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Water Level Easing
Easing — down from 0.16 at 08:30, now 0.14
0.14

Rothley

Rothley Brook
Soar catchment • Rothley • Leicestershire • ID: 4056 • Level
(29m ago) • 3 readings/hr • 167 views

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⤴ Unusual rise — FloodRadar+Top 1% rise rate for this gauge.
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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
0.139 mASD
▼ Easing
24h Max
0.184 mASD
24h Min
0.139 mASD
Typical Range
0.15 - 1.25
mASD
Highest Recorded
2.26 mASD
EA official record
2.22 in our data (since May 1973)
Current level is 6% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -0.6 cm over 7h
08 Oct 20:00 ▬ steady 0.139 mASD
08 Oct 19:45 ▬ steady 0.139 mASD
08 Oct 19:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.139 mASD
08 Oct 19:00 ▬ steady 0.140 mASD
08 Oct 18:45 ▬ steady 0.140 mASD
08 Oct 18:30 ▬ steady 0.140 mASD
08 Oct 18:15 ▬ steady 0.140 mASD
08 Oct 18:00 ▬ steady 0.140 mASD
08 Oct 17:45 ▬ steady 0.140 mASD
08 Oct 17:30 ▬ steady 0.140 mASD
08 Oct 17:00 ▬ steady 0.140 mASD
08 Oct 16:30 ▬ steady 0.141 mASD
08 Oct 16:15 ▬ steady 0.141 mASD
08 Oct 16:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.141 mASD
08 Oct 15:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.142 mASD
08 Oct 15:00 ▬ steady 0.143 mASD
08 Oct 14:30 ▬ steady 0.143 mASD
08 Oct 14:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.143 mASD
08 Oct 13:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.144 mASD
08 Oct 13:30 0.145 mASD

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Rothley
  • Watercourse: Rothley Brook
  • Nearest Town: Rothley
  • County: Leicestershire
  • Nearest reservoir: Swithland (2.6 km) · 23.3% full (as of 5 Oct 2026)
  • Coordinates: 52°42'11"N 1°8'33"W (52.703100, -1.142483)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 10 May 1973
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: 4056
  • RLOI id: 2125 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: 4056-level-stage-i-15_min-mASD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mASD
  • Typical rise rate: 1 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Soar
  • Typical Range: 0.150 – 1.250 mASD
  • Drainage Area: 94 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: 0.14 mASD (EA at 8 Oct 19:45)
  • 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.

7 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 9.9 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 5 report not discharging, and for 2 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.

💧
Severn Trent Water · into Rothley Brook · 9.9 km upstream along the river
4 spills · 33 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Glenfield/Braunstone/K/Mux Br · 13.0 km upstream along the river
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now
Placed on the river by its position alone.
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Rothley Brook (Tributary) · 13.0 km upstream along the river
1 spill · 6 hours in 2025
No live feed for this overflow
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Slate Brook · 13.0 km upstream along the river
9 spills · 56 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Tributary Of Rothley Brook · 13.1 km upstream along the river
6 spills · 29 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Glenfield/Braunstone/K/Mux Br · 14.1 km upstream along the river
25 spills · 89 hours in 2025
No live feed for this overflow
Placed on the river by its position alone.
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Rothley Brook · 23.3 km upstream along the river
22 spills · 40 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.

💧
Severn Trent Water · into Rothley Brook · 130 m away in a straight line · too close to the gauge to say which side
10 spills · 53 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Various Sites River Soar · 1.1 km away in a straight line · its recorded watercourse is not the one mapped beside it
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Status unknown — the live feed has not updated for 6 d 8 h
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Various Sites River Soar · 1.1 km away in a straight line · its recorded watercourse is not the one mapped beside it
8 spills · 72 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Rotheley Brook · 2.0 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
2 spills · 9 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Tributary Of Swithland Reservoir · 2.6 km away in a straight line · discharges to a loch, lake or reservoir
31 spills · 107 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Birstall Brook / River Soar · 3.1 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
4 spills · 27 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Birstall Brook / River Soar · 3.1 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
1 spill · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Various Sites River Soar · 3.5 km away in a straight line · its recorded watercourse is not the one mapped beside it
6 spills · 56 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

10 more within 6 km whose connection is not known.

13 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 1.25 m on about 2 days. This year so far: 5 days.

2026 5 days so far
2025 3 days
2024 4 days
2023 3 days
2022 0 days
2021 1 day
2020 2 days
2019 3 days
2018 1 day
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 2007 for the 24 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.4 km away).

1severe warning 214flood warnings 85flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 3 Mar 2026 — River Wreake for mills at Hoby, Thrussington and Ratcliffe

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2026 0 61 12
2025 1 23 5
2024 0 37 11
2023 0 14 11
2022 0 3 3
2021 0 9 3
2020 0 9 4
2019 0 21 6
2018 0 3 3
2017 0 2 1
2016 0 4 3
2014 0 3 3
2013 0 8 3
2012 0 17 8
2010 0 0 1
2009 0 0 1
2008 0 0 5
2007 0 0 2

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 Rothley flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 24 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

Show 16 more

Catchment Character

🌊 Fairly flashy Responds 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
0.35
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
726 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +6% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
7.7%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
12.06 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
15.51 m³/s
2 Jan 2024 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.7492.530.3920.1115% (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 12%Grassland 37%Arable 30%Urban 20%Other 2%
Woodland 5% → 12% since 1990

Flow affected by: surface-water abstraction, effluent returns.

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

Crump profile Flat V weir in a trapezoidal channel.

More detail

The catchment

Geology predominantly Mercia Mudstone overlain by Boulder Clay with ancient Charnwood Forest rocks outcrop to the N. Predominantly rural, but drains a portion of NW Leicester and contains number of small towns.

How it measures flow

Some flow uncertainty possibly caused by substantial sediment deposition in upstream section, upstream bend, and more recently deteriorating condition of weir surface. Three ratings applied across period of record, with most recent fit to a shift in lower flow gaugings from 2016. Modular section of the rating is theoretical prior to 2016. 1997 rating change updated the non-modular section. Weir drowns at high flows above 1.1m, starting at 0.5m. Rating limit is level of highest gauging and bankfull level 1.7m. Bypassing on right bank starts above this for which the rating is extrapolated and does not account for. Very high flow backs up from twin arch stone bridge immediately downstream with wrack marks indicating substantial drawdown at the bridge.

Flow regime

Substantial imports enter the river from WRW.

The flow record

Unusual flow pattern in Oct 1978 due to drawdown of Thornton Reservoir. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in October 2018 (WINFAP Files v7).

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
1973
Station datum
47.4 mAOD
Flow record
1973–2024 · 51 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1970
Hydrometric area
28
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the Rothley Brook at Rothley flooding today?

The current level is 0.14m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Rothley?

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. Only about 7.5mm 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.

What is a normal level for the Rothley Brook at Rothley?

The typical range at this station is 0.15m to 1.25m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.25m 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.

Embed this gauge on your website

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:

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 →