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Pdf with Image High Res Export pdf with image high res Preliminary Peak Stage and Streamflow Data at Selected Streamgaging Stations in North Carolina and South Carolina for Flooding Following Hurricane Matthew, October 2016 Open-File Report 2016 –1205 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Front cover. USGS hydrographer standing on flooded West 5th Street in Lumberton, North Carolina, on October 13, 2016, preparing to make a discharge measurement of the Lumber River at Lumberton (USGS station 02134170). Photograph by Jeffrey Moss, USGS. Preliminary Peak Stage and Streamflow Data at Selected Streamgaging Stations in North Carolina and South Carolina for Flooding Following Hurricane Matthew, October 2016 By J. Curtis Weaver, Toby D. Feaster, and Jeanne C. Robbins Open-File Report 2016 –1205 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior SALLY JEWELL, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey Suzette M. Kimball, Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2016 For more information on the USGS—the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment—visit http://www.usgs.gov or call 1–888–ASK–USGS. For an overview of USGS information products, including maps, imagery, and publications, visit http://store.usgs.gov/. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this information product, for the most part, is in the public domain, it also may contain copyrighted materials as noted in the text. Permission to reproduce copyrighted items must be secured from the copyright owner. Suggested citation: Weaver, J.C., Feaster, T.D., and Robbins, J.C., 2016, Preliminary peak stage and streamflow data at selected stream- gaging stations in North Carolina and South Carolina for flooding following Hurricane Matthew, October 2016: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2016 –1205, 38 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20161205. ISSN 2331-1258 (online) iii Contents Abstract ..........................................................................................................................................................1 Introduction.....................................................................................................................................................1 Purpose and Scope ..............................................................................................................................3 Study Area..............................................................................................................................................6 General Weather Conditions and Precipitation Causing the October 2016 Flooding .........................6 Methods Used to Collect Streamflow Data ...............................................................................................8 Peak Streamflow and Stage ......................................................................................................................10 Comparison of the October 2016 Flood to Past Floods ..........................................................................11 Summary........................................................................................................................................................14 References Cited..........................................................................................................................................15 Figures 1. Map showing Hurricane Matthew storm total rainfall, October 4–10, 2016 .......................2 2. Graph showing cumulative storm rainfall total and running totals for various time increments on October 7–9, 2016, at the Cape Fear River at William O. Huske Lock near Tarheel in Bladen County, North Carolina ..............................3 3. Image showing flooding in Lumberton in Robeson County, North Carolina, on October 11, 2016, just south and east of the I-95 crossing over the Lumber River ............4 4. Image showing flooding in and near Princeville in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, on October 13, 2016, near the U.S. Highway 64 crossing over the Tar River ...................................................................................................................................4 5. Map showing selected U.S. Geological Survey real-time streamgages in North and South Carolina ............................................................................................................5 6. Map showing the track of Hurricane Matthew through the Atlantic basin from September 29 through October 9, 2016 ............................................................................7 7. Photograph of U.S. Geological Survey personnel using an acoustic Doppler current profiler to make a streamflow measure ment at USGS station 02089000, Neuse River near Goldsboro in Wayne County, North Carolina, October 10, 2015 ...........8 8. Graph showing rating curves developed for use before and after the October 2016 flood for Lumber River at Boardman near the border between Robeson and Columbus Counties, North Carolina, showing streamflow measurements made during the event .....................................................................................9 9. Photograph of U.S. Geological Survey field crews conducting surveys of high-water marks to document the elevation of flood waters in Robeson County North Carolina, for the October 2016 flood ...............................................................................9 iv 10. Graphs showing cumulative rainfall and stage and streamflow at Flat Creek near Inverness in Hoke County, North Carolina, for September 1 through October 31, 2016 ..........................................................................................................................10 11. Graph showing stage and streamflow at Black River near Tomahawk in Sampson County, North Carolina, and stage at Black River near Currie in Pender County, North Carolina, for October 1–31, 2016 .......................................................11 12. Graphs showing observed stage before, during, and after Hurricane Matthew for Falls Lake and six USGS streamgages on the Neuse River downstream from Falls Lake, October 1–November 10, 2016 ....................................................................................12 13. Graphs showing observed streamflow before, during, and after Hurricane Matthew for Falls Lake and six USGS streamgages on the Neuse River downstream from Falls Lake, October 1–November 10, 2016 .............................................13 Tables 1. Preliminary peak stage and streamflow data collected at selected streamgages in North Carolina and South Carolina for the flood of October 2016 following Hurricane Matthew ....................................................................................................................18 2. Chronology of major floods in North Carolina since 1876 ....................................................36 3. Chronology of major floods in South Carolina since 1893 ...................................................38 v Conversion Factors U.S. customary units to International System of Units Multiply By To obtain Length foot (ft) 0.3048 meter (m) mile (mi) 1.609 kilometer (km) Area square mile (mi2) 259.0 hectare (ha) square mile (mi2) 2.590 square kilometer (km2) Flow rate foot per second (ft/s) 0.3048 meter per second (m/s) cubic foot per second (ft3/s) 0.02832 cubic meter per second (m3/s) mile per hour (mi/h) 1.609 kilometer per hour (km/h) Datums Vertical coordinate information is referenced to the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD 29). Horizontal coordinate information is referenced to either the North American Datum of 1927 (NAD 27) or the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83). Preliminary Peak Stage and Streamflow Data at Selected Streamgaging Stations in North Carolina and South Carolina for Flooding Following Hurricane Matthew, October 2016 By J. Curtis Weaver, Toby D. Feaster, and Jeanne C. Robbins Abstract (USGS) raingage at the Cape Fear River at William O. Huske Lock near Tarheel in Bladen County, North Carolina (USGS The passage of Hurricane Matthew across the central and station 02105500), recorded 16.87 inches of rain for the period eastern regions of North Carolina and South Carolina during October 7–9, 2016 (fig. 2). The National Weather Service October 7–9, 2016, resulted in heavy rainfall that caused reported that an observer affiliated with the Community major flooding in parts of the eastern Piedmont in North Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow (CoCoRaHS) network Carolina and coastal regions of both States. Rainfall totals of reported 17.00 inches of rain on October 7–9 near Hope 3 to 8 inches and 8 to more than 15 inches were widespread Mills in Cumberland County, North Carolina, while a second throughout the central and eastern regions, respectively. CoCoRaHS observer reported 18.38 inches of rain for the U.S. Geological Survey streamgages recorded peaks of record same period near Elizabethtown in Bladen County in North at 26 locations, including 11 sites with long-term periods of Carolina (Nicholas Petro, National Oceanic and Atmospheric 30 or more years of record. A total of 44 additional locations Administration [NOAA] National Weather Service, written had peak streamflows that ranked in the top 5 for the period commun., November 9, 2016). of record. Additionally, among 23 U.S. Geological Survey In South Carolina, rainfall totals in the Coastal
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