Category: Responding to Human Health Risks
Project Team: Wise Disasters
Team Location: Wise County Clerk of Court’s Office – Wise, Virginia
Wise in 3D. The inputs for the NASA DEVELOP National Program Wise Disasters Project analyzing flooding hazards in Wise, Virginia. Image Credit: Wise Disasters Team
Kimberly Berry
Abhijeet Singh Baghel
Grant Bloomer
Zachary Tate
Mentors/Advisors:
Dr. Kenton Ross (NASA Langley Research Center)
Dr. DeWayne Cecil (Global Science and Technology Inc., NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information)
Bob VanGundy (University of Virginia’s College at Wise)
Past/Other Contributors:
Michael Brooke (Center Lead)
Abstract:
Wise County is located in the Appalachian Mountains of southwest Virginia. Mountainous terrain increases the amount of runoff into local drainage basins during strong storms, which can increase the frequency of flash floods. This project determined areas that are more susceptible to flooding using Esri ArcGIS and the Coupled Routing and Excess Storage (CREST) model to analyze data collected from Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper, Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager, and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). These sensors collected data on rainfall, elevation, and land use change from 2000-2015. The modeled flooding data was compared to estimated historical floods to increase the confidence of the CREST modeled flood predictions. Maps created from the flood models have been handed off to the Wise County Emergency Operations Center for use in planning for future flood events.