The Development of a Flood Warning and Response System³n on... · The Development of a Flood Warning and Response ... Provide a Flood Warning and Response System to communities along

Hydrologic Engineering Center 1

The Development of aFlood Warning and Response System

Cameron Ackerman, P.E. Hydrologic Engineering Center, USACE


Purpose

Provide a Flood Warning and Response System to communities along river systems

Maximize response time (County Emergency Management Agency and Floodplain Residents)Use stage/elevation-based flood inundation mappingDamage estimates (expedite disaster assistance)Evacuation & flood warning plan formulation toolEducate the public on flood hazard


Software Development Goals

Use existing technologies as much as possible to develop the FWRSDevelop new tools and interfaces only where necessaryMaximize the use of geospatial displaysKeep the interface simple and customizableEasily update data


Process Components

Forecast InformationNational Weather Service Forecasts

River Hydraulics ModelRiver Analysis System (HEC-RAS), HEC-GeoRAS

Data VisualizationArcGIS – Customized Interface, Excel

Flood Damage ComputationsStructure Inventory

Flood Impact Response Tables


Study Area – Susquehanna River

4 NWS Forecast Locations

Pennsylvania

Sunbury

Danville Bloomsburg

Wilkes-Barre

Northumberland County

Montour County

Columbia County Luzerne

County


Study Area - San Antonio River

3 NWS Forecast Locations


HEC-RAS Model Creation and Calibration

0 100000 200000 300000 400000 500000350

400

450

500

550

600

650

Susquehanna River Model 1972 Historic Flood Calibration

Main Channel Distance (ft)

Ele

vatio

n (ft

)

Legend

WS 500 Year

WS 100 Year

WS 25 Year

WS 5 Year

WS 2 Year

Ground

OWS 2 Year

OWS 5 Year

OWS 25 Year

OWS 100 Year

OWS 500 Year

Sea

lhol

tz R

un

Sun

bury

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Lith

ia S

prin

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Gra

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Kip

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ing

Cre

ek

Loga

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Roa

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Roa

ring

Cre

ek

Cat

awis

sa C

reek

Fish

ing

Cre

ek

Blo

omsb

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Gag

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Tenm

ile R

un

Bria

r Cre

ek

Nes

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Wap

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n C

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Wap

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Shi

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Har

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Inundation Mapping using HEC-GeoRAS

Atlas of water surface profiles/inundation maps run to cover the range of expected events


Flood Warning and Response System

Customized interface to ArcGIS

Entry of forecast informationQuery of inundation depthsAccess impact response tablesCalculate structure damages

Zoom Locations Response Tables


Forecast Entry – Susquehanna River

Predefined Locations for entry of Elevation or Stage

Wilkes-Barre

Bloomsburg

Danville

Sunbury


Forecast Entry – San Antonio River

Flexible “selection” of input locations

FWRS input form is built based on Excel sheet

117.7 < Elev. < 147.5


Tiled Mapping

20 Tiles San Antonio River, 16 Tiles Cibolo Creek


Tiled Mapping

Interpolation by profile number

Backwater by water surface elevation at confluences to handle tributaries

Data stored by profile


Mapping Layers



Given a forecasted elevation:What is the expected impact?What response action should be taken?

Developed by individual local Emergency Management Agencies

Excel spreadsheetMay be formatted (font, color, size)




Flood Damage Analysis

Structure inventoryDepth-%Damage curves

Damage Category (Susquehanna River)Residential, commercial, ...

Occupancy type (San Antonio River)Single Story Residential, 2 Story Residential, Mobile Home, Single Story Apartment, …


Structure Damage

Query inundation depthCompute individual structure damage


System-wide Damage

Working estimate for FEMA disaster relief


Contact Information

Cameron Ackerman, P.E.Hydrologic Engineering Center, [email protected]

The Development of a Flood Warning and Response System³n on... · The Development of a Flood Warning and Response ... Provide a Flood Warning and Response System to communities along

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