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Water Level Easing
Easing — down from 0.59 at 16:00, now 0.41
0.41

Garstang

Wyre
Lune and Wyre catchment • Garstang • Lancashire • ID: 720107 • Level
(1h ago) • 4 readings/hr • 205 views

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Current Level
0.410 m
▼ Easing (-1cm/hr)
24h Max
0.909 m
24h Min
0.410 m
Typical Range
0.17 - 3.15
m
Highest Recorded
4.08 m
EA official record
4.24 in our data (since Jan 1976)
Current level is 10% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -8 cm over 6h
08 Oct 01:30 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.410 m
08 Oct 01:15 ▼ -0.4 cm 0.413 m
08 Oct 01:00 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.417 m
08 Oct 00:45 ▼ -0.9 cm 0.419 m
08 Oct 00:30 ▲ +0.6 cm 0.428 m
08 Oct 00:15 ▼ -1 cm 0.422 m
08 Oct 00:00 ▲ +0.5 cm 0.434 m
07 Oct 23:45 ▼ -0.7 cm 0.429 m
07 Oct 23:30 ▼ -2 cm 0.436 m
07 Oct 22:30 ▲ +0.2 cm 0.454 m
07 Oct 22:15 ▼ -0.7 cm 0.452 m
07 Oct 22:00 ▲ +0.4 cm 0.459 m
07 Oct 21:45 ▼ -2 cm 0.455 m
07 Oct 21:30 ▲ +0.6 cm 0.475 m
07 Oct 21:15 ▲ +0.9 cm 0.469 m
07 Oct 21:00 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.460 m
07 Oct 20:45 ▼ -1 cm 0.463 m
07 Oct 20:30 ▼ -0.7 cm 0.474 m
07 Oct 20:15 ▼ -1 cm 0.481 m
07 Oct 20:00 0.493 m

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Garstang
  • Watercourse: River Wyre
  • Nearest Town: Garstang
  • County: Lancashire
  • Coordinates: 53°53'46"N 2°46'47"W (53.896103, -2.779699)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1975
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: 720107
  • RLOI id: 5055 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: 720107-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 9 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Lune and Wyre
  • Typical Range: 0.170 – 3.150 m
  • Drainage Area: 114 km² upstream of this gauge
  • 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
  • EA Cross-check: 0.41 m (EA at 8 Oct 01:45)
  • Flow Archive: National River Flow Archive ↗

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.

Connected upstream

Connected downstream

Same river system, separate branch

Nearby

Distances by river: OS Open Rivers. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

💧 Storm overflows upstream of this gauge

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.

2 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 990 m away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 2 report not discharging.

💧
United Utilities · into River Wyre · 990 m upstream along the river
64 spills · 276 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
United Utilities · into River Wyre · 5.1 km upstream along the river
71 spills · 448 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

Nearby, connection not known

Within 6 km in a straight line, but the river map cannot say whether their water passes this gauge.

💧
United Utilities · into River Wyre · 40 m away in a straight line · too close to the gauge to say which side
69 spills · 358 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
United Utilities · into Tidal River Wyre · 4.8 km away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
40 spills · 169 hours in 2025
No live feed for this overflow

5 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 →

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

How often this river runs high

In a typical year this gauge reaches its typical high of 3.15 m on about 2 days. This year so far: 0 days.

2026 0 days so far
2025 2 days
2024 1 day
2023 2 days
2022 1 day
2021 2 days
2020 5 days
2019 1 day
2018 0 days
2017 1 day

Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out.

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 17 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.5 km away).

5severe warnings 54flood warnings 279flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 25 Mar 2026 — River Wyre at Garstang South

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2026 0 3 12
2025 0 2 17
2024 0 7 37
2023 0 1 12
2022 0 0 6
2021 0 4 20
2020 0 8 36
2019 0 2 12
2018 0 0 3
2017 0 1 8
2016 0 7 10
2015 5 15 24
2014 0 0 12
2013 0 0 3
2012 0 1 17
2011 0 3 4
2010 0 0 7
2009 0 0 2
2008 0 0 8
2007 0 0 10
2006 0 0 19

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 Garstang flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 17 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

Show 9 more

Catchment Character

🌊 Flashy Rain 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
0.33
flashy — rain runs off fast
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,483 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.8%
largely rural
Highest Daily Mean Flow
111 m³/s
5 Dec 2015 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 3.3511.801.670.3925% (high)% of days exceeded95% (low)
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.
Land Cover (2023)
Woodland 7%Grassland 53%Arable 1%Heath/scrub 37%Urban 2%Other 1%

Flow affected by: public water supply, groundwater abstraction.

About this gauge

Upgraded in Sep 1969 to a Flat V weir.

More detail

The catchment

Agricultural catchment with moorland-fed headwaters. Geology almost entirely Millstone Grit with Sherwood Sandstone close to the gauge. Peat on high moors, Boulder Clay covers lower catchment.

The station

Initially vertical-area station with gravel control. From Sep 1969 Flat V weir installed.

How it measures flow

Rated by gaugings. Silting of the well can cause low flows to be overestimated.

Flow regime

Flows affected by Garstang intake immediately u/s, Lune transfers via Abbeystead, Garstang flood basin overspill during high flows and possibly by bankside gravel workings u/s.

Descriptions from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH). NRFA station record ↗

Gauge Details

How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).

Gauge type
Flat-V weir
Operating since
1967
Station datum
10.9 mAOD
Flow record
1967–2024 · 57 yrs · 99% complete
Hydrometric area
72
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Wyre at Garstang flooding today?

The current level is 0.41m, which is within the typical range of 0.17 to 3.15m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Garstang?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently falling slightly. 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 Wyre at Garstang?

The typical range at this station is 0.17m to 3.15m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 3.15m 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:

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 →