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6.78

Islip

Ray
Cherwell Thame and Wye catchment • islip • Oxfordshire • ID: 1489TH • Level
(27m ago) • 2 readings/hr • 153 views

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Current Level
6.784 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
6.786 m
24h Min
6.782 m
Typical Range
6.49 - 7.80
m
Highest Recorded
9.92 m
23 Nov 2022
Since Feb 1995
Current level is 68% of this
Current Flow
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🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 6.784 m
23 Aug 22:45 ▬ steady 6.784 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 6.784 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 6.784 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 6.784 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 6.784 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 6.783 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 6.783 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 6.783 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 6.783 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 6.783 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 6.783 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 6.783 m
23 Aug 18:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 6.782 m
23 Aug 18:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 6.783 m
23 Aug 18:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 6.782 m
23 Aug 18:00 ▬ steady 6.783 m
23 Aug 17:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 6.783 m
23 Aug 17:30 ▬ steady 6.782 m
23 Aug 17:15 6.782 m

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2011 for the 10 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.8 km away).

45flood warnings 232flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 8 Feb 2026River Ray for Islip

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 2 23
2025 2 12
2024 22 27
2023 0 20
2022 0 11
2021 2 15
2020 5 15
2019 5 18
2018 0 10
2017 0 10
2016 1 13
2015 0 7
2014 1 8
2013 1 14
2012 4 22
2011 0 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 islip flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Islip
  • Watercourse: River Ray
  • Nearest Town: islip
  • County: Oxfordshire
  • Nearest reservoir: Farmoor (11.2 km) · 92.0% full (as of 31 Jul 2026)
  • Coordinates: 51°49'11"N 1°14'32"W (51.819783, -1.242178)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 15 Aug 1995
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: 1489TH
  • EA Gauge ID: 1489TH-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: Cherwell Thame and Wye
  • Typical Range: 6.492 – 7.800 m
  • Drainage Area: 290 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 6.78 m (EA at 23 Aug 22:45)
  • 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.

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
0.49
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
669 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +2% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
2.1%
largely rural
Highest Recorded Flow
21.40 m³/s
5 Jan 2024
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 2.169.520.7460.1345% (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 7%Grassland 55%Arable 30%Urban 8%
Arable 40% → 30% since 1990

About this gauge

Ultrasonic gauging station located in the lower reaches of the River Ray just above the confluence of the River Cherwell.

More detail

The catchment

Relatively flat impermeable (Oxford Clay) catchment given over largely to agriculture (but includes Bicester). The station is just below Otmoor.

The station

Multi-path cross-configuration US (in two-channel section).

How it measures flow

Good hydrometric performance but very low velocities in low flow conditions.

Flow regime

Only minor disturbances to the natural (and responsive) flow regime.

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
Ultrasonic
Operating since
1994
Station datum
50.0 mAOD
Flow record
1995–2024 · 29 yrs · 98% complete
Hydrometric area
39
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Ray at Islip flooding today?

The current level is 6.78m, which is within the typical range of 6.49 to 7.80m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Islip?

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 Ray at Islip?

The typical range at this station is 6.49m to 7.80m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 7.80m 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 →