March 27, 2009

GEORGIA

March 28, 2009

March 29, 2009 April 3, 2009

April 2, 2009

April 1, 2009

0.50

0.25

0.10

0.01

3.0

2.5

2.0

1.5

1.0

0.75

0.50

0

10

8.0

6.0

5.0

4.0

3.0

Missing

Observed daily precipitation, in inches

EXPLANATION

Little River near Adel, Georgia. Photo by USGS.

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2009–3079

August 2009

Historic Flooding in South Georgia, March 27–April 3, 2009

A primary mission of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 

is the measurement and documentation of the magnitude and 

extent of hydrologic hazards, such as floods, droughts, and 

hurricane storm surge. USGS personnel were deployed for 

historic widespread flooding that occurred throughout South 

Georgia from a storm event beginning in the late evening of 

March 27 and continuing through April 3, 2009. Data collected 

by USGS personnel and a network of automated real-time 

streamgages are critical to emergency management officials so 

that informed decisions can be made before, during, and after 

an event to assist in the protection of life and property.

According to the Federal Emergency Management 

Agency (FEMA), 46 counties in Georgia were declared disaster 

areas due to flooding. FEMA reported that 1,875 homes and 

29 businesses were affected by floodwaters. No lives were 

lost in this flood. Approximately $60 million in public infrastructure damage occurred to roads, culverts, bridges and a 

water treatment facility (Joseph T. McKinney, Federal Emergency Management Agency, written commun., July 2009).

Rainfall totals from USGS gages varied from 6.9 inches in 

the Satilla River basin northwards to between 5.6 and 7.0 inches 

in the upper Oconee and Ocmulgee River basins, and from 

9.4 to 14.0 inches across the extreme southern part of Georgia 

in the Suwannee, Ochlockonee, Flint, and Chattahoochee 

River basins (see map on back). Daily rainfall radar estimates 

from the National Weather Service (below) show the areal 

extent of the rainfall over South Georgia during this event. 

Daily precipitation images from 

the National Weather Service, 

accessed June 24, 2009, at 

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/rfc

share/precip_analysis_new.php

Above left, flooding near Everett City, 

Georgia (photo by USGS). Above right, 

flooding in Lowndes County Georgia 

(photo courtesy of Lowndes County 

Emergency Management Agency). 
0 20 40 MILES

0

Base modified from 

U.S. Geological Survey

1:100:000-scale digital files

20 40 KILOMETERS

Worth

Sumter

Crisp

Miller

Macon

Marion

Randolph

Warren

mpkin

Calhoun

Evans

Dougherty

Forsyth

Seminole

Webster Schley

Ware

Burke

Clinch

Wayne

Laurens

Hall

Early

Floyd

Worth

Coffee

Bulloch

Charlton

Emanuel

Long

Camden

Dodge

Screven

Decatur

Grady

Thomas

Troup

Tift

Liberty

Wilkes

Harris

Irwin

Cobb

Jones

Appling

Polk

Sumter

Dooly

Gilmer

Bibb

Colquitt

Telfair

Bartow

Rabun

Walker

Fannin

Carroll

Mitchell

Talbot

Coweta

Echols

Union

Taylor

Wilcox

Elbert

Pike

Greene

Stewart

Hart

Henry

Pierce

Upson

Crisp

Heard

Clay

Putnam

Bacon

Walton

Gordon

Miller

Jackson

Butts

Lee

Fulton

Bryan

Glynn

Brooks

Macon

Baker

Berrien

Lowndes

Washington

Jasper

Hancock

Marion

Twiggs

Jefferson

Monroe

Toombs Chatham

Brantley

Jenkins

Effingham

Gwinnett

Murray

Wilkinson

Mcintosh

Cook

Morgan

Randolph

Cherokee

Houston

White

Terrell

Meriwether

Turner

Banks

Atkinson

Warren

DeKalb

Lumpkin

Oglethorpe

Newton

Paulding

Dade

Johnson

Madison

Wheeler

Jeff

Davis

Richmond

Lincoln

Pulaski

Columbia

Baldwin

Calhoun

Ben Hill

Evans

Crawford

Lanier

Lamar

Franklin

Whitfield

Pickens

Dougherty

Candler

Forsyth

McDuffie

Haralson

Chattooga

Seminole

Dawson

Towns

Fayette

Habersham

Peach

Oconee

Webster

Bleckley

Schley

Douglas

Spalding

Treutlen

Muscogee

Barrow

Quitman

Stephens

Catoosa

Montgomery

Taliaferro Clayton

Clarke

Chattahoochee

Glascock

Rockdale

GEORGIA

Augusta

Columbus

Tattnall

82°

84°

34°

32°

02351890 (7.7) 02350900

02349605

02347500

(8.9)

