Currituck County Coastal Resilience Rainfall Flood Study

We developed a flood-susceptibility map for Currituck County to identify highly susceptible localities that are not within the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) special flood hazard areas and to identify critical infrastructure that may be located in these areas. To address the non-climatic factors related to flooding, which gives an indication of the baseline flood susceptibility, we developed a statistical method by which to estimate flood susceptibility throughout Currituck County. The model was developed by correlating several flood risk factors—e.g. elevation, land use, surface geology—to the spatial flood extent of FEMA’s 100-year special flood hazard area (SFHA). Critical infrastructure data, including airports, dams, major roads, and bridges, were overlayed on the map to identify priority locations for flood mitigation and adaptation purposes, and for possible further flood hazard assessment.