9/22/2023 0 Comments Flood zone map staten island![]() Through these lenses, I could theoretically understand whether Sandy’s damage was out of the bounds of a 100 year or 500-year flood plan.I had a few reasons for tackling this information: This could certainly include advising (or mandating) residents of these areas to purchase flood insurance.įor this lab, I chose to review FEMA flood plain data for the NYC area, to better understand what areas of the city are most at risk, what subway transportation would be most affected in the event of a 100- or 500-year flood, and whether the damage from Hurricane Sandy matched up with the FEMA flood plains. With this data in mind, cities can plan for protection and evacuation measures. A 100-year flood plain would represent a greater risk at 1/100 or a 1% chance of a flood each year. An area designated to be in the 500-year flood plain therefore represents a 1/500 (.2% chance) that a flood will strike an area each year. These probabilities by FEMA consider the prevention measures an area has implemented as well as details like elevation, annual rainfall, and more. This is where FEMA’s 100-year and 500-year flood plans come into play.Ī quick primer for those unfamiliar with how these models are calculated: because we don’t have hundreds of years of flood data, and because flood data is not recorded evenly throughout the U.S., calculating future floods comes down to probability. But I also question whether city planning and prevention efforts are working effectively to protect citizens as much as possible when these storms do indeed hit. more frequently and more devastatingly than in years past.Ĭlimate change certainly has a large part to play in the frequency and strength of the storms we’re seeing. Recent hurricanes like Sandy and Maria show that storms are flooding areas in the U.S. Compound this with the fact that in 20, two other “500-year” storms hit the Houston area, and we’re faced with the fact that an area that FEMA has deemed to be unlikely to receive that level of flooding even once in a 500-year period has been hit three times over. In August of 2017, Hurricane Harvey hit the Houston, Texas area with immense impact, causing widespread devastation and unexpected flooding.
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