Cam and Ely Ouse (Including South Level) catchment
• East Harling • Norfolk • ID: E21222 • Level
(21m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 153 views
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You'll be notified when this gauge is rising more than 0.10 m/hr — a sign of rapidly increasing water levels.
You'll be notified when a new storm-overflow (sewage) discharge starts within ~3 km of this gauge, based on the water companies' near-real-time feeds.
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EA/SEPA/NRW data and are best-efforts. Terms
Current Level
0.071 mASD
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.073 mASD
24h Min
0.070 mASD
Typical Range
0.05 - 0.30
mASD
Highest Recorded
0.86 mASD
EA official record
0.85 in our data (since Oct 1979)
Current level is 8% of this
🚽Sewage overflows nearby
Recent Water Levels
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day
EA forecast (official)
Prediction V2
Prediction Eris
Nimbus beta
Experimental model fusing soil moisture, river flow, groundwater and catchment
character. The shaded band is its 10–90% range, widened so that about 80% of recent outcomes fall inside it.
Under evaluation — not yet promoted, so treat as a second opinion.
River Flow
90 days
Daily mean discharge (m³/s) with the daily min–max band, from the EA Hydrology API. Flow is the volume of water passing the gauge — often a more direct flood signal than level.
Flow Data: Daily mean flow (m³/s) to 8 Oct (2 days behind — the EA publishes each day's mean a day or two after it ends; unchecked, provisional)via EA Hydrology
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 Buckenham Stream · 4.4 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
1 spill · 7 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 →
In a typical year this gauge reaches its typical high of 0.30 m
on about 17 days.
This year so far: 2 days.
20262 days so far
20254 days
202442 days, 23 of them high · 23 high
202322 days, 3 of them high · 3 high
20222 days
202137 days, 7 of them high · 7 high
202020 days, 6 of them high · 6 high
20194 days
201821 days, 2 of them high · 2 high
20173 days, 1 of them high · 1 high
Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out.
The darker part is days above 0.43 m, the level this gauge tops only a few days a year.
Flood history near this gauge
Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2019 for the 2 flood
areas linked to this gauge (nearest 5.7 km away).
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 East Harling flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 2 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.
🌊 Mixed responseA balance of quick runoff and slower groundwater baseflow.
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
0.53
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
655 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
1.1%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
1.07 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
3.25 m³/s
16 Sep 1968 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
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.
Compound broad-crested weir gauging a Chalk catchment with large Boulder Clay overlay and predominantly arable land use. Flows are heavily affected by artificial influences.
More detail
The catchment
Predominantly Chalk largely overlain with Boulder Clay. Predominantly arable land.
The station
Compound broad-crested weir (crest 3m), with central notch separated by splitter plates; situated under a road bridge.
How it measures flow
No out of bank flow rating and weir known to drown during high flows which is not accounted for. Road embankment prevents bypassing. One rating applied across period of record. Theoretical rating modified by current meter measurements suitable to 0.64m.
Flow regime
Flow regime altered by pumping of two boreholes into the river u/s of Quidenham to support Ely Ouse to Essex Transfer Scheme (abstraction point at Hockwold on the Little Ouse). This can lead to artifically raised flows during the summer. Other abstractions in the catchment.
The flow record
Weir drowned in 1968 floods. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in October 2018 (WINFAP Files v7).
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Whittle at Quidenham flooding today?
The current level is 0.07m, which is within the typical range of 0.05 to 0.30m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Quidenham?
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 Whittle at Quidenham?
The typical range at this station is 0.05m to 0.30m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.30m 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:
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