river level gradually drops as the water stored in the ground and soil drains away with nothing to replace it. This is called baseflow recession and is normal in dry spells. Only about 5.4mm of rain has fallen nearby in the last 7 days, so the flow is being sustained mainly by groundwater. A gentle decline like this is expected and is not a sign of a problem — downstream gauges often recede a little faster than headwaters further upstream, and levels recover once rain returns.

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:

Check any UK postcode’s flood risk →

🏠 Buying or renting around here? Get the Property Flood-Risk Report for any English postcode — official risk band, recorded floods, warning history, river behaviour and nearby storm overflows. £19 one-off. Learn more →