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0.06

Louth

Lud
Grimsby and Ancholme catchment • Keddington • Lincolnshire • ID: E1759 • Level
(31m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 162 views

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Current Level
0.059 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.066 m
24h Min
0.058 m
Typical Range
0.06 - 0.40
m
Highest Recorded
1.17 m
EA official record
1.17 in our data (since Nov 1979)
Current level is 5% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
08 Oct 20:00 ▬ steady 0.059 m
08 Oct 19:45 ▬ steady 0.059 m
08 Oct 19:30 ▬ steady 0.059 m
08 Oct 19:15 ▬ steady 0.059 m
08 Oct 18:45 ▬ steady 0.059 m
08 Oct 18:30 ▬ steady 0.059 m
08 Oct 18:00 ▬ steady 0.059 m
08 Oct 17:45 ▬ steady 0.059 m
08 Oct 17:30 ▬ steady 0.059 m
08 Oct 17:15 ▬ steady 0.059 m
08 Oct 17:00 ▬ steady 0.059 m
08 Oct 16:30 ▬ steady 0.059 m
08 Oct 16:15 ▬ steady 0.059 m
08 Oct 16:00 ▬ steady 0.058 m
08 Oct 15:30 ▬ steady 0.058 m
08 Oct 15:15 ▬ steady 0.058 m
08 Oct 15:00 ▬ steady 0.058 m
08 Oct 14:15 ▬ steady 0.059 m
08 Oct 14:00 ▬ steady 0.059 m
08 Oct 13:45 0.059 m

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Louth
  • Watercourse: River Lud
  • Nearest Town: Keddington
  • County: Lincolnshire
  • Nearest reservoir: Covenham (7.8 km) · 81.0% full (as of 5 Oct 2026)
  • Coordinates: 53°22'16"N 0°0'31"E (53.371060, 0.008655)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1979
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: E1759
  • Also at this site: LOUTH RIVER LUD GS (E2997, flow, reporting)
  • RLOI id: 6017 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: E1759-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 2 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Grimsby and Ancholme
  • Typical Range: 0.055 – 0.400 m
  • Drainage Area: 55 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: 0.06 m (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.

Nearby

At this site

💧 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.

10 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 600 m away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 10 report not discharging.

💧
Anglian Water · into River Lud · 600 m upstream along the river
3 spills · 2 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into River Lud · 600 m upstream along the river
4 spills · 2 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into River Lud · 680 m upstream along the river
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into River Lud · 1.2 km upstream along the river
12 spills · 13 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into River Lud/Louth Canal · 1.2 km upstream along the river
32 spills · 80 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into River Lud · 1.2 km upstream along the river
16 spills · 30 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into River Lud · 1.4 km upstream along the river
3 spills · 16 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into River Lud · 1.4 km upstream along the river
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

2 more further upstream, up to 2.1 km away along the river.

Nearby, connection not known

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

💧
Anglian Water · into River Lud/Louth Canal · 220 m away in a straight line · too close to the gauge to say which side
1 spill · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into Trib Of River Lud · 390 m away in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure
19 spills · 60 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into Louth Canal · 430 m away in a straight line · discharges into a canal
9 spills · 76 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into Louth Canal · 3.2 km away in a straight line · discharges into a canal
40 spills · 486 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into Trib Of River Lud · 5.6 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
9 spills · 39 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into Unnamed Dyke To Sykes Drain · 5.7 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
1 spill · 4 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

2 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 0.40 m on about 3 days. This year so far: 2 days.

2026 2 days so far
2025 2 days
2024 4 days
2023 5 days
2022 1 day
2021 4 days
2020 2 days
2019 10 days
2018 3 days
2017 0 days

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 9 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.3 km away).

3severe warnings 17flood warnings 99flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 6 Jan 2025 — Isolated properties and villages near the Louth Canal from Austen Fen to Tetney Lock

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2026 0 0 8
2025 0 2 5
2024 0 0 9
2023 0 1 9
2022 0 0 1
2021 0 0 6
2020 0 0 4
2019 0 4 16
2018 0 1 4
2016 0 0 3
2014 0 1 4
2013 0 2 4
2012 0 0 9
2010 0 0 1
2009 0 0 1
2008 0 1 8
2007 3 5 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 Keddington flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 9 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

Show 1 more

Catchment Character

🌊 Groundwater-fed Slow and steady — fed largely by groundwater, so levels change gradually, not in sudden spikes.

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
0.82
groundwater-fed — slow & steady
Avg Annual Rainfall
726 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +0% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
2.2%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
3.27 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
5.64 m³/s
20 Jul 2007 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.4611.130.3580.1285% (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 4%Grassland 19%Arable 72%Urban 5%
Arable 79% → 72% since 1990

Flow affected by: groundwater abstraction.

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

Station located in an urban area but gauging a predominantly rural, Chalk catchment with some artificial influences.

More detail

The catchment

Catchment is predominantly Chalk, with around one third covered with superficial deposits, mainly Boulder Clay. Largely rural catchment with mainly arable farming, although there is urban development (Louth) just upstream of station.

The station

Crump profile weir, 4.569m wide, at u/s end of long culvert (capacity limited to 20 cumecs - yet to be exceeded). Flows recorded 1966-1968 at sharp-crested weir at Bridge Street. Charted data started at Tathwell Nov 1968, and South Elkington Mar-Nov 1968.

How it measures flow

Two ratings applied across period of record, the most recent is valid from January-1968 when theoretical rating applied. Theoretical rating supported by current metering, but gaugings needed to confirm at high flows.

Flow regime

Groundwater abstraction has a modest impact on flows; mill regulation can also produce short-term artificial spikes. Work is underway to construct two retention ponds on the Lud.

The flow record

Flood of 1920 estimated at approx. 140 cumecs. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2019 (WINFAP Files v8).

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
Crump weir
Operating since
1968
Station datum
15.4 mAOD
Flow record
1968–2024 · 56 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1966
Hydrometric area
29
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Lud at Louth flooding today?

The current level is 0.06m, which is within the typical range of 0.06 to 0.40m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Louth?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently steady. 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 Lud at Louth?

The typical range at this station is 0.06m to 0.40m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.40m 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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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 →