Operationalizing NOAA’s Flood Inundation Mapping Services: Expanding Equitable and Timely Flood Forecasting

Abstract

NOAA's Office of Water Prediction (OWP) is at the forefront of developing and maintaining geospatial flood inundation mapping software (https://github.com/NOAA-OWP/inundation-mapping). This software is designed to create synthetic rating curves and Height Above Nearest Drainage (HAND) rasters, essential components for generating flood inundation mapping (FIM) forecasts at the national scale.

Recent developments have also seen the operationalization of 1D HEC-RAS models, enabling the creation of reach-scale flood libraries. Leveraging hydraulic computations, these libraries can replace HAND FIM maps wherever the higher-fidelity HEC-RAS models are accessible. OWP collaborates with various government flood management agencies to expand its repository of these models.

The overarching goal of OWP's flood inundation mapping project is to provide near real-time flood inundation forecasts for up to 10 days in advance, covering the entire United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. These forecasts are disseminated to National Weather Service Weather Forecast Offices, River Forecasting Centers, core stakeholders, and the general public. OWP has set a target year of 2026 to make publicly accessible FIM available to nearly 100% of the U.S. population. This pioneering effort not only enhances flood preparedness but also empowers historically underserved regions with equitable flood forecasting capabilities, setting a new standard for flood management.