TITLE:
A Framework for a Subwatershed-Scale Screening Tool to Support Development of Resiliency Solutions and Flood Protection Priority Areas in a Low-Lying Coastal Community
AUTHORS:
Frederick Bloetscher, Gerardo Rojas, Anthony Abbate, Tucker Hindle, Jeffery Huber, Richard Jones, Weibo Liu, Daniel Eduardo Meeroff, Diana Mitsova, Sudhagar Nagarajan, Glen Oglesby, Colin Polsky, Hongbo Su, Eva Suarez, Ramesh Teegavarapu, Jared Weaver, Zhixiao Xie, Yan Yong, Caiyun Zhang
KEYWORDS:
Flooding, Watershed, Flood Modeling, Screening Tool, Risk, Infrastructure
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.9 No.10,
October
29,
2021
ABSTRACT: Flood risk analysis is the instrument for local officials to create a
sound strategy and adaptation plans for the impacts of inundation due to heavy
rains, climate change and sea level rise. Hence, cities with aging
infrastructure are retrofitting their stormwater management systems to mitigate
the impacts. However determining the most at risk areas and the options for
corrections is more challenging. As a result, there is an urgent need to
develop a screening tool to analyze watersheds and identify the most at-risk
areas. High-quality, open source data and sophisticated spatial analysis
techniques allow engineers to create innovative ways to conduct watershed wide
inundation analysis. In this study, the
investigators developed a screening tool to identify at-risk properties by combining readily available data on topography,
groundwater, surface water, tidal information for coastal communities, soils,
open space, and rainfall data. Once the screening tool is developed, the means
to identify and prioritize improvements to be funded with scarce capital funds
is the next step. A tool box of solutions was developed to address flood risk and
vulnerability. Testing of the screening tool was conducted in Broward County, Florida and shows encouraging results.
Comparison with FEMA Flood maps and repetitive loss mapping indicates
that the process works in a coastal community. The framework appears to be
viable across cities that may be inundated with water due to sea-level rise,
rainfall, runoff upstream, and other natural events.