Flood Warning Services

Floods can happen quickly and with little warning, resulting in loss of life and property. Being able to provide warning of an impending flood can result in saved lives and reduced property and business impacts. HDR has crafted flash flood prediction programs and flood response plans for communities across the United States with documented positive results. For example, in the two decades since implementation of a Flash Flood Prediction Program for a seven-county region in Colorado, the area has one of the safest records in the nation for preventing damage and death from flood events.

As an example of the depth of our experience, HDR serves as the only industry member of the Colorado Flood Task Force, which provides updated and accurate information to communities about the potential for flooding. State emergency management officials rely on daily flood threat bulletins from HDR meteorologists during the May through September high flood threat season of spring runoff, summer thunderstorms and early fall monsoons. Daily information includes a state-wide radar-estimated rainfall package to help emergency managers locate remote areas of flooding. To make flood threat information available to the widest possible audience, HDR created a specialized Web page for the Colorado Flood Task Force, which resulted in 2,000 individual page hits per day and more than 5,000 hits on high flash-flood threat days.

Flood response plans created by HDR have helped communities implement both structural and non-structural flood control measures to reduce flood impacts. Using reconstruction data from past flood-causing rains, HDR can develop prediction and detection criteria. Hydrological modeling information, including depth and flood velocities, is combined with GIS mapping data to determine the parameters of a hazard area.

 

Flash Flood Prediction:

• Flash Flood Prediction Program – Daily and intra-daily forecast and warning service providing quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF) for Denver metropolitan area.  Project included dedicated expert-to-user contact and warning level notifications.
• Flood Threat Bulletin (FTB) / Statewide Precipitation Product (SWP) - Statewide daily outlook detailing the threat for flooding across Colorado.  Product outlines heavy rainfall probabilities and amounts designed for the Emergency Management and Public Works Communities.  Detailed radar and observation-based assessment of prior day’s precipitation is also produced.

 

Flood Detection Network Design Build:

• Douglas County, Colorado – Conducted meteorological and engineering based studies to optimize a planned automated flood detection network.  Studies included site-visits and site assessment along with engineering results.
• Fairfax County, Virginia – Performed analysis and planning of automated flood detection network for diverse quasi-urban areas.  Flood detection network equipment includes detection of water level sensors behind dams, creek-based flash flooding and tidal surge related flooding.

 

Flood Response Plans:

• Aguila Flood Response Plan (FRP) – Flood Control District of Maricopa County – Flood response plan for small, rural community in Arizona.  Detection and warning actions were customized for the limited resources of the community.
• Black Hawk/Central City Flood Response Plan (FRP) – Colorado Water Conservation Board  -Designed FRP for a largely tourist-based community in Rocky Mountain foothills with sharp topography and fast flash flood response time.
• Washoe County Truckee River Flood Response Plan (FRP) – US Army Corps of Engineers – Riverine floodplain based flood response plan incorporating the coordinated response of three jurisdictions.  FRP incorporates actions based on weather/river forecasts due to lead time necessary to take proper actions in some locations.
• Otero County Flood Response Plan (FRP) – Colorado Water Conservation Board – Small, rural Colorado county FRP focused on riverine flooding on the Arkansas River.  Plan incorporates sequence of river observers to verify levels and notify towns of threats.
• Scottsdale Adverse Weather Plan (AWP) – City of Scottsdale  - Detailed all-weather Response Plan for large, technology-savvy suburban community.  Plan breaks city into sections and employs automated weather detection technologies to trigger actions.