HIGH RESOLUTION FLOOD MODELING FOR PLANNING, MITIGATION, AND RESPONSE, CHARLESTON SC

The Charleston, South Carolina, region is home to more than 500,000 people and is one of the fastest growing areas of the country. The economy of Charleston is strong and diverse, with concentrations on tourism, shipping, manufacturing, health care, education and an emerging technology sector. The low-lying Charleston region deals often with water-related hazards, including coastal storms, frequent King Tides and increasingly heavy precipitation events known as “rain bombs.” Add to this, sea level rise and the annual threat of hurricanes, and adaptation efforts are imperative in a region. According to NOAA, the frequency of nuisance flooding events occurring in Charleston has increased 409% from an average of 4.6 days from 1957-1963 to 23.3 days from 2007-2013. Similarly, data indicate that the duration of these events has also increased, thus prolonging the flooding impact. The Charleston Resilience Network (CRN) technical group is building a GIS based flood management and modeling tool. This modeling tool is being designed to allow planners, emergency managers and geoscientists to investigate multiple types of flooding in the region. The models that are being developed are based on LiDAR, high resolution aerial photography, and parcel specific information. The final modeling tool will integrate title inundation modeling, site-specific CN-based runoff modeling, and riverine flood modeling. The products produced from the flood models developed by the CRN technical group will allow for Parcel-level vulnerability assessments. These assessments are essential for developing adaptation plans and implementing place-based strategies to increase resilience in the region.