A Parametric Framework for Anticipatory Flashflood Warning: Integrating Landscape Vulnerability with Precipitation Forecasts

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Li, Xiangpeng, Ma, Junwei, Brody, Samuel D, Mostafavi, Ali
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Li, Xiangpeng
Ma, Junwei
Brody, Samuel D
Mostafavi, Ali
author_facet Li, Xiangpeng
Ma, Junwei
Brody, Samuel D
Mostafavi, Ali
contents Flash flood warnings are largely reactive, providing limited advance notice for evacuation planning and resource prepositioning. This study presents and validates an anticipatory, parametric framework that converts landscape vulnerability and precipitation into transparent, zone-aware threat levels at neighborhood scales. We first derive an inherent hazard likelihood (IHL) surface using pluvial flood depth, height above nearest drainage, and distance to streams. Next, we compute a hazard severity index (HSI) by normalizing 24-hour rainfall against local Atlas-14 100-year, 24-hour depths. We then integrate IHL and HSI within a localized threat severity (LTS) matrix using 20 class-specific triggers, requiring lower exceedance in high-risk terrain and higher exceedance in uplands. Applied to two Texas flood events, the LTS exhibits statistically significant spatial association with independent crowdsourced impact proxies, capturing observed disruption hotspots. The framework is computationally lightweight, scalable, and extends actionable situational awareness into a 48-72 hour anticipatory window, supporting pre-event decision-making by emergency managers.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_17785
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Parametric Framework for Anticipatory Flashflood Warning: Integrating Landscape Vulnerability with Precipitation Forecasts
Li, Xiangpeng
Ma, Junwei
Brody, Samuel D
Mostafavi, Ali
Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science
Flash flood warnings are largely reactive, providing limited advance notice for evacuation planning and resource prepositioning. This study presents and validates an anticipatory, parametric framework that converts landscape vulnerability and precipitation into transparent, zone-aware threat levels at neighborhood scales. We first derive an inherent hazard likelihood (IHL) surface using pluvial flood depth, height above nearest drainage, and distance to streams. Next, we compute a hazard severity index (HSI) by normalizing 24-hour rainfall against local Atlas-14 100-year, 24-hour depths. We then integrate IHL and HSI within a localized threat severity (LTS) matrix using 20 class-specific triggers, requiring lower exceedance in high-risk terrain and higher exceedance in uplands. Applied to two Texas flood events, the LTS exhibits statistically significant spatial association with independent crowdsourced impact proxies, capturing observed disruption hotspots. The framework is computationally lightweight, scalable, and extends actionable situational awareness into a 48-72 hour anticipatory window, supporting pre-event decision-making by emergency managers.
title A Parametric Framework for Anticipatory Flashflood Warning: Integrating Landscape Vulnerability with Precipitation Forecasts
topic Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.17785