Flood Preparedness Week - AHPS

The Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) provides water prediction and delivery methods to aide NWS partners and customers in protecting life and property, especially during times of flood and drought. AHPS provides user friendly text and graphical forecasts that are available online. These products are designed to help emergency managers better prepare their communities in the event of a flood, and help recreational water users stay out of harm’s way.

The AHPS products enable you to find reliable answers to questions such as:

• How high will the river or creek rise?
• When will it crest?
• Where will it flood?
• How long will the flood last?
• What are the expected impacts of the flood?

The NWS has recently added additional enhancements to the AHPS pages, including:

• Multi-Sensored Precipitation information
• Flood Inundation Mapping at select locations
• RRS Feed Alert Capabilities
• Downloadable ArcGIS (.shp) and Google Earth (.kmz) files for GIS users

The ability to look days into the future to see how many city blocks and roads might be flooding is becoming clearer with flood inundation mapping. The National Weather Service and the National Ocean Service are collaborating with the USGS, USACE, FEMA and other partners to develop inundation maps for inland freshwater flooding. Sets of maps, referred to as libraries, are being developed which include map layers depicting the spatial extent and depth of water for various flood levels ranging from minor flooding all the way through the flood of record in the vicinity of NWS river forecast locations. Combined with traditional NWS river forecasts these flood maps show the areas of likely inundation based on current conditions and river forecasts. Maps are produced using GIS and datasets created in the production of FEMA's flood insurance rate maps. These libraries are accessible through the AHPS website.

In addition to providing our own flood forecasts and warning information, the NWS works with and relies on strategic partners involved in river observations, reservoir management, floodplain management, flood hazard mitigation, and flood preparedness to reduce the loss of life and property due to floods. Just a few of those partners are listed below.

• American Red Cross - Information on how to reduce potential flood damage and what to include in a family disaster plan can be obtained from the American Red Cross.
• FEMA - Information on flood risk, the National Flood Insurance Program, and disaster assistance can be obtained from FEMA.
• United States Geological Survey - Information on current water conditions and resources can be obtained from the United States Geological Survey.
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - For information regarding dams, levees, and recreational areas near you, contact the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
• The National Hydrologic Warning Council - This is a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting emergency and environmental management officials by providing expert advice on the use of real-time, high quality hydrologic information from automated remote data systems, with the goals of protecting lives, property and the environment.

Additional information about AHPS and Flood Awareness Week is available at www.floodsafety.noaa.gov.