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0.41

Fakenham

Wensum
Broadland Rivers catchment • Fakenham • Norfolk • ID: E25940 • Level
(21m ago) • 2 readings/hr • 154 views

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Not an emergency service — if in danger call 999. Alerts rely on EA/SEPA data and are best-efforts. Terms

Current Level
0.408 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.411 m
24h Min
0.408 m
Typical Range
0.09 - 0.64
m
Highest Recorded
1.16 m
23 Apr 2026
Since Feb 1980
Current level is 35% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -0.3 cm over 10h
23 Aug 23:30 ▬ steady 0.408 m
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 0.408 m
23 Aug 22:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.408 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 0.409 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.409 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.409 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.409 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.409 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.409 m
23 Aug 18:30 ▬ steady 0.409 m
23 Aug 18:00 ▬ steady 0.409 m
23 Aug 17:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.409 m
23 Aug 17:00 ▬ steady 0.410 m
23 Aug 16:30 ▬ steady 0.410 m
23 Aug 16:00 ▬ steady 0.410 m
23 Aug 15:30 ▬ steady 0.410 m
23 Aug 15:00 ▬ steady 0.410 m
23 Aug 14:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.410 m
23 Aug 14:00 ▬ steady 0.411 m
23 Aug 13:30 0.411 m

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2007 for the 1 flood area linked to this gauge (nearest 5.6 km away).

0flood warnings 6flood alerts

Most recent flood alert: 5 Jan 2024The River Wensum upstream of Hempton, including the River Tat

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2024 0 2
2020 0 1
2019 0 1
2008 0 1
2007 0 1

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 Fakenham flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Fakenham
  • Watercourse: River Wensum
  • Nearest Town: Fakenham
  • County: Norfolk
  • Coordinates: 52°49'38"N 0°50'51"E (52.827359, 0.847422)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 13 Feb 1980
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: E25940
  • EA Gauge ID: E25940-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: Broadland Rivers
  • Typical Range: 0.091 – 0.640 m
  • Drainage Area: 162 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.41 m (EA at 23 Aug 23:00)
  • 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

🌊 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
0.86
groundwater-fed — slow & steady
Avg Annual Rainfall
728 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
1.1%
largely rural
Highest Recorded Flow
8.79 m³/s
12 Feb 1977
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.8672.000.6870.2485% (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 31%Arable 58%Urban 4%
Arable 76% → 58% since 1990

Flow affected by: groundwater abstraction, 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

Station gauging a Chalk catchment with mainly permeable soil types that contribute to muted flood response, minimal gw extractions.

More detail

The catchment

Low-lying Chalk catchment largely overlain with Boulder Clay and some sands and gravels. Mainly permeable soil types. Predominantly arable.

The station

Compound Crump with low flow notch, immediately u/s of Fakenham Mill. Removed from peak flows dataset in September 2019 (WINFAP Files v8).

How it measures flow

An automated lifting gate for retaining summer levels acts as a sharp-crested weir. Gate is raised in winter to pass high flows. Unlikely to be bypassed apart from in exceptional events, not known to go non modular within operating range, theoretically rated. There are two ratings at the site, one for gate open and one for gate closed. When gate is up (open) there appears to be a small underestimation of flow by the rating, probably due to small amount of bypass at structure.

Flow regime

Permeable soils contribute to muted flood response. Groundwater abstractions have a minimal impact on runoff.

The flow record

No data for 17/01/2020 to 02/03/2020 due to manual gate movements. Unable to calculate flow when gate is manually operated.

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
1966
Station datum
33.7 mAOD
Flow record
1966–2024 · 58 yrs · 99% complete
Hydrometric area
34
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Wensum at Fakenham flooding today?

The current level is 0.41m, which is within the typical range of 0.09 to 0.64m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Fakenham?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently steady. The chart above shows the last 7 days of measurements, updated roughly every 15 minutes.

What is a normal level for the River Wensum at Fakenham?

The typical range at this station is 0.09m to 0.64m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.64m 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, floods since 1946, warning history, river behaviour and nearby storm overflows. £19 one-off. Learn more →