USGS is collecting flood data and repairing streamgages damaged by Hurricane Helene

As millions of people across the southeast are trying to recover from deadly Hurricane Helene, a storm with a death toll of more than 200, the U.S. Geological Survey is actively repairing vital streamgages used for flood forecasting that were damaged by the storm.

"Our thoughts are with the communities and the countless people impacted by this tragic storm," said Holly Weyers, USGS Southeast Regional Director. "We not only care about these communities, we are part of them. From Florida to the Carolinas, USGS personnel live and work in these same areas impacted by the storm and several have suffered direct impacts themselves"

The native of eastern Tennessee and current North Carolina resident added that the USGS will continue to work with federal and state agencies to provide vital science that can be used to inform decisions that can help protect lives and property.

USGS streamgages provide real-time water data important to the National Weather Service, FEMA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and other state and local partners involved in issuing flood and evacuation warnings, coordinating emergency responses to communities, and operating flood-control reservoirs.

In addition to repairing streamgages, USGS field crews are also collecting flood data that will be used to determine the extent of the flooding. However, USGS experts are running into challenges collecting flood data since so many USGS streamgages were destroyed by floodwaters or damaged by wind and debris. Significant damage to roads and bridges in the hardest hit areas also makes traveling to determine flood levels difficult or dangerous.

So far, USGS provisional streamgage data indicates that at least 34 new flood records were set across the southeast from flooding caused by Helene. Eighteen of these provisional records were set in North Carolina, with six in Tennessee, six in South Carolina, three in Florida and one in Georgia. More information on the specific locations and records set will be available In the weeks and months to come. These and other provisional data will be verified or revised, and the total number of flood records set by Helene will likely increase as more data becomes available.

One known provisional flood record set by Helene was a water level of 24.67 feet on the French Broad River in Asheville, North Carolina. This new provisional record was measured by a USGS streamgage September 27, 2024, breaking the previous water level of 23.10 feet record at this site in July of 1916.

In Newport, Tennessee, USGS field crews were able to measure high-water marks left behind by flood waters and determined the Pigeon River reached a provisional peak water level of 29.72 feet. The previous record on this river was 21.40 feet set in 1902.

Editor's note: This story will be updated as more flood data becomes available.