Chattooga River level at Long Creek
South Carolina · Paddling & whitewater
Measured at USGS 02177000 — CHATTOOGA RIVER NEAR CLAYTON, GA · NWS forecast point CYNG1
Reading taken · as of 28 min ago
In its normal runnable range
At 258 CFS, this gauge is inside the middle half of the 86 years USGS has recorded for this date (1940–2026), at 85% of the 304 CFS median.
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Flood stages at Long Creek
National Weather Service categories for gauge CYNG1, WFO GSP. Impact wording is the NWS's own, verbatim.
-
Major flood 29.0 ft
- 42.0 ft ROAD OVER THE RIVER WILL BEGIN TO FLOOD...BUT IS WELL ABOVE RECORD CREST OF 13.8 FEET.
-
Moderate flood 20.0 ft
-
Minor flood 15.0 ft
- 15.0 ft ROADS DOWNSTREAM MAY START TO FLOOD
-
Action 14.0 ft
- Right now 1.35 ft
Flow history at Long Creek
Daily values from USGS 02177000, updated every 15 to 60 minutes; NWS forecast for CYNG1 reissued through the day. Provisional.
Highest crests on record at Long Creek
12 on record
| Stage | Flow | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 13.80 ft | 29,000 CFS | Aug 30, 1940 |
| 12.00 ft | — | May 28, 1973 |
| 11.37 ft | 34,300 CFS | Sep 27, 2024 |
| 11.21 ft | 33,300 CFS | Sep 17, 2004 |
| 11.12 ft | — | Oct 4, 1964 |
| 10.36 ft | — | May 15, 1976 |
| 10.12 ft | — | Mar 4, 1979 |
| 9.21 ft | 14,950 CFS | Sep 8, 2004 |
| 9.17 ft | — | Feb 13, 1966 |
| 9.09 ft | 12,600 CFS | Jan 8, 1998 |
Crests published by the National Weather Service.
About Chattooga River at Long Creek
Three different places are involved in this page and it is worth untangling them. The USGS station is published as Chattooga River near Clayton, GA; the NWS forecast point that supplies the flood ladder is Chattooga River at Hwy 76; and the slug is Long Creek, SC. The readings and the flood categories are therefore not measured at the same location.
The flood ladder itself is wide and largely untested: action 14 feet, minor 15, moderate 20, major 29. No crest in the twelve on file has ever reached action stage. The highest is 13.8 feet, from August 1940. What the record does show is a channel that has changed: the 1940 crest came from 29,000 CFS, while September 2024's larger 34,300 CFS peak crested lower, at 11.37 feet. Daily statistics cover 1940 to 2026 and run from 68.4 CFS to 19,000 CFS.
Chattooga River at Long Creek — common questions
6 questions
Has this river ever reached its flood stages?
Not on the crest record the NWS holds. Action stage is 14 feet and the highest crest on file is 13.8 feet, from 30 August 1940. Moderate flood is 20 feet and major is 29, both far above anything recorded. A 15-foot span between action and major, with no crest ever reaching the first rung, means the category language on this page has effectively never been exercised.
Why does an older flood show a higher stage than a bigger recent one?
It is in the data rather than an error. The August 1940 peak of 29,000 CFS crested at 13.8 feet; the September 2024 peak of 34,300 CFS, about eighteen percent larger, crested at 11.37 feet. Between them the October 1964 peak of 27,200 CFS reached 13.2 feet. The relationship between flow and stage at this site is not the same now as it was in 1940, so compare old and new events by discharge rather than by feet.
How does the Chattahoochee at Helen compare?
Strongly, at a very different scale. Over 16,578 shared days since May 1981 the two correlate at 0.925 in log flow, on gauges 25.2 miles apart, with this one running at a median of about 4.7 times the Helen reading. Same weather, same mountains, and roughly five times the water.
How fast can Chattooga River at Long Creek come up?
Fast. It is free-flowing, so rain upstream moves it directly. Several feet in a few hours is normal after a heavy storm.
Is Chattooga River at Long Creek high or low for this time of year?
The USGS median flow for late September here is 304 CFS, from 86 years of record (1940–2026). Today sits inside the middle half of those years, at 85% of the median. The comparison is what makes the raw number mean anything: the same reading is a drought on one river and a flood on another.
How often does this reading update?
USGS transmits from gauge 02177000 every 15 to 60 minutes, and the National Weather Service reissues the flood forecast for CYNG1 a few times a day — more often when the river is rising. This page refreshes from both when you open it. The timestamp is in the gauge's local time.