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⤴Unusual rise — FloodRadar+Top 1% rise rate for this gauge.
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You'll be notified when this gauge is rising more than 0.10 m/hr — a sign of rapidly increasing water levels.
You'll be notified when a new storm-overflow (sewage) discharge starts within ~3 km of this gauge, based on the water companies' near-real-time feeds.
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Not an emergency service — if in danger call 999. Alerts rely on
EA/SEPA/NRW data and are best-efforts. Terms
Current Level
0.233 mASD
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.270 mASD
24h Min
0.226 mASD
Typical Range
0.21 - 2.25
mASD
Highest Recorded
2.89 mASD
EA official record
2.93 in our data (since Oct 1982)
Current level is 8% of this
🚽Sewage overflows nearby
Recent Water Levels
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day
EA forecast (official)
Prediction V2
Prediction Eris
Nimbus beta
Experimental model fusing soil moisture, river flow, groundwater and catchment
character. The shaded band is its 10–90% range, widened so that about 80% of recent outcomes fall inside it.
Under evaluation — not yet promoted, so treat as a second opinion.
River Flow
90 days
Daily mean discharge (m³/s) with the daily min–max band, from the EA Hydrology API. Flow is the volume of water passing the gauge — often a more direct flood signal than level.
Flow Data: Daily mean flow (m³/s) to 6 Oct (2 days behind — the EA publishes each day's mean a day or two after it ends; unchecked, provisional)via EA Hydrology
Storm overflows whose water reaches this gauge on the mapped river network, nearest first by distance along the river. The status is each water company's monitor: it says whether an overflow is discharging, not how much or what it contains.
11 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 3.1 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 11 report not discharging.
Southern Water · into River Arun · 5.4 km away in a straight line · discharges into a tidal reach, where the water moves both ways
17 spills · 184 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
1 other overflow within 6 km is downstream of this gauge or on another branch of the river network, so it is not listed.
These are the water companies' monitor statuses; a spill does not by itself explain a change in the gauge level. River connections and distances are traced on OS Open Rivers (edition 2026-04), which leaves out many small channels. Explore the sewage map →
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 Hardham flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 6 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.
🌊 Groundwater-fedSlow and steady — fed largely by groundwater, so levels change gradually, not in sudden spikes.
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
0.67
groundwater-fed — slow & steady
Avg Annual Rainfall
980 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +7% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
2.3%
largely rural
Highest Daily Mean Flow
71.10 m³/s
16 Sep 1968 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
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.
Compound Crump weir and flood gate (installed in 1982) superseded a broad-crested weir.
More detail
The station
Lower Crump section acts as fish pass and flood gate is rarely used.
How it measures flow
Water can back-up from downstream confluence of Rother and Arun, causing station to drown at 16 cumecs or less (dependent on tide level). River also goes out of bank over adjacent fields at such flows. High flows extrapolated from Velocity-Area station at Fittleworth ~3km upstream.
Flow regime
Abstractions for public water supply (offtake is immediately upstream); minor spray irrigation impact.
The flow record
Flows truncated at ~16 cumecs since 1982 due to backwater and drowned weir conditions. No data on National River Flow Archive 1977-82.
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Rother at Hardham flooding today?
The current level is 0.23m, which is within the typical range of 0.21 to 2.25m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Hardham?
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.
What is a normal level for the River Rother at Hardham?
The typical range at this station is 0.21m to 2.25m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 2.25m are higher than usually seen and may indicate a flood risk.
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.
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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:
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