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Carol Friedland, Kleinpeter, Shelly
Evaluating flood risk is an essential component of understanding and increasing community resilience. Quantifying flood risk in terms of average annual loss (AAL) in dollars across multiple homes is needed to provide valuable information for stakeholder decision making. Therefore, the goal of this study is to develop a computational framework to evaluate AAL at the neighborhood level by owner/occupant type (i.e., homeowner, landlord, and tenant) for increasing first-floor height (FFH)
Using a case study, in Metairie, Louisiana, U.S.A., which consists of 29 homes with different attributes shows that the mean value of total AAL (building, contents, and use) yielding $4,390, $2,960, and $1,590 for homeowner, landlord, and tenant. Additionally, the results show that increasing the FFH by one foot above 1100-year flood elevation (𝐸100) results in approximately 90 percent flood risk reduction. However, increasing the FFH by two feet above 𝐸100 may provide the most economically advantageous benefit, at nearly 99 percent flood risk reduction.
AAL for building, contents, and use by owner/occupant type at 100-year flood elevation, if all homes would be in the same owner/occupant type.
Mean AAL for building and contents risk as a proportion of replacement cost value by increasing FFH above 100-year flood elevation.
Quantification of the flood risk is important to overcome the resistance to mitigate the flood hazard. Results from assessing flood risk by owner/occupant type and the effect of increasing FFH on its reduction can enhance awareness and action to mitigate flood effects. For example, the substantial decrease in building and contents risk by increasing the FFH 1 foot above 𝐸100 and the virtual elimination of building and contents flood risk through elevation of 4 feet, shown in this case study, demonstrate the economic advantages of mitigation measures and flood risk reduction. Ultimately, this research is useful in future work for assessing community-level flood risk, thereby leading to more informed decision-making at the second-most-local scale in the spectrum.
To see the results in detail and read more about our peer-reviewed publication on this research click on the link below.
Al Assi A, Mostafiz RB, Friedland CJ, Rahim MA and Rohli RV (2022). Flood risk assessment for residences at the neighborhood scale by owner/occupant type and first-floor height. Front. Big Data 5:997447. doi: 10.3389/fdata.2022.997447
