Floods

The USGS New Jersey Water Science Center streamgage program is part of the nationwide program that provides streamflow information for a variety of purposes—including the protection of life and property, infrastructure design, recreational usage, and long-term trend assessment. This information is critical to resource managers, farmers, fishermen, kayakers, land-use planners, engineers...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and New Jersey Office of Emergency Management conducted a study to produce flood-inundation maps for storm surge flooding scenarios in the coastal areas of 10 New Jersey counties. The coastal storm-surge inundation maps were created from data modelled in the FEMA Region II Coastal Storm...

On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New Jersey after several days of impacting the Atlantic coastline. Ten years later the impacted communities have recovered and rebuilt, and the New Jersey Water Science Center has expanded its scientific understanding of storm impacts on our state.

Static webcams have been installed at a number of real-time stream-gaging locations in New Jersey to allow you to view the current river-stage conditions. These webcams provide valuable information to the National Weather Service, emergency managers, and area residents to evaluate real-time conditions in river and coastal environments during storms.

Following Hurricane Sandy, the USGS began construction of an overland Surge, Wave, and Tide Hydrodynamics (SWaTH) Network along the Northeastern Atlantic Coast from North Carolina to Maine. This network, developed collaboratively with numerous partners, features the integration of long-term tide gage networks, with real-time rapid-deployment gages (RDG) and mobile storm-tide sensors (STS). An...

USGS New Jersey Water Science Center Flood Reports and other documentation from 1896 to the present.

The USGS reports document New Jersey floods from 1896 to the present. Early spring and winter flooding in New Jersey tends to occur as a result of widespread, steady rain of moderate intensity that falls on frozen ground. Snow and ice melt may increase the chance of winter flooding. Summer flooding resulting from thunderstorms typically occurs in small streams and is of local extent. Late summer...

Hurricane Sandy made a variety of impacts along the highly populated northeastern Atlantic seaboard in October 2012. Improved understanding of these impacts will better prepare us for the next one. As a result the USGS science provides a strong foundation for decision makers, planners and resource managers.

A method of estimating the flood magnitude and frequency of ungaged streams in New Jersey is an important need of engineers and planners. The potential for flooding and an increase in the potential damage due to flooding has increased in many areas as the population of New Jersey has grown from about 5 million people in 1950 to over 8 million people in 2000. The overall objective of this project...

Updated flood-frequency figures will be developed for the 5 USGS gaging stations along the Delaware River on New Jersey's western boundary. This work will be closely coordinated with the US Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District.

The objectives of this study were to locate and survey in high water marks, determine updated flood frequencies for Delaware River gages in NJ, and publish a report. This is in response to a major flood occurred along the Delaware River on April 3-5, 2005.

Federal, state and local agencies need flood-peak data for zoning, building permitting, and flood protection. Flood data needed are high-water elevations, flood discharges, and flood-frequency information. Stankowski in 1974 developed equations relating peak discharge to basin characteristics. Forty-six percent more station years of flood data are now available for analysis. Much of the additional...