Cooperating Technical Partners

Carson City, Nevada created a high-water mark mural that serves as both a teaching tool and a reminder of the community’s flood risk.

The State of Oregon is using the new method developed by DOGAMI for FEMA-funded projects to map landslide risk. They are creating debris flow and mudflow hazard maps for areas recently impacted by wildfires in Oregon. These maps are giving communities and regional groups the information they need to help reduce risk to residents, infrastructure, and property after wildfires.

Challenge: The Base Flood Elevation (BFE) is how high floodwater is likely to rise during a 1%-annual-chance flood event. It is one way to measure and indicate flood risk. However, the study that established the BFE is only a snapshot in time. There are many factors that can cause floodwaters to rise above the BFE. These factors include debris-blocked bridge and culvert openings; blocked city storm sewer drains; higher-intensity rain events; storm tracks causing coinciding peak flows of flooding sources; high backwater conditions; and heavy rains on frozen ground with considerable snow depths. There is also always the potential for an event more severe than the 1%-annual-chance event. To communicate and reduce flood risk in areas beyond FEMA’s regulatory flood zones, communities need more information (especially spatial information) about flooding that exceeds the 1%-annual-chance event.

Many potential applicants do not understand how to develop competitive nature-based hazard mitigation project proposals for FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) programs.). Without clear understanding a community may miss out on the opportunity to help reduce its potential for flood disasters.

Challenge: Protecting lives and property by enabling timely, effective responses to flood threats.