Environment Agency Flood Monitoring MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides access to the UK Environment Agency's Real Time Flood Monitoring API. This server allows you to access near real-time flood warnings, water level measurements, flow data, and monitoring station information.

🌊 Features

🚨 Flood Warnings & Alerts: Get current flood warnings and alerts with severity levels
📍 Flood Areas: Access information about flood alert and warning areas
🏭 Monitoring Stations: Find water level and flow monitoring stations across the UK
📊 Real-time Measurements: Access water levels, flows, and other measurements updated every 15 minutes
📈 Historical Data: Retrieve historical readings and measurements
🗺️ Geographic Filtering: Filter data by location using latitude, longitude, and distance
🔓 No API Key Required: Uses open government data with no registration needed

📦 Installation

For Claude Desktop Users

Add this to your Claude Desktop configuration:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "environment-agency": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-server-environment-agency"]
    }
  }
}

For Developers

npm install -g mcp-server-environment-agency

🛠️ Available Tools

Flood Warning Tools

get_flood_warnings - Get current flood warnings and alerts
get_flood_warning - Get details of a specific flood warning
get_flood_areas - Get flood areas (regions where warnings may apply)
get_flood_area - Get details of a specific flood area

Monitoring Station Tools

get_monitoring_stations - Get monitoring stations that measure water levels, flows, etc.
get_monitoring_station - Get detailed information about a specific monitoring station
get_measures - Get measurement types available across all stations
get_station_measures - Get all measurement types from a specific station

Reading Tools

get_readings - Get measurement readings from all stations
get_measure_readings - Get readings for a specific measurement type
get_station_readings - Get all readings from a specific monitoring station

💬 Usage Examples

Get detailed information for station 1029TH (Bourton Dickler)
Find monitoring stations within 25km of Cambridge
Find monitoring stations in Yorkshire
Show me today's water level readings from any 5 stations

📊 Data Types

Flood Warning Severity Levels

Severe Flood Warning - Severe Flooding, Danger to Life
Flood Warning - Flooding is Expected, Immediate Action Required
Flood Alert - Flooding is Possible, Be Prepared
Warning no Longer in Force - The warning is no longer in force

Measurement Parameters

Water Level (level) - Water levels at monitoring stations
Flow (flow) - Water flow rates
Temperature (temperature) - Air temperature
Wind (wind) - Wind direction and speed

Station Types

SingleLevel - Single water level measurement
MultiTraceLevel - Multiple level measurements
Coastal - Coastal monitoring stations
Groundwater - Groundwater level monitoring
Meteorological - Weather measurements

🚀 Development

Prerequisites

Node.js 18+
TypeScript

Setup

git clone https://github.com/dwain-barnes/mcp-server-environment-agency.git
cd mcp-server-environment-agency
npm install

Build

npm run build

Test

# Test the server
npm start

# Run test script
node test-server.js

Local Development

# Link for local testing
npm link

# Test with Claude Desktop using local version

📄 Data Attribution

This server uses Environment Agency flood and river level data from the real-time data API (Beta), provided under the Open Government Licence.

🔄 API Updates and Reliability

Data is updated every 15 minutes
The API may redirect during high load - the client follows redirects automatically
Responses may be cached for short periods
No service level guarantee - not suitable for safety-critical applications

📋 Rate Limits and Best Practices

For tracking all measurements, use a single call every 15 minutes
Use geographic and parameter filters to reduce response sizes
The API has built-in limits: default 500 items, maximum 10,000 for readings
Use pagination with limit and offset parameters for large datasets

📜 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

Environment Agency for providing open flood monitoring data
Model Context Protocol team for the excellent framework
UK Government for open data initiatives

Built by Dwain Barnes 🇬🇧