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Water Level Rising
0.26

Bewdley

Severn
Worcestershire Middle Severn catchment • Bewdley • Worcestershire • ID: 2001 • Level
(1h ago) • 4 readings/hr • 948 views

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Current Level
0.264 mASD
▲ Rising (+1cm/hr)
24h Max
0.264 mASD
24h Min
0.200 mASD
Typical Range
0.21 - 3.30
mASD
Highest Recorded
5.56 mASD
EA official record
A 12.57 reading (4 May 2025) sits in our unverified raw history and is not treated as the record
Current level is 5% of this
Current Flow
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🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Rising · +4 cm over 6h
08 Oct 01:30 ▲ +0.2 cm 0.264 mASD
08 Oct 01:15 ▲ +0.4 cm 0.262 mASD
08 Oct 01:00 ▲ +0.4 cm 0.258 mASD
08 Oct 00:45 ▲ +0.4 cm 0.254 mASD
08 Oct 00:30 ▲ +0.2 cm 0.250 mASD
08 Oct 00:15 ▲ +0.3 cm 0.248 mASD
08 Oct 00:00 ▲ +0.2 cm 0.245 mASD
07 Oct 23:45 ▲ +0.3 cm 0.243 mASD
07 Oct 23:30 ▲ +0.8 cm 0.240 mASD
07 Oct 22:30 ▲ +0.2 cm 0.232 mASD
07 Oct 22:15 ▲ +0.2 cm 0.230 mASD
07 Oct 22:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.228 mASD
07 Oct 21:45 ▬ steady 0.227 mASD
07 Oct 21:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.227 mASD
07 Oct 21:15 ▬ steady 0.226 mASD
07 Oct 21:00 ▬ steady 0.226 mASD
07 Oct 20:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.226 mASD
07 Oct 20:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.227 mASD
07 Oct 20:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.228 mASD
07 Oct 20:00 0.229 mASD

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Bewdley
  • Watercourse: River Severn
  • Nearest Town: Bewdley
  • County: Worcestershire
  • Coordinates: 52°23'1"N 2°19'21"W (52.383563, -2.322438)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Apr 1921
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: 2001
  • RLOI id: 2001 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: 2001-level-stage-i-15_min-mASD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mASD
  • Typical rise rate: 2 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Worcestershire Middle Severn
  • Typical Range: 0.207 – 3.300 mASD
  • Drainage Area: 4,325 km² upstream of this gauge
  • 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
  • EA Cross-check: 0.27 mASD (EA at 8 Oct 01:45)
  • 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.

Nearby Stations

Gauges connected to this river, and others nearby. A distance “by river” follows the river on the map; any other is in a straight line.

Connected upstream

Connected downstream

Same river system, separate branch

Distances by river: OS Open Rivers. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

💧 Storm overflows upstream of this gauge

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.

125 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 14.8 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 95 report not discharging, and for 30 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.

💧
Severn Trent Water · into Lakehouse Dingle Brook · 14.8 km upstream along the river
19 spills · 71 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
Placed on the river by its position alone.
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Tributary Of River Severn · 15.5 km upstream along the river
5 spills · 2 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into River Severn · 18.4 km upstream along the river
30 spills · 163 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into River Severn · 21.0 km upstream along the river
6 spills · 17 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into River Severn · 21.0 km upstream along the river
5 spills · 1 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into River Severn · 21.0 km upstream along the river
3 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into River Severn · 21.0 km upstream along the river
18 spills · 2 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into River Severn · 21.3 km upstream along the river
2 spills · 1 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

117 more further upstream, up to 193.5 km away along the river.

Nearby, connection not known

Within 6 km in a straight line, but the river map cannot say whether their water passes this gauge.

💧
Severn Trent Water · into Tributary Of River Stour · 5.6 km away in a straight line · several watercourses close by, nothing to choose between them
1 spill · 1 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

18 other overflows within 6 km are downstream of this gauge or on another branch of the river network, so they are 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 →

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

How often this river runs high

In a typical year this gauge reaches its typical high of 3.30 m on about 15 days. This year so far: 3 days.

