Abstract

Expanding Hazus Information for Flood Modeling in Monroe County
Track: Water Resources
Authors: Justin Cole

Hazus is a great tool provided by FEMA for modeling a few major types of disasters. In Monroe County, the emergency that is of most concern is flooding. Flood Zone information from FEMA provides an overview, but we needed a more localized database to help with our emergency response. To improve the accuracy of our Hazus models we incorporated our LiDAR elevation model. The models were then generated based on local knowledge of flow rates for selected water bodies. Hazus is limited in its analysis when it comes to local infrastructure, so we created custom analyses in ArcGIS to fit the needs of response teams in emergency management and public works. The results of these tools were integrated into a flex viewer which can be accessed by all responders.