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Water Level Falling Slightly
0.36

Wray

Hindburn
Lune and Wyre catchment • Wray • Lancashire • ID: 724427 • Level
(34m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 194 views

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Current Level
0.361 m
▼ Falling slightly
24h Max
0.500 m
24h Min
0.361 m
Typical Range
0.12 - 1.50
m
Highest Recorded
2.96 m
EA official record
2.96 in our data (since Feb 1976)
Current level is 12% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -2 cm over 5h
10 Sep 07:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.361 m
10 Sep 07:00 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.362 m
10 Sep 06:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.364 m
10 Sep 06:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.365 m
10 Sep 06:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.366 m
10 Sep 06:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.367 m
10 Sep 05:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.368 m
10 Sep 05:30 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.369 m
10 Sep 05:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.371 m
10 Sep 05:00 ▬ steady 0.372 m
10 Sep 04:45 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.372 m
10 Sep 04:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.374 m
10 Sep 04:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.375 m
10 Sep 04:00 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.376 m
10 Sep 03:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.378 m
10 Sep 03:30 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.379 m
10 Sep 03:15 ▬ steady 0.381 m
10 Sep 03:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.381 m
10 Sep 02:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.382 m
10 Sep 02:30 0.383 m

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 10 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 2.1 km away).

14flood warnings 124flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 2 Nov 2020River Wenning at High Bentham, between Todd Hill Farm and the Sewage Works

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 0 4
2025 0 9
2024 0 8
2023 0 6
2022 0 2
2021 0 5
2020 5 9
2019 2 9
2018 0 3
2017 0 5
2016 1 3
2015 5 9
2014 0 6
2013 0 3
2012 1 9
2011 0 7
2010 0 4
2009 0 5
2008 0 4
2007 0 7
2006 0 7

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 Wray flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Wray
  • Watercourse: River Hindburn
  • Nearest Town: Wray
  • County: Lancashire
  • Coordinates: 54°6'21"N 2°36'21"W (54.105893, -2.605757)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1975
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: 724427
  • EA Gauge ID: 724427-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 5 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: 0.116 – 1.500 m
  • Drainage Area: 84 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Daily mean flow (m³/s) to 8 Sep (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: 0.36 m (EA at 10 Sep 07:15)
  • 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.

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
0.31
flashy — rain runs off fast
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,546 mm/yr
1991–2020 · -5% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.1%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
133 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
115 m³/s
5 Dec 2015 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 3.0311.161.260.2515% (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 6%Grassland 50%Heath/scrub 44%
Heath/scrub 36% → 44% since 1990

Photos

Gauging-station photographs from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).

Photos © NRFA / UKCEH & the measuring authority — shown at web resolution. Full gallery on the NRFA ↗

About this gauge

Compound broad-crested weir in near natural catchment. Station closed in 1980 and re-opened 1991.

More detail

The catchment

Stream is steep and flashy. An almost entirely rural catchment with predominantly agricultural and moorland land use with little development. Designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. No significant catchment changes.

The station

Station opened in May 1967 as compound broad-crested weir; central crest 3.65m wide, two flanking crests each 7.4m wide and 0.38m higher. Station closed December 1980 (due to gravel problems) and re-opened January 1991 following inlet pipe improvements.

How it measures flow

No bypassing. High flow gaugings from nearby bridge or portable cableway. Two peak flow ratings applied across period of record. Flood Studies Report grade B.

Flow regime

Near natural catchment.

The flow record

Peak flow data are presented for the period of the improved station from 1991. A large flood occurred on 8/8/1967, which demolished 12 houses in the village of Wray. Maximum water level at gauging station levelled in at 4.91m above weir crest - thought to have resulted from backing-up from Meal Bank Bridge downstream before it collapsed, so stage doesn't represent the peak flow. Hydraulic Research Station (HRS) estimated peak as 637m3/s, though current estimate at Hornby downstream is less than this. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2020 (WINFAP Files v9).

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
Gauging structure
Operating since
1967
Station datum
127.7 mAOD
Flow record
1976–2024 · 48 yrs · 79% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1967
Hydrometric area
72
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Hindburn at Wray flooding today?

The current level is 0.36m, which is within the typical range of 0.12 to 1.50m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Wray?

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.

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. 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.

What is a normal level for the River Hindburn at Wray?

The typical range at this station is 0.12m to 1.50m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.50m 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:

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 →