PROJECT ALERT NOTICE (GA NC SC) 10/02/2024 USGS SAWSC response to post-Hurricane Helene flooding

Date: Wed, 02 Oct 2024 22:10:04 EDT

Summary: The USGS South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC) continued post-storm field operations for sites safely accessible following the catastrophic flooding arising from the passage of Hurricane Helene across Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina on September 26-27, 2024.

(1) Post-storm field operations following Hurricane Helene have come to a completion for the Tifton, Savannah, and Norcross Field Offices as well as the Atlanta Urban Hydrology Unit (based in Norcross).

(2) The Charleston Field Office worked today to make high-flow measurements at two USGS streamgages downstream from Lake Marion near Pineville in the lower Santee River basin. As the flood waves from western NC and upstate SC have moved downstream through the lower Santee River basin, operators for Lake Marion increased releases from the dam (for the safety of the structure), which resulted in the loss of a USGS streamgage immediately downstream from the dam.

(3) Similarly, crews from the Columbia Field Office completed high-flow measurements of receding flows (for rating verification purposes) on the Lake Wateree tailrace (Catawba River) near Camden in north central SC.

(3) The Charlotte Field Office assisted the Asheville office today with gage repairs/rebuilds, completion of discharge measurements, and flagging/surveying of high-water marks for several USGS streamgages in the upper Catawba River basin and Watauga River basin in western NC.

(4) Four crews from the Asheville Field Office continued streamgage repairs as well as flagging/surveying of high-water marks in the Watauga River basin, the Pigeon River basin, and the Swannanoa River basin across western NC as well as the Saluda River basin in upstate SC.

(5) The South Atlantic Water Center is developing plans for a major effort to complete indirect discharge measurements across western NC and upstate SC, where 40+ streamgage locations have been initially identified as being potentially eligible for an indirect measurement.