A New Hydrologic Model to Simulate Spatially-Distributed Design Floods and Flood Inundation throughout Watershed
Abstract
We are increasingly witnessing catastrophic floods from severe storms and hurricanes affecting millions of people and causing billions of dollars in property damage in different parts of the world. Dealing with these rising flood threats requires improved modeling capability to characterize the flood risk better and improve the stormwater system designs and upgrades. This presentation will introduce a simplified and fully paralleled hydrology model that uses the popular curve number (CN) and the flat-water flood routing methods to simulate the design hydrograph and flood depth at any location within a watershed resulting from a given storm. By providing spatially-distributed flood data, the presented model will improve the current practice of designing and operating stormwater facilities which typically use the design storms estimated from precipitation frequency analysis. This was tested for the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base in California. On the other hand, the current flood inundation modeling is mostly focused on rivers overtopping their banks and flooding nearby areas. The presented model will supplement this flood inundation modeling by simulating potential flash floods caused by excess rainfall throughout a watershed. This modeling capability was tested using the recent flood event in the upper Umatilla River watershed in Oregon. In addition to demonstrating the model applications to selected watersheds, the model applications aim to extend: 1) the NOAA ATLAS 14 precipitation frequency database with the corresponding flood frequency database; 2) the FEMA's floodplain flood map to the entire watershed level flood map and database.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2022
- Bibcode:
- 2022AGUFM.H42B1247D