Delaware River Levels
Delaware has no big slow river to watch rise for days: everything gauged here is small, fast water. These 6 gauges are read live against their NWS flood stages, but the honest heart of this page is the NWS alert feed and the flash flood rules, because streams this size flood faster than anyone can check a gauge.
Nothing gauged in Delaware drains even 1,000 square miles, so its rivers rise in hoursWhere Delaware rivers stand against their flood stages
Each card below carries two numbers from two agencies: the stage USGS is reporting at the gauge right now, read live from waterservices.usgs.gov when this page loaded, and the flood stage NWS has established for that same gauge. The “above” or “below” line is the subtraction between them and nothing more. A gauge below its thresholds is exactly that, not a promise about the next storm.
Reading current stage from waterservices.usgs.gov.
Stages are the U.S. Geological Survey's own readings, fetched live in your browser and shown without adjustment; provisional data are marked and may be revised by USGS. The action, minor, moderate and major thresholds are established per gauge by the National Weather Service and were snapshotted from the National Water Prediction Service; “above” or “below flood stage” is arithmetic on those two agency numbers and nothing more. A reading describes the gauge's own reach, not any particular property near it. Sources: USGS and NWS NWPS
Find the gauges nearest you
Every reading on this page belongs to one gauge on one reach of river, and the gauge nearest you is the one describing your water. This tool ranks the Delaware gauges on this page (and, where the state line is closer than the water, the rest of the site's registry) by distance from a ZIP code, with each gauge's live stage against its flood stage. The distance is printed on every row because a gauge 40 miles away describes that river, not your street.
Active NWS flood products for Delaware
Gauges show water that has already arrived. Warnings arrive first, and they cover the thousands of Delaware streams that have no gauge at all, which is where flash floods do their killing. This feed is read live from api.weather.gov and republished exactly as NWS issued it.
Reading active alerts from api.weather.gov.
Republished as issued by the National Weather Service, read live from api.weather.gov when this page loaded. Coastal and lakeshore flood products are not listed here; find them with everything else at weather.gov.
The product names have precise meanings. A Flood Warning, in NWS's words, is “a release by the NWS to inform the public of flooding along larger streams in which there is a serious threat to life or property”. A Flash Flood Warning means flash flooding is in progress, imminent, or highly likely: act first, check the river later.
What flood stage means at each Delaware gauge
Flood stage is not one number. NWS establishes a ladder of thresholds for each individual gauge, in feet of stage at that gauge, because the same depth of water means different things in different valleys. Here is Delaware's committed ladder, then the agency's own definitions of each rung.
| Gauge | County | Action | Flood | Moderate | Major | Record crest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Murderkill River At Bowers, DE | Kent | none set | 6.6 ft | 7.6 ft | 8.6 ft | 8.6 ft (2018) |
| Red Clay Creek At Wooddale, DE | New Castle | 5.5 ft | 7 ft | 8.5 ft | 10 ft | 17.6 ft (2003) |
| Nanticoke River Near Bridgeville, DE | Sussex | 8 ft | 9.5 ft | 10.5 ft | 11.5 ft | 10.3 ft (1979) |
| Christina River At Coochs Bridge, DE | New Castle | 9 ft | 11 ft | 12 ft | 13 ft | 14 ft (2020) |
| St Jones River At Dover, DE | Kent | 5.5 ft | 6.5 ft | 8.5 ft | 10.5 ft | 11.7 ft (2011) |
| White Clay Creek Near Newark, DE | New Castle | 11 ft | 13 ft | 15 ft | 16.5 ft | 23 ft (1937) |
Thresholds are the National Weather Service's established gage heights for each point, snapshotted from the National Water Prediction Service on 2026-09-02; they change rarely. “None set” means NWS has not established that category for the gauge, which is common at remote points. Record crests are NWS's own historic crest listings.
