Flood-monitoring product aims to make tracking flood damage more efficient

The amount of flooding in the U.S. has been rising since the 1950s, with damages from floods costing the U.S. an estimated $180 billion every year, a recent Senate report found.

A new flood response data product launched by Floodbase is designed to help governments track flood damage and flood severity in near-real time to enable a swifter, more efficient response.

“Our mission is to enable all communities to prepare for and respond to climate disasters by reducing the barriers to scientific information and capital,” stated Bessie Schwarz, CEO of Floodbase, a flood data provider and reporting agent.

The company’s National Flood Response Data Product incorporates machine learning while drawing on data from public satellites, stream gauges and hydrological models to provide access to flood event analytics that “capture hourly and peak flood extent” when flooding occurs.

The tool offers users a continuous map of flood severity and peak flooding at the county and census tract level, according to Floodbase.

“Users can then display the dataset over existing geographic information systems (GIS) map data layers such as infrastructure, policyholders or a social vulnerability index, thereby making relief and recovery efforts more efficient,” the company added.

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