History UnderfootAtlanta
  • Flood
  • Water
  • December 9-10, 1919
  • City of Atlanta

The December 1919 flood

The largest flood in the Chattahoochee's record at Atlanta: 64,000 cubic feet per second on December 10, 1919. Peachtree Creek peaked the day before at about 21,000 cfs, still its largest flow.

See it on the map All Water records

The record

USGS annual-peak records for the Chattahoochee at Atlanta rank December 10, 1919 (64,000 cfs, 29.0 ft) first, then January 9, 1946 (59,000), December 29, 1901 (47,500) and April 1886 (about 47,000, an estimated historic peak), all before Buford Dam was built upstream; the largest peak since was 40,900 cfs on September 21, 2009. On Peachtree Creek at Northside Drive, where continuous USGS records begin in 1958, the 1919 flood is listed as an estimated historic peak of about 21,000 cfs that no later flood has exceeded (Helene's 2024 peak was 20,000 cfs); the National Weather Service gives its stage as 25.8 ft. USGS also lists earlier historic peaks on the creek on March 15, 1912 (16,500 cfs) and December 29, 1915 (13,500 cfs).

Today: The gauge still operates at Paces Ferry.