TidalMap
Explore this water on the live chart →

Roanoke River at Buggs Island, VA Water Level Today

Virginia · USGS gauge 02079500 · live data · Updated Oct 28, 2026

Loading…

About this gauge

USGS gauge 02079500 sits on the Roanoke River and reads everything draining 7,866 square miles of the Roanoke Rapids basin. Its datum sits 197 feet above sea level NGVD29. Daily flow is on record here from 1947 to 1962, 15 years in all.

Where this gauge sits in the drainage

John H Kerr Reservoir at Dam near Boydton, VA sits immediately upstream, so dam releases rather than rainfall set the flow here. No gauged site sits above this one on the mainstem, so this is the first published reading on the river. Downstream the next reading comes from Lake Gaston (Roanoke River) near Elams, NC at 8,309 square miles, so what passes this gauge is about 95% of the water measured there. Water passing here goes on to Roanoke River at Roanoke Rapids, NC.

Normal flows here

The Roanoke River runs a median of 5,555 cfs at this gauge across 15 years of record. April is the fullest month at a median 9,665 cfs, and September the leanest at 3,855 cfs. The highest daily mean on record is 69,600 cfs in 1948, and the lowest is 140 cfs in 1957.

Median flow by month
MonthMedian flowShare of annual median
Jan6,200 cfs112%
Feb8,700 cfs157%
Mar9,040 cfs163%
Apr9,665 cfs174%
May7,840 cfs141%
Jun5,185 cfs93%
Jul4,350 cfs78%
Aug4,510 cfs81%
Sep3,855 cfs69%
Oct4,360 cfs78%
Nov4,695 cfs85%
Dec5,650 cfs102%

Medians from the USGS daily-statistics record, 1947 to 1962. A month at 100% is running at its own long-term median. USGS stopped publishing a daily flow record at this gauge, so these are historical norms, not a baseline for current readings.

Flood stages and record crests

The highest crest on record is 11.2 feet, in March 1984.

Highest crests on record
WhenCrest
March 198411.2 ft
November 197911.2 ft
November 201011.2 ft
January 197911.1 ft
August 197211.1 ft

Flood categories and crest history from the NOAA National Water Prediction Service, gauge BUGV2. Stages are gage height, not depth. Not for navigation.

Nearby river gauges

Live streamflow and gage height: USGS gauge 02079500. Percentile context computed against the gauge's period of record. Not for navigation.

Open Roanoke River at Buggs Island, VA on the live chart →

River pins, dam-release overlays and wadability lines live in the app, start a free TidalMap trial.