Flood stage

When a body of water rises to this level, it is considered a flood event.

Stage was traditionally measured visually using a staff gauge, which is a fixed ruler marked in 1/100 and 1/10 foot intervals,[3] however electronic sensors that transmit real-time information to the Internet are now used for many of these kinds of measurements.

While usually the flood stage is set at the elevation of the floodplain, it can be higher (if there are no structures, roads, or farming areas immediately on the floodplain) or lower (if there are structures such as marinas, lake houses, or docks low on the banks or shores of the body of water) depending on the location.

The flood stage can be listed for an entire community, in which case it is often set to the lowest man-made structure or road in the area, the lowest farming field in the area, or the floodplain.

[5] Many communities have inundation maps that provide information on which areas will flood at which stages.