Urban flood modeling: Perspectives, challenges, and opportunities

As demonstrated by recent extreme events, including the TX-LA Floods (2016), Hurricane Harvey (2017), and Tropical Storm Imelda (2019), flooding driven by extreme precipitation can have devastating impacts on urban communities. This type of flooding—also known as pluvial flooding or flash flooding—occurs when the capacity of the natural or engineered drainage infrastructure is exceeded by intense rainfall. In this case, inundation may manifest as ponding, street flooding, or structural inundation as floodwaters seek an overland flow pathway to the nearest body of water or major drainage channel. Typically, pluvial flooding occurs rapidly over a small geographic area and recedes within a matter of minutes to hours; however, in extreme cases, miles of infrastructure can remain inundated over long periods of time disrupting businesses and impacting recovery.