2026 3 days so far
2025 9 days, 1 of them high · 1 high
2024 30 days, 12 of them high · 12 high
2023 26 days, 11 of them high · 11 high
2022 6 days, 5 of them high · 5 high
2021 11 days, 4 of them high · 4 high
2020 30 days, 19 of them high · 19 high
2019 19 days, 6 of them high · 6 high
2018 0 days
2017 0 days

Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out. The darker part is days above 3.77 m, the level this gauge tops only a few days a year.

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 13 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.1 km away).

1severe warning 131flood warnings 142flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 17 Nov 2025 — River Severn Sandy Lane and Severnside, Stourport

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2026 0 0 9
2025 0 5 5
2024 0 19 7
2023 0 25 2
2022 1 9 3
2021 0 7 4
2020 0 28 4
2019 0 9 6
2018 0 0 4
2017 0 0 1
2016 0 2 6
2015 0 1 0
2014 0 10 9
2013 0 6 11
2012 0 5 18
2011 0 5 0
2010 0 0 3
2009 0 0 12
2008 0 0 18
2007 0 0 16
2006 0 0 4

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 Bewdley flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 13 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

Show 5 more

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
0.54
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
980 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +5% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
2.0%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
341 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
637 m³/s
21 Mar 1947 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 62.1420636.5310.905% (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 11%Grassland 57%Arable 25%Heath/scrub 2%Urban 4%Other 1%

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

Currently an 18-path ultrasonic gauge this site was originally a VA station prior to 1989 and has been relocated in both 1950 and 1968.

More detail

The catchment

Diverse catchment; wet western 50% from impermeable Palaeozoic rocks and river gravels; drier northern 50% from Drift covered Carboniferous to Liassic sandstones and marls. Moorland, forestry, mixed farming.

The station

The current site was converted to an ultrasonic gauge in March 1982. The former Thermo gauge was upgraded during September 2019 and replaced with a nivus 18-path ultrasonic gauge. High flows are still measured using the velocity-area method. Site humbly started from individual staff gauge readings dating back to 1921 at Bewdley bandstand near Bewdley Bridge. Spot flow measurements were conducted 0.5miles upstream of Bewdley Bridge to build a stage discharge relationship. Later a station, Bewdley Recorder, formally opened at Elan Aqueduct 2.5miles upstream of Bewdley in 1923. However manual readings took place from the original site up until 1950. This measuring section used for the original site became the current location for the ultrasonic gauge at Bewdley. The installation of the site occurred in 1968. Records prior to 1968 are of modest precision and potentially there are inconsistencies due to datum changes. However the quality of data has been considered overall to be high.

How it measures flow

Multiple peak flow ratings applied across period of record. Uncertainty about the relationship at high flows for early record.

Flow regime

Naturalised flow series, from 1968 only, accommodates major usages other than g/w support. Some earlier records adjusted for Vyrnwy (1966-7). Significant exports for public water supply and power generation; minimum flow maintained by releases from Clywedog (built between 1965-67) and Vyrnwy Reservoirs (built between 1881 and 1888) and Shropshire groundwater.

The flow record

POTs available from 1972. The period-of-record maximum flow is listed as 637 cumecs in March 1947, although this is based on a daily mean flow (no instantaneous peak available) and the true peak is likely to have been higher. Lowest flows reprocessed in 1976 for 1921-68. Pre-1968 records have been correlated with the present station to produce a derived stage series for the present station. Further work is required to provide more confidence to the data series. Flows presented in NRFA apply a rating to the ultrasonic data so as to incorporate out of bank flow. The record given here combines the Elan Aqueduct, Bewdley Recorder, and Bewdley ultrasonic records. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2020 (WINFAP Files v9).

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
Ultrasonic
Operating since
1921
Station datum
17.0 mAOD
Flow record
1921–2024 · 103 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1923
Hydrometric area
54
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Severn at Bewdley flooding today?

The current level is 0.26m, which is within the typical range of 0.21 to 3.30m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Bewdley?

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.

What is a normal level for the River Severn at Bewdley?

The typical range at this station is 0.21m to 3.30m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 3.30m 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.

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 →