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0.12

Castle Rising

Babingley River
North West Norfolk catchment • Castle Rising • Norfolk • ID: E21050 • Level
(32m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 200 views

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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
0.124 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.126 m
24h Min
0.121 m
Typical Range
0.15 - 0.29
m
Highest Recorded
0.57 m
EA official record
0.61 in our data (since Feb 1979)
Current level is 22% of this
ⓘ
Flood alert
Hunstanton coast in Norfolk
Raised 7 Oct 2026 19:51 · 14.5km away · View flood area
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 5h
08 Oct 05:15 ▬ steady 0.124 m
08 Oct 05:00 ▬ steady 0.124 m
08 Oct 04:45 ▬ steady 0.124 m
08 Oct 04:30 ▬ steady 0.124 m
08 Oct 03:45 ▬ steady 0.124 m
08 Oct 03:30 ▬ steady 0.124 m
08 Oct 03:15 ▬ steady 0.124 m
08 Oct 03:00 ▬ steady 0.124 m
08 Oct 02:45 ▬ steady 0.124 m
08 Oct 02:30 ▬ steady 0.124 m
08 Oct 02:15 ▬ steady 0.124 m
08 Oct 02:00 ▬ steady 0.124 m
08 Oct 01:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.124 m
08 Oct 01:30 ▬ steady 0.125 m
08 Oct 01:15 ▬ steady 0.125 m
08 Oct 01:00 ▬ steady 0.125 m
08 Oct 00:45 ▬ steady 0.125 m
08 Oct 00:30 ▬ steady 0.125 m
08 Oct 00:15 ▬ steady 0.125 m
08 Oct 00:00 0.125 m

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Castle Rising
  • Watercourse: Babingley River
  • Nearest Town: Castle Rising
  • County: Norfolk
  • Coordinates: 52°47'55"N 0°29'26"E (52.798728, 0.490559)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 7 Feb 1979
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: E21050
  • RLOI id: 6248 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: E21050-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: North West Norfolk
  • Typical Range: 0.150 – 0.292 m
  • Drainage Area: 48 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: 0.12 m (EA at 8 Oct 05:15)
  • 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.

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 downstream

Same river system, separate branch

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

💧 Storm overflows upstream of this gauge

None of the storm overflows FloodRadar holds is traced upstream of this gauge on the mapped river network. That is not the same as none: the map leaves out many small streams and culverts, so an overflow it cannot place may still drain here, and not every company publishes every overflow. Those nearby are listed below.

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 Trib Of Boathouse Creek · 4.9 km away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
1 spill · 2 hours in 2025
No live feed for this overflow
💧
Anglian Water · into Watery Lane Drain · 5.4 km away in a straight line · not connected to this gauge on the river map
9 spills · 100 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

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 0.29 m on about 21 days. This year so far: 0 days.

2026 0 days so far
2025 0 days
2024 75 days
2023 21 days
2022 0 days
2021 74 days
2020 16 days
2019 2 days
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 2019 for the 7 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 4.8 km away).

2flood warnings 61flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 30 Mar 2025 — Precautionary Evacuation Notice area at Snettisham seafront

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 0 2
2025 1 9
2024 0 14
2023 0 10
2022 0 6
2021 0 5
2020 0 7
2019 1 8

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 Castle Rising flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 7 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

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
0.91
groundwater-fed — slow & steady
Avg Annual Rainfall
710 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +2% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.5%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
1.13 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
3.48 m³/s
22 Feb 2024 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.5221.020.4530.2015% (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 11%Grassland 42%Arable 45%Urban 1%
Arable 76% → 45% since 1990

Flow affected by: groundwater abstraction, effluent returns, industrial / agricultural 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

Crump weir gauging a river with high baseflow component. Catchment is predominantly Chalk bedrock and arable land.

More detail

The catchment

Predominantly Chalk, patchy cover of Boulder Clay, sands, and gravels. Predominantly arable land use. Gw catchment area exceeds topographic divide.

The station

Triangular profile Flat V Crump weir, 4.5m broad; level of wingwalls is 1.2m above crest.

How it measures flow

Weir is subject to drowning. One rating applied from July 1976.

Flow regime

High baseflow catchment. Significant gw abstraction for PWS and industry/agriculture. Runoff increased by effluent returns.

The flow record

Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in August 2021 (WINFAP Files v10).

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
1976
Station datum
4.5 mAOD
Flow record
1976–2024 · 48 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1976
Hydrometric area
33
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the Babingley River at Castle Rising flooding today?

The current level is 0.12m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Castle Rising?

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 Babingley River at Castle Rising?

The typical range at this station is 0.15m to 0.29m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.29m 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.

Preview

📮 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 →