National Weather Service Glossary, Action Stage“The stage which, when reached by a rising stream, represents the level where the NWS or a partner/user needs to take some type of mitigation action in preparation for possible significant hydrologic activity. The appropriate action is usually defined in a weather forecast office (WFO) hydrologic services manual.”
National Weather Service, High Water Level Terminology“Minor Flooding is defined to have minimal or no property damage, but possibly some public threat. A FLOOD ADVISORY product is issued to advise the public of flood events that are expected not to exceed the minor flood category.”
National Weather Service, High Water Level Terminology“Moderate Flooding is defined to have some inundation of structures and roads near the stream. Some evacuations of people and/or transfer of property to higher elevations may be necessary. A FLOOD WARNING should be issued if moderate flooding is expected during the event.”
National Weather Service, High Water Level Terminology“Major Flooding is defined to have extensive inundation of structures and roads. Significant evacuations of people and/or transfer of property to higher elevations are necessary. A FLOOD WARNING should be issued if major flooding is expected during the event.”
The threshold names and definitions are the National Weather Service's; the one line glosses above each quote are ours.
National Weather Service, High Water Level Terminology“Flood categories are terms defined for each gage location that describe or categorize the observed or expected severity of flood impacts in the corresponding stream segment or nearby stream. The severity of flooding at a given stage is not necessarily the same at all locations along a stream due to varying channel/bank characteristics on portions of the stream.”
What NWS says happens at these stages, in its own words
For 6 of these gauges, NWS publishes impact statements: sentences tied to specific stages, naming the roads and places that go under. They are the most local flood information that exists for these reaches, they are federal writing republished verbatim, and they are exactly what the thresholds above are made of.
Murderkill River At Bowers, DE
NWS impact statement, National Water Prediction Service“(Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW)) The level reached on September 9, 2018.”
Red Clay Creek At Wooddale, DE
NWS impact statement, National Water Prediction Service“Barley Mill Road begins to flood. Brandywine Springs Park floods.”
NWS impact statement, National Water Prediction Service“Barley Mill Road at Little Brook Drive begins to flood. Foxhill Lane and the Wooddale Covered Bridge are closed due to high water. Significant flooding occurs in Brandywine Springs Park.”
Nanticoke River Near Bridgeville, DE
NWS impact statement, National Water Prediction Service“Rifle Range Road begins to flood. High water on the Nanticoke could produce backwater effects on Bridgeville Branch and cause additional flooding near North Main street.”
NWS impact statement, National Water Prediction Service“Significant flooding occurs along Rifle Range Road. The roadway is closed. Backwater increases on Turkey Branch increasing the flooding on Rifle Range Road. Backwater also increases on Bridgeville Branch.”
Why Delaware floods have no season worth trusting
Delaware's gauged streams top out at 104 square miles of drainage, and a basin that small does not accumulate a season: it responds to single storms, start to finish, in hours. Where the monthly medians below show a wetter time of year, read it as when the odds rise, never as when floods are allowed to happen.
The deepest water on this page's record: 17.6 feet at Red Clay Creek At Wooddale, DE in 2003, which is 10.6 feet above that gauge's flood stage. NWS keeps the crest lists, and its definition is the useful one here:
National Weather Service, High Water Level Terminology“Record flooding is flooding that equals or exceeds the highest stage or discharge at a given site during the period of record keeping.”
The part no gauge can do
NWS flood safety, quoted verbatimMost Delaware streams have no gauge, and flash floods happen on exactly that water. NWS says both halves of this plainly, and its words belong on this page more than any reading does.
First, who dies in floods, from the agency that counts:
National Weather Service, Turn Around Don't Drown“Each year, more deaths occur due to flooding than from any other thunderstorm related hazard. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that over half of all flood-related drownings occur when a vehicle is driven into hazardous flood water. The next highest percentage of flood-related deaths is due to walking into or near flood waters.”
