Flood

Image

Flooding is a leading cause of fatalities and economic losses in the United States, especially as a result of natural disasters. New and emerging technologies are needed to increase the resilience of communities to flood disasters and to provide flood predictive analytic tools to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) governments to reduce future flood fatalities and resulting economic damages.

The Flood Project will develop new processes, products (sensors, data sets, analytic tools, imagery), and standards to improve operations and outcomes in support of FEMA (to include the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration National Flood Insurance Program, flood assistance programs, and dam safety programs), other federal agencies, and the insurance industry. The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has developed low-cost, network-connected flood sensors to improve regional and local flood prediction; new machine-learning algorithms to detect structures in high-resolution satellite imagery, which will in turn create a national structures inventory to improve flood insurance risk evaluations and underwriting; and a variety of standards and specifications to support individual and community investments in flood-proofing products. 

S&T is conducting research to develop tools to enhance community resilience to include Internet of Things (IoT) sensor and alerting resources, advanced remote sensing and situational awareness capabilities, improved flood data, predictive flood models, and analytical services. These innovations are assisting stakeholders in supporting their planning, disaster response and recovery, and investment decisions related to floods.

Watch