Gills Creek at Columbia, SC Water Level Today

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 02169570 sits on Gills Creek and reads everything draining 60 square miles of the Congaree basin. Its datum sits 136 feet above sea level NAVD88. Daily flow has been on record here since 1967, 60 years of it.

Where this gauge sits in the drainage

Gills Creek below Lake Katherine Spillway Columbia, SC sits immediately upstream, so dam releases rather than rainfall set the flow here. Two gauged sites sit upstream of here. The closest is Gills Creek below Lake Katherine Spillway Columbia, SC, reading 53 square miles. This gauge adds the 6.2 square miles that drain in between. Downstream the next reading comes from Gills Creek at SC 48, near Columbia, SC at 67 square miles, so what passes this gauge is about 89% of the water measured there. Water passing here goes on to Congaree River at Congaree Np near Gadsden, SC and Congaree River at U.s Hwy 601 near Fort Motte, SC.

Normal flows here

Gills Creek runs a median of 38 cfs at this gauge across 60 years of record. January is the fullest month at a median 81 cfs, and September the leanest at 27 cfs. The highest daily mean on record is 1,730 cfs in 1986, and the lowest is 1.1 cfs in 2007.

Medians from the USGS daily-statistics record, 1967 to 2026. A month at 100% is running at its own long-term median.

Flood stages and record crests

Gills Creek reaches flood stage at this gauge at 6.7 feet. NWS starts watching it at 6 feet. The highest crest on record is 19.6 feet, in October 2015.

Flood categories and crest history from the NOAA National Water Prediction Service, gauge GILS1. Stages are gage height, not depth. Not for navigation.