Watershed Maps
Flood and Drought Data
The Yellow Breeches watershed is not highly developed, more than half of the watershed is forested area, the rest of the area is mostly used for agriculture and residential development. Cumberland County has set an objective to capture and treat 90% of the average annual stormwater runoff in the Yellow Breeches Watershed. To accomplish this, the county deemed that post development peak stormwater runoff will not exceed pre-development levels. In addition, all new construction in the county must follow the Pennsylvania Stormwater BMP Manual. Cumberland County has a comprehensive stormwater plan that aims to protect floodplains, wetlands, and groundwater. It also identifies concerns of contamination of ground water and stormwater impacts on local watersheds.
In the more developed areas of the Yellow Breeches Watershed, flooding can cause sewer overflows in older towns which can cause stormwater runoff into water treatment facilitates and overload the systems. Stormwater also destabilizes stream banks, disperses litter, and allows for excess nutrients and chemicals to wash into different parts of the watershed.
The USGS and National Weather Service has a monitoring station located in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania that captures hydrologic information about the Yellow Breeches.
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Low Water Records
(1) 0.17 ft on 09/12/1966
(2) 0.18 ft on 11/04/1963
(3) 0.27 ft on 07/14/1969
(4) 0.28 ft on 08/19/1965
(5) 0.31 ft on 08/02/1954
Historic Crests
(1) 18.77 ft on 09/26/1975
(2) 18.33 ft on 06/22/1972
(3) 14.57 ft on 04/17/2011
(4) 11.66 ft on 10/09/1976
(5) 11.30 ft on 01/25/1979
Yellow Breeches Flood Plains
The map above shows the flood hazard areas of the Yellow Breeches Creek watershed near Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. I chose to focus on this specific area of the Yellow Breeches watershed because this is the area where I live. This map uses flood data from the United States Geological Society, FEMA, and local governments.