Contentnea Creek near Lucama, NC Flow & Water Level

NWS river forecast

Forecast from the NOAA National Water Prediction Service. Issued a few times a day and only while a forecast is active. Not for navigation.

Last 30 days

About this gauge

USGS gauge 02090380 sits on Contentnea Creek and reads everything draining 161 square miles of the Contentnea basin. Its datum sits 116 feet above sea level NAVD88. Daily flow has been on record here since 1965, 62 years of it.

Where this gauge sits in the drainage

Buckhorn Reservoir on Contentnea Creek near Lucama, NC sits immediately upstream, so dam releases rather than rainfall set the flow here. One gauged site sits upstream of here. The closest is Buckhorn Reservoir on Contentnea Creek near Lucama, NC, reading 155 square miles. This gauge adds the 6.0 square miles that drain in between. Downstream the next reading comes from Contentnea Creek near Black Creek, NC at 243 square miles, so what passes this gauge is about 66% of the water measured there.

Normal flows here

Contentnea Creek runs a median of 42 cfs at this gauge across 62 years of record. March is the fullest month at a median 173 cfs, and October the leanest at 26 cfs. The highest daily mean on record is 13,000 cfs in 1999, and the lowest is 0.0 cfs in 1976.

Medians from the USGS daily-statistics record, 1965 to 2026. A month at 100% is running at its own long-term median.

Flood stages and record crests

Contentnea Creek reaches flood stage at this gauge at 17 feet. The highest crest on record is 17.5 feet, in October 2016.

Flood categories and crest history from the NOAA National Water Prediction Service, gauge LUCN7. Stages are gage height, not depth. Not for navigation.