Chattahoochee River level at Helen
Georgia · Tubing & floating
Measured at USGS 02330450 — CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER AT HELEN, GA · NWS forecast point HDCG1
Reading taken · as of 1 hour ago
Running thin — a slow, scrapey float
At 49 CFS, this gauge is running 89% of normal for mid-September — close to the 55 CFS median USGS has recorded for this date across 45 years of record (1981–2026).
Crawford Lands
Flood stages at Helen
National Weather Service categories for gauge HDCG1, WFO FFC. Impact wording is the NWS's own, verbatim.
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Major flood 11.0 ft
- 11.0 ft Major flooding begins in the Helen area with numerous homes...businesses...motels and roads affected. The water will be around two feet deep in the restaurant at Castle Inn and over portions of Edelweiss Strasse. The Helendorf River Inn will be flooded with 3 feet of water. The Hamby Street...Edelweiss Strasse and Brucken Strasse bridges form obstacles and act like dams causing some backwater and erosion eddies to the sides of the bridges. County officials will have them closed.
- 12.0 ft Near record flooding occurs. A catastrophic and massive flood event will affect numerous homes...businesses...motels and roads in Helen. The flood waters will be 2 to 4 feet deep in many structures and cause widespread inundation of the infrastructure. The Hamby Street...Edelweiss Strasse and Brucken Strasse bridges will be under water. Transportation in and out of Helen will be extremely difficult due to road closures.
- 13.0 ft Record flooding never seen before will affect Helen. A catastrophic and massive flood event will continue to affect numerous homes...businesses...motels and roads in Helen. The flood waters will be 3 to 5 feet deep in many structures and cause widespread inundation of the infrastructure. The Hamby Street...Edelweiss Strasse and Brucken Strasse bridges will be under 1 to 2 feet of water. Transportation in and out of Helen will be almost impossible due to road closures.
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Moderate flood 8.0 ft
- 8.0 ft Moderate flooding begins upstream and downstream from the gage on Main Street. The water level will be around two feet deep on the concrete patio of the restaurant at Castle Inn and the parking lot behind it. The water level reaches the bottom of the Edelweiss Strasse bridge...the floors of the Helendorf River Inn...and the concrete foundation of the condominiums on Edelweiss Strasse. The landing area adjacent to the Tubing Company off of Edelweiss Strasse will be under two feet of water.
- 9.0 ft Significant flooding continues upstream and downstream from the gage on Main Street. The water level reaches the floor of the restaurant building at Castle Inn and will be around one foot deep in the Helendorf River Inn and over the concrete foundation of the condominiums on Edelweiss Strasse. The landing area adjacent to the Tubing Company off of Edelweiss Strasse will be under 3 feet of water. The water level will reach the bottom of the first Brucken Strasse bridge downstream from the gage.
- 10.0 ft Significant flooding expands in Helen. The water will be around one foot deep in the restaurant building at Castle Inn and over portions of Edelweiss Strasse. The Helendorf River Inn will be flooded with two feet of water. The Hamby Street...Edelweiss Strasse and Brucken Strasse bridges begin to form obstacles and act like dams causing some backwater and erosion eddies to the sides of the bridges. County officials will likely have them closed. Several homes near the river will begin to flood.
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Minor flood 6.0 ft
- 6.0 ft Flood stage is reached. Minor flooding will occur of yards of some homes on the left bank downstream from the gage on Main Street. The water level will reach the concrete patio of the restaurant at Castle Inn and the parking lot behind it. Portions of the sidewalk under the bridge and the parking lot behind a Tubing Company off of Poplar Stump Road upstream from the gage will be under one to two feet of water. The landing area adjacent to the Tubing Company off of Edelweiss Strasse will begin to flood.
