Shebbear Dipper Mill Flood System Latest status: River level: 1.02 metres on Mon 9th Dec 2019 at 0430GMT
A time from 0400GMT - 0500GMT means there has been no flood alert so far today. Click below for explanation The 'traffic lights' on the left show the latest status. The graph to the right shows today's river levels You may need to refresh the page to see the latest data
What does all this mean?:
Firstly make sure you are seeing today's latest information; you may need to refresh the page by pressing the ⟳ icon, or F5 key or CmdR for Mac.
The blue/black line shows the river level. To save battery and costs - unless there is flooding potential - it is only reported once-daily, around 4am (GMT). So if you are seeing a time between 0400GMT - 0500GMT, that means the river is fine; relax!!!
Once the river level reaches the amber level (from 1.7m), flooding in the near future is possible. From this level, the System reports every 15mins.
Once the river reaches the red area (from 1.9m), flooding becomes highly likely, or may have already happened (see FAQ below)
This information can only ever be an advisory and, obviously, care should always be taken when crossing Dipper Mill during adverse weather. Information on current river level and how fast it is rising should allow you to make more informed judgements appropriate to your own situation Remember you cross at your own risk.
FAQS
Why is all this so uncertain?-the experts advise that the water flows around Dipper are indeed complex. Although the river level has a major influence, additional factors affect whether the road actually floods at a given river-level.
So why not put a sensor by the road? - nice idea, but firstly the sensors work best when continuously immersed and can fail early if not. Also cattle in the adjacent fields may disrupt the sensors, or confuse them by introducing their own water flows! Finally, this approach would not give early warning of flood, and the rate of change is so important to decision-making.
What's wrong with a web-cam? - nothing, in principle, as long as we spend enough to get good night-time vision. However there is no power to the site and the mobile communications used are not up to the job of video. Providing mains power and broadband connection would be very expensive.