National Weather Service, Turn Around Don't Drown“A mere 6 inches of fast-moving flood water can knock over an adult. It takes just 12 inches of rushing water to carry away most cars and just 2 feet of rushing water can carry away SUVs and trucks. It is NEVER safe to drive or walk into flood waters.”
National Weather Service, Turn Around Don't Drown“Never drive around the barriers blocking a flooded road. The road may have collapsed under that water.”
Those three passages are the NWS Turn Around Don't Drown campaign in full working order, and they apply to every water crossing in Delaware, gauged or not. Second, the limits of pages like this one. NWS, writing about the state with more rivers and fewer gauges than any other, is candid about the network:
National Weather Service, High Water Level Terminology“There are uncountable numbers of streams and lakes of various sizes in Alaska and only a very small fraction of these have gages that monitor the water levels.”
National Weather Service, High Water Level Terminology“People living or recreating near any stream or lake should identify the closest gage that can be used as an index for the expected water level changes at their location.”
That is the frame for everything above: a gauge is an index for its reach, the nearest one is worth knowing, and a Flash Flood Warning outranks any reading on this page. The NWS definition that makes the speed clear:
National Weather Service Glossary, Flash Flood“A rapid and extreme flow of high water into a normally dry area, or a rapid water level rise in a stream or creek above a predetermined flood level, beginning within six hours of the causative event (e.g., intense rainfall, dam failure, ice jam). However, the actual time threshold may vary in different parts of the country. Ongoing flooding can intensify to flash flooding in cases where intense rainfall results in a rapid surge of rising flood waters.”
Flood zones are FEMA's to determine. Whether a property sits in one is an official determination tied to flood insurance, and it is made on FEMA's own maps. In FEMA's own words:
FEMA Flood Map Service Center“The FEMA Flood Map Service Center (MSC) is the official public source for flood hazard information produced in support of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Use the MSC to find your official flood map, access a range of other flood hazard products, and take advantage of tools for better understanding flood risk.”
Look up any address at msc.fema.gov.
Where the Delaware figures come from
Two agencies, kept apart. The readings are live from USGS: stage from the instantaneous values service, discharge and its percentile context from the same daily services the drought pages use. The thresholds, impact statements and crests are NWS's, snapshotted from the National Water Prediction Service on 2026-09-02; flood stages are established gage heights that change rarely, and the snapshot date is printed wherever they appear. The alerts are live from api.weather.gov.
Which gauges appear is our choice, made once and stated plainly: active USGS stage gauges that NWS resolves to a forecast point with a published flood stage, ranked by drainage area so the rivers people actually check come first, at most two per river, spread across the state, with canals and diversions excluded. Gauges below dams are kept on purpose: regulated or not, they are the gauges downstream towns watch. The thing that is missing on purpose: there is no flood score, index or rating of ours anywhere on this site, and no flood zone map either. NWS owns the thresholds, USGS owns the readings, FEMA owns the maps.
Sources: USGS Water Data for the Nation, NWS National Water Prediction Service, NWS flood safety, and FEMA Flood Map Service Center.
A note on what the National Water Prediction Service is, in our words. It is the NWS platform that carries every official river gauge page: observed stages, forecast crests where a river forecast center issues them, the flood stage ladder, impact statements and historic crests. When a reading on this page makes you want a second opinion, the NWPS gauge page linked on every card is the authoritative one.
Our summary of information published by NWS National Water Prediction Service
Delaware river levels FAQ
The same water, other seasons
River levels in nearby states
Stage and discharge readings are the U.S. Geological Survey's, read live in your browser and shown without adjustment. Flood stage thresholds, impact statements and historic crests are the National Weather Service's, snapshotted from the National Water Prediction Service and dated where they appear. Alerts are republished as NWS issued them. Flood zone determinations are FEMA's alone. This page is a state level index: small fast water is a fact about the gauges above (Delaware's biggest watched gauge sits under the 93,000 square mile line), not about any address. National picture: river levels in every state