02314500

02226000

02225500

(9.3)

02223500

(6.1)

02215100

02213000

(7.0)

02212600

02208450

(5.6)

02203000

02202600

02202500

02201000

02198690

02198100

(3.7) 02198000

02193500

(6.1)

02353500

02350512

02225000

02216180

(1.3)

02215500

(1.3)

02357000

02356000

02354800 02353000

02352500

02341800

(13.4)

02227500 02226160

(6.9)

02318700

02317500

(11.8)

02316000 (13.3)

02327500

(10.6)

02318500

(9.4)

02318000 (14.0)

02228000

(6.9) 02226500 (7.2)

023177483 (8.7)

02354500 (12.2)

April 2009 flooding—

Streamgaging 

station and number. 

Recurrence 

interval, in years. 

(Storm rainfall 

total, in inches)

River basin

EXPLANATION

02198100 2 to 25

>25 to 50

>50 to 100

>100

02316000

02318700

02318000

Chattahoochee

Flint

Altamaha

Savannah

Ogeechee

Ochlockonee

Suwannee

Satilla–St. Marys

Discharge, in ft3/s

02318500 Withlacoochee River at 

U.S. Highway 84, near Quitman, Georgia 

March April

25 30 4 9 14 19 24 29

1,000 

100 

10,000 

100,000 

1948

02316000 Alapaha River near Alapaha, Georgia 

March April

25 30 4 9 14 19 24 29

Discrete

 measurement 

Continuous

 measurement 

Discharge, in ft3/s

1,000 

100 

10,000 

100,000 

Historic peak of record

1928 water year

02318000 Little River near Adel, GA 

March April

25 30 4 9 14 19 24 29

Discharge, in ft3/s

1,000 

100 

10,000 

100,000 

1948

02354500 Chickasawhatchee Creek 

at Elmodel, Georgia 

March April

25 30 4 9 14 19 24 29

Discharge, in ft3/s

1,000 

100 

10,000 

100,000 

1994

02327500 Ochlockonee River 

near Thomasville, Georgia 

March April

25 30 4 9 14 19 24 29

Discharge, in ft3/s

1,000 

100 

10,000 

100,000 

1948

023177483 Withlacoochee River 

near Bemiss, Georgia 

March April

25 30 4 9 14 19 24 29

Discharge, in ft3/s

1,000 

100 

10,000 

100,000 

1948

02228000 Satilla River at Atkinson, Georgia 

March April

25 30 4 9 14 19 24 29

Discharge, in ft3/s

1,000 

100 

10,000 

100,000 1929

02226500 Satilla River near 

Waycross, Georgia 

March April

25 30 4 9 14 19 24 29

Discharge, in ft3/s

1,000 

100 

10,000 

100,000 

1928

The March–April 2009 flooding is the highest recorded 

since 1948 for several rivers, and since 1929 for a few others. 

Almost all streamflow stations located below a line from 

Columbus, Georgia, to Augusta, Georgia, recorded flood 

conditions. Seven USGS field crews made 84 flood measurements over 10 days, and many stage-discharge ratings have 

been improved or confirmed for these high stages. Flood flows 

at 7 stream-gages exceeded the 100-year (1-percent chance) 

flood, flows at 10 streamgages exceeded the 25-year (4-percent 

chance) flood, and 17 exceeded the 10-year (10-percent chance) 

flood. Much of the floodwaters posed a threat further downstream in the Florida panhandle.

During this flood, the Satilla River near Waycross 

streamgage (02226500) recorded a new record peak, the highest 

flow in 73 years of data collection, and exceeded the previous 

record set in 1948. The river crested on April 5 at this gage at 

greater than a 200-year (0.5-percent chance) flood. At the Satilla 

River at Atkinson streamgage (02228000), the river was the 

highest since 1929, with a peak flow on April 7 that exceeded 

the 100-year (1-percent chance) flood. 

Flooding at the Withlacoochee River at U.S. Highway 84 

near Quitman streamgage (02318500) was the highest since 

1948 with a peak flow on April 5 that exceeded the 200-year 

(0.5-percent chance) flood. USGS field crews reported water 

flowing 5–6 feet deep over U.S. Highway 84 near this site when 

they measured it by boat. Upstream at the Withlacoochee River 

near Bemiss streamgage (023177483), flooding also was the 

highest since 1948 with a peak flow on April 4 that exceeded 

the 100-year (1-percent chance) flood.

By Brian E. McCallum, Anthony J. Gotvald, and Mark N. Landers

A selection of flood hydrographs

with discrete streamflow 

 measurements that depict

 the extent and magnitude 

 of flooding across South

 Georgia, March–April 2009.

 [ft3/s, cubic feet per second]