• Would you live in a flood plain or other flood-prone area? What level of risk from rive  flooding is acceptable to you?
• How would you know if the flood risk was assessed accurately?  What are the characteristics of a good flood risk assessment?
• Go to the FEMA web site and create a Firmette for the area where you live, save it as a jpg or pdf, and attach it to your homework.
• What should be done by people and communities in a flood plain or other flood-prone area to prepare for the hazard and prevent catastrophe?

1. In what ways are floods predictable?
2. To what other hazards are floods linked?
3. What are the potentially disastrous consequences of flooding?
4. In what ways has human activity made flood hazards catastrophic?
5. How can the hazardous consequences of flooding be minimized?

RESOURCES

Notes: download PowerPoint

Text: Chapter 6

Recent Articles

• Search the internet for information on recent flooding
• Flooding is Illinois’ Most Threatening Natural Disaster. Are We Prepared?
• Five Key Needs for Addressing Flood Injustice
• Natural Floodplains Are Quickly Vanishing
• Rebuild or leave? In a flood-prone Tennessee town, one family must decide
• New Tool Crafts Fast, Free Flood Maps for the Global South
• A Looming Disaster: New Data Reveal Where Flood Damage Is An Existential Threat
• Depue Flooding, May 2020
• Cairo, IL vs Missouri Floodway
• Illinois Issues: Urban Flooding in Illinois
  • The article is here: http://nprillinois.org/post/illinois-issues-urban-flooding
  • There is a related interview here: http://nprillinois.org/post/urban-flooding-big-problem-illinois
  • The original report is here: https://www.dnr.illinois.gov/WaterResources/Documents/Final_UFAA_Report.pdf
• What is a nuisence flood, exactly?
• Can Newspaper Reporting Uncover Flood Risk?
• How Infrastructure Standards Miss the Mark on Snowmelt
• East Kentucky's cultural cornerstone is trying to salvage its archives after floods
• Atmospheric Rivers Have Different “Flavors”
• Researchers say tens of thousands in Cook County have a high risk of flooding
• Hurricane Harvey Filled Houston with Sediment
• Machine Learning Highlights Ways to Improve Flood Mitigation
• Pooling Data Could Help Anticipate Megafloods in Europe
• Alerting Communities to Hyperlocalized Urban Flooding
• He survived the water, but not the flood (note: this article discusses the personal impacts of flooding, including suicide)

• River Gages
  • National Water Prediction Service
  • USGS National Data, real time & historical
  • US Army Corps of Engineers River Gages
• Federal Emergency Management Agency:
  • National Flood Insurance Program: Flood Hazard Mapping
  • flood zone maps: https://msc.fema.gov/portal/home
  • instructions on how to look at the floodplain map for your area
• Illinois Flood plain maps:
  • http://www.illinoisfloodmaps.org/ (click on "Resources by County")
  • Topographic Wetness Index mapping
• Risk Factor (provides estimates for flood, wildfire, and extreme heat risk)
  • About Risk Factor: Do You Know Your Home’s Flood Risk?
• National Flood Insurance Program
  • https://www.floodsmart.gov
  • http://www.insure.com/articles/floodinsurance/
  • The Economist: How government policy exacerbates hurricanes like Harvey
  • Tying Flood Insurance to Flood Risk for Low-Lying Structures in the Floodplain
• US Geological Survey:
  • National Water Dashboard
  • Flood Information
• Tying Flood Insurance to Flood Risk for Low-Lying Structures in the Floodplain (free pdf)
• Centers for Disease Control: https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/floods/
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  • National Severe Storms Laboratory: Floods
  • Flood Return Period Calculator (allows you to convert return interval into likelihood over a given period of time)
• United Relations Relief Web
  • Current Disasters (scroll below the map for a list of current disasters)
• National Geographic Society:
  • Floods, explained
  • Flood videos
• NASA
  • Earthdata: Floods
  • Global Flood Mapping
  • NASA Tracks Urban Change and Flood Risk
  • Too Much, Too Little (video)
  • Iowa Flood Studies
  • Global Precipitation Measurement