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0.23

Penkridge

Penk ⚙ Structure
Staffordshire Trent Valley catchment • Penkridge • Staffordshire • ID: 4053 • Level
(31m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 151 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
0.231 mASD
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.259 mASD
24h Min
0.224 mASD
Typical Range
0.22 - 0.76
mASD
Highest Recorded
2.50 mASD
EA official record
2.32 in our data (since Aug 1971)
Current level is 9% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Flood predictions aren't generated for lock / structure gauges — their levels are driven by gate operation, not by catchment rainfall, so the forecast models would have no skill here.

Recent Readings

Rising · +0.4 cm over 6h
24 Aug 00:00 ▲ +0.2 cm 0.231 mASD
23 Aug 23:45 ▬ steady 0.229 mASD
23 Aug 23:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.229 mASD
23 Aug 23:15 ▬ steady 0.228 mASD
23 Aug 23:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.228 mASD
23 Aug 22:45 ▲ +0.3 cm 0.227 mASD
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 0.224 mASD
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.224 mASD
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.224 mASD
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.224 mASD
23 Aug 20:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.224 mASD
23 Aug 20:15 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.225 mASD
23 Aug 20:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.224 mASD
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.225 mASD
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.225 mASD
23 Aug 19:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.225 mASD
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.226 mASD
23 Aug 18:45 ▬ steady 0.226 mASD
23 Aug 18:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.226 mASD
23 Aug 18:15 0.227 mASD

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 17 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.2 km away).

122flood warnings 234flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 2 Jun 2026Saredon Brook at Standeford near Coven

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 4 10
2025 3 15
2024 34 29
2023 10 14
2022 2 10
2021 5 18
2020 10 24
2019 14 21
2018 4 11
2017 0 7
2016 9 14
2015 0 1
2014 1 16
2013 3 9
2012 18 7
2011 0 2
2010 0 4
2009 1 3
2008 4 9
2007 0 8
2006 0 2

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 Penkridge flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Penkridge
  • Watercourse: River Penk
  • Nearest Town: Penkridge
  • County: Staffordshire
  • Nearest reservoir: Blithfield (16.7 km) · 100.0% full (as of 3 Aug 2026)
  • Coordinates: 52°43'40"N 2°7'4"W (52.727805, -2.117669)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Aug 1971
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station (multi-sensor)
  • Station Reference: 4053
  • EA Gauge ID: 4053-level-stage-i-15_min-mASD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mASD
  • Typical rise rate: 3 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: ⚙ Yes — lock, weir, sluice or pump
  • Catchment Area: Staffordshire Trent Valley
  • Typical Range: 0.217 – 0.756 mASD
  • Drainage Area: 272 km² upstream of this gauge
  • EA Cross-check: 0.04 mASD (EA at 23 Aug 23:45)
  • 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
0.46
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
738 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
11%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
28.65 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
60.10 m³/s
25 Jun 2007
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 2.367.291.460.5705% (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 5%Grassland 42%Arable 35%Urban 17%Other 1%
Arable 41% → 35% since 1990

Flow affected by: 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

Originally a velocity area station the station was closed in 1983 and operated at level only until 1990 when a crump profile Flat V weir in trapezoidal channel was installed.

More detail

The catchment

Low to moderate relief catchment, glacial gravels over Mercia Mudstone to the west with Boulder Clay over Sherwood S'st to the east. Western part of the catchment rural; part of Wolverhampton in the south and Cannock in the East. Elsewhere, mixed farming with some forestry.

The station

ADCP gaugings perfomed between weir wing walls or approximately 15m upstream of weir. High level/flood gaugings carried out off upstream road bridge. Periodic weed cutting carried out by contractors during growing season to prevent weir from drowning out prematurely.

How it measures flow

Multiple peak flow ratings applied across period of record. Current rating fits corresponding gaugings very well to maximum gaugings (2.3m). Local bankfull conditions - channel width is 15m. Early drowning caused by weed growth.

Flow regime

Substantial augmentation of flows from WRW.

The flow record

Station closed in 1983 with level only data until 1990 when data recommences after installation of crump profile weir. Missing data from 2017-05-14 to 2017-09-24 because the site was affected by downstream weed, so the weir was drowned (non-modular) during the summer months. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in October 2018 (WINFAP Files v7). Rating reviewed in 2022 and data reprocessed from 2015.

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
1971
Station datum
76.3 mAOD
Flow record
1976–2024 · 48 yrs · 86% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1971
Hydrometric area
28
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Penk at Penkridge flooding today?

The current level is 0.23m, which is within the typical range of 0.22 to 0.76m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Penkridge?

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 Penk at Penkridge?

The typical range at this station is 0.22m to 0.76m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.76m 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 →