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TORRINGTON

Unknown
• ID: E81805 (formerly SS51F004) • Flow
⚙ The Environment Agency registered this site as SS51F004 until 2 Aug 2026; its history is included on this page.
(24m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 263 views
Current Flow
1.703 m3/s
▬ Steady
24h Max
2.191 m3/s
24h Min
1.703 m3/s
Typical Range
-
Highest Recorded
49.96 m3/s
5 Nov 2025
Since Feb 2025
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Flow Readings

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -3 cm over 6h
20 Sep 07:30 ▬ steady 1.703 m3/s
20 Sep 07:15 ▬ steady 1.703 m3/s
20 Sep 07:00 ▬ steady 1.703 m3/s
20 Sep 06:45 ▬ steady 1.703 m3/s
20 Sep 06:30 ▬ steady 1.703 m3/s
20 Sep 06:15 ▬ steady 1.703 m3/s
20 Sep 06:00 ▬ steady 1.703 m3/s
20 Sep 05:45 ▬ steady 1.703 m3/s
20 Sep 05:30 ▬ steady 1.703 m3/s
20 Sep 05:15 ▬ steady 1.703 m3/s
20 Sep 04:30 ▬ steady 1.703 m3/s
20 Sep 04:15 ▬ steady 1.703 m3/s
20 Sep 04:00 ▼ -1 cm 1.703 m3/s
20 Sep 03:30 ▬ steady 1.717 m3/s
20 Sep 03:15 ▬ steady 1.717 m3/s
20 Sep 03:00 ▬ steady 1.717 m3/s
20 Sep 02:45 ▬ steady 1.717 m3/s
20 Sep 02:30 ▼ -1 cm 1.717 m3/s
20 Sep 02:15 ▬ steady 1.732 m3/s
20 Sep 02:00 1.732 m3/s

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 5 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.1 km away).

1severe warning 95flood warnings 138flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 27 Jan 2026River Torridge (Lower) from Dolton to Bideford, including Taddiport and Weare Giffard

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2026 0 2 1
2025 0 5 8
2024 0 9 9
2023 0 5 9
2022 0 2 2
2021 0 4 8
2020 0 9 10
2019 0 4 7
2018 0 3 9
2017 0 0 3
2016 0 1 7
2015 0 5 8
2014 1 9 6
2013 0 5 12
2012 0 17 17
2011 0 2 2
2010 0 1 1
2009 0 3 7
2008 0 4 5
2007 0 3 4
2006 0 2 3

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: TORRINGTON
  • Watercourse:
  • Coordinates: 50°56'47"N 4°8'13"W (50.946342, -4.136948)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: Flow gauging station (inferred)
  • Station Reference: E81805
  • Previous references: SS51F004 (to 2 Aug 2026)
  • Also at this site: Torrington (50116, level, reporting)
  • EA Gauge ID: E81805-flow-water-i-15_min-m3_s
  • Parameter: Flow
  • Unit: m3/s
  • Typical rise rate: 30 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Drainage Area: 663 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

🌊 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
0.43
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,270 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +5% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.4%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
238 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
338 m³/s
27 Dec 1979 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 15.9160.207.380.9335% (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 13%Grassland 70%Arable 11%Heath/scrub 3%Urban 2%
Grassland 74% → 70% since 1990

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

Velocity area station built in 1960 and reconstructed in 1977.

More detail

The catchment

Large, rural catchment draining coastal hills in the west and Dartmoor Granite in the south. Geology mostly Carboniferous shales and sandstones of the Culm. Moorland, rough grazing and generally low grade agricultural land.

The station

Velocity area station on straight reach built in 1960. Main channel 28m wide, cableway span 57m.

How it measures flow

Station reconstructed in 1977. Mobile bed. Low profile structure installed 2006 to mimic and stabilise natural bed control. Overtopping begins on left bank at about 3.3m. Well calibrated throughout range. Multiple ratings applied across period of record. Ratings since 1977 have identical top limbs. Well calibrated throughout range. No major changes to catchment.

Flow regime

Moderate modification to flows from Meldon Reservoir. Runoff also affected by abstraction for public water supply and industry/agriculture and effluent returns.

The flow record

Records prior to Oct 1962 unreliable.

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
Velocity–area
Operating since
1962
Station datum
13.9 mAOD
Flow record
1960–2024 · 64 yrs · 97% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1960
Hydrometric area
50
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is TORRINGTON flooding today?

The latest recorded level is 1.70m. 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 TORRINGTON?

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

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.

Preview

📮 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 →