{"id":43,"date":"2014-12-18T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-18T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.msdn.microsoft.com\/msr_er\/2014\/12\/18\/coping-with-floodsof-water-and-data\/"},"modified":"2016-08-22T19:09:22","modified_gmt":"2016-08-23T02:09:22","slug":"coping-with-floodsof-water-and-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/blog\/coping-with-floodsof-water-and-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Coping with floods\u2014of water and data"},"content":{"rendered":"

Halloween 2013 brought real terror to an Austin, Texas, neighborhood, when a flash flood killed four residents and damaged roughly 1,200 homes. Following torrential rains, Onion Creek swept over its banks and inundated the surrounding community. At its peak, the rampaging water flowed at twice the force of Niagara Falls (source: USA Today<\/em> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"Predicting<\/p>\n

While studying the flood site shortly afterwards, David Maidment, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Texas, ran into an old acquaintance, Harry Evans, chief of staff for the Austin Fire Department. Recognizing their shared interest in predicting and responding to floods, the two began collaborating on a system to bring flood forecasts and warnings down to the local level. The need was obvious: flooding claims more lives and costs more federal government money than any other category of natural disasters. A system that can predict local floods could help flood-prone communities prepare for and maybe even prevent catastrophic events like the Onion Creek deluge.<\/p>\n

Soon, Maidment had pulled together other participants from academia, government, and industry to start the National Flood Interoperability Experiment (NFIE), with a goal of developing the next generation of flood forecasting for the United States. NFIE was designed to connect the National Flood Forecasting System with local emergency response and thereby create real-time flood information services.<\/p>\n