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Flow Falling

RESTORMEL

Unknown
• ID: E45746 • Flow
(24m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 31 views
Current Flow
1.241 m3/s
▼ Falling (-3cm/hr)
24h Max
1.313 m3/s
24h Min
1.052 m3/s
Typical Range
-
Highest Recorded
3.63 m3/s
27 Aug 2026
Since Aug 2026
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Flow Readings

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Rising · +3 cm over 6h
20 Sep 07:30 ▼ -1 cm 1.241 m3/s
20 Sep 07:15 ▬ steady 1.255 m3/s
20 Sep 07:00 ▬ steady 1.255 m3/s
20 Sep 06:45 ▬ steady 1.255 m3/s
20 Sep 06:30 ▼▼ -6 cm 1.255 m3/s
20 Sep 06:15 ▬ steady 1.313 m3/s
20 Sep 06:00 ▲ +4 cm 1.313 m3/s
20 Sep 05:45 ▲ +3 cm 1.270 m3/s
20 Sep 05:30 ▼ -1 cm 1.241 m3/s
20 Sep 05:15 ▬ steady 1.255 m3/s
20 Sep 04:30 ▬ steady 1.255 m3/s
20 Sep 04:15 ▬ steady 1.255 m3/s
20 Sep 04:00 ▼ -4 cm 1.255 m3/s
20 Sep 03:30 ▲ +3 cm 1.299 m3/s
20 Sep 03:15 ▲ +2 cm 1.270 m3/s
20 Sep 03:00 ▲ +1 cm 1.255 m3/s
20 Sep 02:45 ▲ +1 cm 1.241 m3/s
20 Sep 02:30 ▲ +1 cm 1.227 m3/s
20 Sep 02:15 ▬ steady 1.213 m3/s
20 Sep 02:00 1.213 m3/s

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 16 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.2 km away).

9severe warnings 78flood warnings 236flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 2 Feb 2026 — South Cornwall Coast from Lizard Point to Gribbin Head excluding the tidal Fal Estuary

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2026 0 3 13
2025 0 5 20
2024 0 8 22
2023 0 5 12
2022 0 0 5
2021 0 0 10
2020 0 12 25
2019 0 6 18
2018 0 2 24
2017 0 0 11
2016 0 5 22
2015 0 2 13
2014 6 13 8
2013 0 1 6
2012 2 8 14
2011 0 0 9
2010 0 2 3
2008 1 0 1
2007 0 1 0
2006 0 5 0

Warnings apply to a whole flood area, not necessarily this exact spot. Years before 2006 aren't covered by the EA's historic record.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: RESTORMEL
  • Watercourse: —
  • Nearest reservoir: Blackpool Pit (13.7 km) · 79.5% full (as of 31 May 2026)
  • Coordinates: 50°25'52"N 4°40'46"W (50.431052, -4.679467)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: Flow gauging station (inferred)
  • Station Reference: E45746
  • Also at this site: Restormel (49110, level, reporting)
  • EA Gauge ID: E45746-flow-water-i-15_min-m3_s
  • Parameter: Flow
  • Unit: m3/s
  • Typical rise rate: 29 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Drainage Area: 169 km² upstream of this gauge
  • 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

🌊 Mixed response A 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
0.52
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,529 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +1% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.3%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
50.90 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
82.58 m³/s
27 Dec 1979 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 4.7614.413.040.8895% (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 15%Grassland 71%Arable 6%Heath/scrub 3%Urban 1%Other 4%
Grassland 76% → 71% since 1990

Flow affected by: surface-water abstraction, reservoir influence, public water supply.

Photos

Gauging-station photographs from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).

