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🌊 Tide going out · low water in ~3h

Littlehampton

Arun 🌊 Tidal
Arun and Western Streams catchment • Littlehampton • West Sussex • ID: E9740 • 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.
(32m ago) • 2 readings/hr • 175 views

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Get notified about Littlehampton — tick as many as you like, they all share the notify settings below.

You'll be notified when this gauge is rising more than 0.10 mAOD/hr — a sign of rapidly increasing water levels.

Each one is saved as its own alert — pause or remove them individually any time.

Not an emergency service — if in danger call 999. Alerts rely on EA/SEPA data and are best-efforts. Terms

Current Level
0.371 mAOD
▼ Falling (-52cm/hr)
24h Max
1.309 mAOD
24h Min
-0.734 mAOD
Typical Range
-
Highest Recorded
32.77 mAOD
7 Mar 2022
Since Oct 2014
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

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.

Recent Readings

Rising · +66 cm over 7h
23 Aug 23:00 ▼▼ -13 cm 0.371 mAOD
23 Aug 22:45 ▼▼ -67 cm 0.500 mAOD
23 Aug 21:15 ▼▼ -8 cm 1.174 mAOD
23 Aug 21:00 ▼ -5 cm 1.256 mAOD
23 Aug 20:30 ▲ +1 cm 1.309 mAOD
23 Aug 20:00 ▲ +3 cm 1.297 mAOD
23 Aug 19:45 ▲ +4 cm 1.264 mAOD
23 Aug 19:30 ▲▲ +8 cm 1.223 mAOD
23 Aug 19:15 ▲▲ +8 cm 1.148 mAOD
23 Aug 19:00 ▲▲ +10 cm 1.068 mAOD
23 Aug 18:45 ▲▲ +11 cm 0.968 mAOD
23 Aug 18:30 ▲▲ +11 cm 0.854 mAOD
23 Aug 18:15 ▲▲ +14 cm 0.749 mAOD
23 Aug 18:00 ▲▲ +11 cm 0.611 mAOD
23 Aug 17:45 ▲▲ +12 cm 0.501 mAOD
23 Aug 17:30 ▲▲ +14 cm 0.381 mAOD
23 Aug 17:15 ▲▲ +11 cm 0.240 mAOD
23 Aug 17:00 ▲▲ +24 cm 0.133 mAOD
23 Aug 16:30 ▲▲ +19 cm -0.106 mAOD
23 Aug 16:00 -0.293 mAOD

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2012 for the 24 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.4 km away).

36flood warnings 368flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 8 Jan 2026Climping

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 1 9
2025 0 28
2024 6 75
2023 8 43
2022 3 40
2021 0 18
2020 2 70
2019 1 16
2018 0 3
2017 0 3
2016 0 12
2015 0 5
2014 2 33
2013 2 6
2012 11 7

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 Littlehampton flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Littlehampton
  • Watercourse: River Arun
  • Nearest Town: Littlehampton
  • County: West Sussex
  • Coordinates: 50°48'25"N 0°32'38"W (50.806886, -0.543902)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 10 Mar 1992
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: Tidal / coastal station
  • Station Reference: E9740
  • EA Gauge ID: E9740-level-stage-i-15_min-mAOD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mAOD
  • Typical rise rate: 116 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: 🌊 Yes — levels follow the tide
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Arun and Western Streams
  • EA Cross-check: 0.50 mAOD (EA at 23 Aug 22:45)

Geographic coordinates may reflect the access point for the gauge, and not the precise location in the watercourse that it is taking readings from.

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Arun at Littlehampton flooding today?

The latest recorded level is 0.37m. 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 Littlehampton?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently falling. 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 0.0mm 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.

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 →