Arun and Western Streams catchment
• Houghton • West Sussex • ID: E9930 • Level
This gauge is tidally influenced — levels rise and fall with each tide, so rapid changes here
are normal and don't necessarily indicate flooding.
(34m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 174 views
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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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Current Level
0.631 mAOD
▲ Rising (+50cm/hr)
24h Max
2.037 mAOD
24h Min
0.314 mAOD
Typical Range
1.40 - 2.50
mAOD
Highest Recorded
3.69 mAOD
EA official record
3.69 in our data (since Sep 1999)
🚽Sewage overflows nearby
Recent Water Levels
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day
EA forecast (official)
Flood predictions aren't generated for
tidal gauges —
their levels are driven by the tide,
not by catchment rainfall, so the forecast models would have no skill here.
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.
25 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 15.6 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 23 report not discharging, and for 2 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.
Southern Water · into Tidal Waters Of River Arun · 5.5 km away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
93 spills · 115 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
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 →
In a typical year this gauge reaches its typical high of 2.50 m
on about 41 days.
This year so far: 33 days.
202633 days, 5 of them high · 5 highso far
202537 days, 3 of them high · 3 high
202455 days, 3 of them high · 3 high
202362 days, 4 of them high · 4 high
202245 days, 4 of them high · 4 high
202128 days, 2 of them high · 2 high
202053 days, 5 of them high · 5 high
201946 days, 6 of them high · 6 high
201832 days, 2 of them high · 2 high
201711 days
Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out.
The darker part is days above 3.08 m, the level this gauge tops only a few days a year.
Flood history near this gauge
Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2012 for the 16 flood
areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.4 km away).
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 Houghton flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 16 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.
Is the River Arun at Houghton Bridge flooding today?
The current level is 0.63m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Houghton Bridge?
Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently rising. 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.
What is a normal level for the River Arun at Houghton Bridge?
The typical range at this station is 1.40m to 2.50m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 2.50m 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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📮 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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