5 Jun 2025 — Looking upstream from gauging station towards left bank. Stage: +0.30m. 5 Jun 2025 Looking upstream from gauging station towards left bank. Stage: +0.30m. 5 Jun 2025 — Looking downstream from gauging station over weir. Fish counter visible. Stage: +0.30m. 5 Jun 2025 Looking downstream from gauging station over weir. Fish counter visible. Stage: +0.30m. 18 Dec 2020 — High flow event looking downstream on 18.12.2020. SG = 1.33, Q = 41.1m3/s 18 Dec 2020 High flow event looking downstream on 18.12.2020. SG = 1.33, Q = 41.1m3/s 18 Dec 2020 — High flow event looking upstream on 18.12.2020. SG = 1.33, Q = 41.1m3/s 18 Dec 2020 High flow event looking upstream on 18.12.2020. SG = 1.33, Q = 41.1m3/s 18 Aug 2015 — Downstream view of section from bridge. 18 Aug 2015 Downstream view of section from bridge. 18 Aug 2015 — Looking upstream to the control. 18 Aug 2015 Looking upstream to the control. 18 Aug 2015 — Left hand bank looking towards hut. 18 Aug 2015 Left hand bank looking towards hut. 18 Aug 2015 — Upstream view of section from bridge. 18 Aug 2015 Upstream view of section from bridge. NRFA gauging station photo NRFA gauging station photo Looking across weir during high flow event on 22-Dec-2012 at 2m. Looking across weir during high flow event on 22-Dec-2012 at 2m. Flooded area looking downstream of hut at 2m on 22-Dec-2012. Flooded area looking downstream of hut at 2m on 22-Dec-2012. High flow event on 22-Dec-2012 looking downstream of hut. Drowned at 2m. High flow event on 22-Dec-2012 looking downstream of hut. Drowned at 2m.

Photos © NRFA / UKCEH & the measuring authority — shown at web resolution. Full gallery on the NRFA ↗

About this gauge

Compound Crump profile weir with tailwater recorder. Flows influenced by Colliford and Siblybank reservoirs.

More detail

The catchment

Moderate relief catchment whose headwaters drain the kaolinised granite of Bodmin Moor. Middle and low reaches drain Devonian slates and grits. Some valley storage in gravels. Low grade agriculture, grazing, some forestry and cultivation. Pre-reservoir FARL2015 (for WINFAP 5.3 or later) or FARL (for earlier versions of WINFAP) should be used with these records because the peak flow data after the reservoir started impounding is rejected. Pre- and post-reservoir values for FARL2015 are 0.968 and 0.9132, respectively. Pre- and post-reservoir values for FARL are 0.985 and 0.92, respectively.

The station

Compound Crump profile weir with tailwater recorder, with middle crest length 3.5m and 2 side crests of 6.5m (16.5m total). Piers at 1.75m, wing walls at 2.5m. Superseded velocity-area station 48002 (Fowey at Restormel One), from which pre-1973 data is taken.

How it measures flow

Flood banks contain flows up to wing wall height, though drowning occurs ~0.8-1.0m. Upstream cableway, fish counter. Theoretical rating to 0.9m (~25 cumecs), updated in 2011 to fit gaugings above this level. Colliford Reservoir began to fill in July 1983. Recent gaugings and analysis from a tailwater recorder show that the weir goes non-modular from a stage of approx 1 m and is totally drowned above 1.3 m. However drowning is dealt with through rating by gaugings. Rating revised following gauging of 11/2010 event. Gaugings taken during 12/2012 floods confirmed this. Bypassing on left hand bank during 2012 flood but insignificant (<5%). Three peak flow ratings across period of record. Ratings sound across the range as max gauging is approx max recorded stage.

Flow regime

Runoff reduced by public water supply abstraction, causing substantial modifications to flow. 12-13% of the catchment is impounded - Colliford (1983) & Siblybank (1969) reservoirs . Other public water supply exports also affect the flow.

The flow record

Gap in peak flow rating record from October to December 1993 due to upgrade of the fish counter and remedial work on weir crest . Peak Flow data are rejected post-1983. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in October 2018 (WINFAP Files v7) and in August 2024 (WINFAP Files v13).

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
1961
Station datum
9.2 mAOD
Flow record
1961–2024 · 63 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1961
Hydrometric area
48
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is RESTORMEL flooding today?

The latest recorded level is 1.24m. Compare it with the recent history on the chart above to judge whether levels are unusually high.

Is the river level rising or falling at RESTORMEL?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently falling. The chart above shows the last 12 hours of measurements by default (up to 7 days), updated roughly every 15 minutes.

Why is the level slowly falling?

When little or no rain has fallen for a while, a river level gradually drops as the water stored in the ground and soil drains away with nothing to replace it. This is called baseflow recession and is normal in dry spells. A gentle decline like this is expected and is not a sign of a problem — downstream gauges often recede a little faster than headwaters further upstream, and levels recover once rain returns.

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.

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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 →