Floods, Droughts, and Hurricanes

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has created flood-inundation maps for selected streamgage sites in North Carolina. These maps depict the approximate area that would be inundated at selected water levels, ranging from approximately top-of-bank to the maximum observed water level. The inundated areas depicted on these maps are approximate, and accuracy of the maps is a function of the accuracy of...

South Carolina State agencies use low-flow statistics for many applications, including determining waste-load allocations for point sources, development of total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for streams, determining the quantity of water that can be safely withdrawn from a particular stream, and preparing the State Water Plan. This project will monitor the low-flow frequency and duration statistics...

As part of the statewide response to the flooding, the USGS and S.C. Department of Transportation (SCDOT) conducted a cooperative study to collect high-water mark (HWM) data at 50 selected road crossings. The HWM elevations and descriptive data have been posted on the USGS Short-Term Network (STN). The STN is a national-scale application and database designed to support USGS event-based sensor...

The Kelly Barnes Dam, located above the Toccoa Falls Bible College near Toccoa, Georgia, failed in the early morning hours of November 6, 1977. Thirty-nine people died in the resulting flood, which inundated part of the campus including a trailer park. These Web pages make available two historical reports on the flood and an album of photos of the disaster.

Reliable estimates of the magnitude and frequency of floods are essential for such things as the design of transportation and water-conveyance structures, flood insurance studies, and flood-plain management. Flood-frequency estimates are particularly important in densely populated urban areas. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is using a multistate approach to update methods for determining the...

Peachtree Creek WaterWatch, Atlanta, GA Peachtree Creek is a major tributary to the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta, GA. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been monitoring stream stage and streamflow at or near the Northside Drive gage location since 1958. The Peachtree Creek watershed occupies a large portion of the northeast metro Atlanta area and collects precipitation runoff that drains into...