- 7.0 ft Minor flooding continues in the yards of some homes on the left bank downstream from the gage on Main Street. The water level will be around one foot deep on the concrete patio of the restaurant at Castle Inn and the parking lot behind it. Portions of the sidewalk under the bridge and the parking lot behind a Tubing Company off of Poplar Stump Road upstream from the gage will be under 3 feet of water. The landing area adjacent to the Tubing Company off of Edelweiss Strasse will be under one foot of water.
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Action 4.0 ft · 1,600 CFS
- 4.0 ft Bankfull conditions are reached in low lying areas of the river upstream and downstream from the gage on Main Street. The water level will reach the sidewalk under the bridge in front of the concrete patio of the restaurant at Castle Inn on the left bank adjacent to the gage. The rock parking lot behind a Tubing Company off of Poplar Stump Road upstream from the gage will begin to flood.
- 5.0 ft Bankfull conditions expand along the river upstream and downstream from the gage on Main Street. The water level will be around one foot deep on a portion of the sidewalk under the bridge in front of the concrete patio of the restaurant at Castle Inn. A portion of the rock parking lot behind a Tubing Company off of Poplar Stump Road upstream from the gage will be under one foot of water.
- Right now 0.45 ft
Flow history at Helen
Daily values from USGS 02330450, updated every 15 to 60 minutes; NWS forecast for HDCG1 reissued through the day. Provisional.
Highest crests on record at Helen
11 on record
| Stage | Flow | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 12.00 ft | 10,500 CFS | Aug 23, 1967 |
| 11.00 ft | — | Apr 16, 1946 |
| 10.00 ft | — | Mar 11, 1952 |
| 10.00 ft | — | Mar 12, 1963 |
| 7.30 ft | — | May 28, 1973 |
| 6.75 ft | — | Sep 17, 2004 |
| 6.44 ft | 5,132 CFS | May 30, 2018 |
| 6.01 ft | 3,966 CFS | Aug 26, 2008 |
| 5.94 ft | 3,850 CFS | Mar 17, 1990 |
| 5.90 ft | — | Mar 17, 1996 |
Crests published by the National Weather Service.
About Chattahoochee River at Helen
This is the Chattahoochee's headwaters, a few miles from where it starts in the Blue Ridge, and it is nothing like the river of the same name at Atlanta or the Alabama line. The basin above Helen is small and steep, so the gauge is flashy: a mountain thunderstorm can double it in an afternoon, and a dry week drops it away just as quickly.
Helen runs the highest-volume tubing operation in the Southeast, on a stretch that is genuinely shallow at normal summer flows. Because the drainage is small, the number here has a narrow useful band — the difference between a good float and a walk is a matter of a few dozen CFS rather than hundreds.
Chattahoochee River at Helen — common questions
5 questions
Is this the same Chattahoochee as the one in Atlanta?
The same river, roughly a hundred miles upstream and a fraction of the size. At Helen it is a mountain stream draining a small piece of the Blue Ridge; by Atlanta it is a large tailwater below Buford Dam with completely different flows and a completely different temperature. Do not use one to predict the other.
Why does the Chattahoochee at Helen change so quickly?
Small, steep catchment. There is very little ground above Helen to absorb a storm and no reservoir to buffer it, so rain reaches the channel fast and leaves fast. The practical effect is that this gauge is worth checking the morning of a float rather than the day before.
Does rain upstream change Chattahoochee River at Helen quickly?
Yes. It is free-flowing, so rain upstream moves it directly. Several feet in a few hours is normal after a heavy storm.
Is Chattahoochee River at Helen high or low for this time of year?
The USGS median flow for mid-September here is 55 CFS, from 45 years of record (1981–2026). Today is 89% of it. The comparison is what makes the raw number mean anything: the same reading is a drought on one river and a flood on another.
How often does this reading update?
USGS transmits from gauge 02330450 every 15 to 60 minutes, and the National Weather Service reissues the flood forecast for HDCG1 a few times a day — more often when the river is rising. This page refreshes from both when you open it. The timestamp is in the gauge's local time.