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1.04

Leatherhead

Mole
Mole catchment • Leatherhead • Surrey • ID: 3280TH • Level
(31m ago) • 3 readings/hr • 154 views

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Current Level
1.044 mASD
▬ Steady
24h Max
1.056 mASD
24h Min
1.044 mASD
Typical Range
1.01 - 2.61
mASD
Highest Recorded
7.42 mASD
28 Feb 2025
Since Nov 1986
Current level is 14% 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 23:15 ▬ steady 1.044 mASD
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 1.044 mASD
23 Aug 22:45 ▬ steady 1.044 mASD
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 1.045 mASD
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 1.044 mASD
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 1.044 mASD
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 1.045 mASD
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 1.045 mASD
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 1.045 mASD
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 1.045 mASD
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 1.045 mASD
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 1.045 mASD
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 1.045 mASD
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 1.045 mASD
23 Aug 18:45 ▬ steady 1.045 mASD
23 Aug 18:30 ▬ steady 1.045 mASD
23 Aug 18:15 ▬ steady 1.045 mASD
23 Aug 18:00 ▬ steady 1.045 mASD
23 Aug 17:45 ▬ steady 1.045 mASD
23 Aug 17:30 1.045 mASD

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2012 for the 6 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.8 km away).

1severe warning 38flood warnings 150flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 27 Jan 2026River Mole at Brockham and Pixham

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2026 0 4 7
2025 0 5 6
2024 0 6 26
2023 0 2 16
2022 0 1 10
2021 0 0 10
2020 0 3 10
2019 0 4 11
2018 0 0 2
2017 0 0 4
2016 0 0 13
2015 0 0 3
2014 0 9 10
2013 1 4 10
2012 0 0 12

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 Leatherhead flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Leatherhead
  • Watercourse: River Mole
  • Nearest Town: Leatherhead
  • County: Surrey
  • Coordinates: 51°17'42"N 0°20'10"W (51.294985, -0.336089)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1986
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: 3280TH
  • EA Gauge ID: 3280TH-level-stage-i-15_min-mASD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mASD
  • Typical rise rate: 1 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Mole
  • Typical Range: 1.006 – 2.610 mASD
  • Drainage Area: 371 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 1.04 mASD (EA at 23 Aug 23:15)
  • 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
0.51
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
826 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
10%
partly urbanised
Highest Recorded Flow
90.00 m³/s
24 Dec 2013
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 4.0913.502.340.9555% (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 20%Grassland 49%Arable 11%Urban 19%Other 1%
Urban 15% → 19% since 1990

Flow affected by: groundwater abstraction, effluent returns.

About this gauge

Ultrasonic station gauging a mixed land use catchment.

More detail

The catchment

A predominantly impervious (Weald Clay) catchment which drains through the Box Hill gap in the North Downs (Chalk and Upper Greensand). Diverse land use.

The station

Currently ultrasonic, replacing an electromagnetic gauge in 2009.

Flow regime

Some sewage effluent derives from outside the catchment; Gw abstraction from the Chalk headwaters also.

The flow record

Gap and some flow truncation in the time series between 1996 and 2009.

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
Electromagnetic
Operating since
1986
Station datum
27.8 mAOD
Flow record
1986–2024 · 38 yrs · 96% complete
Hydrometric area
39
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Mole at Leatherhead flooding today?

The current level is 1.04m, which is within the typical range of 1.01 to 2.61m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Leatherhead?

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.

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. Only about 3.3mm of rain has fallen nearby in the last 7 days, so the flow is being sustained mainly by groundwater. 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.

What is a normal level for the River Mole at Leatherhead?

The typical range at this station is 1.01m to 2.61m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 2.61m 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 →