NOAA and USGS to conduct pilot project for flash flood and debris flow warning system

Citation

(2006), "NOAA and USGS to conduct pilot project for flash flood and debris flow warning system", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 15 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2006.07315cab.008

NOAA and USGS to conduct pilot project for flash flood and debris flow warning system

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the US Geological Survey (USGS) have announced plans to conduct a pilot project in Southern California that will improve National Weather Service forecasts of potential debris flows, also known as mud flows. The project’s goal is to provide public warnings of imminent threats in and near areas recently burned by wildfires.

The pilot project was announced as the agencies released the NOAA-USGS Debris Flow Warning System–Final Report, which outlines an initial plan for the prototype and identifies the potential for expanding the warning system nationwide by developing improved technologies to characterize flash flood and debris flow hazards. These will be combined with existing methods used by the National Weather Service to forecast and measure precipitation.

A principal finding of the task force that developed the report is that the potential exists to enhance and expand the warning system in the future to provide detailed maps that show areas that could be impacted by flash floods and debris flows. Such maps could potentially be generated in real-time during a storm by incorporating improved forecasts and measurements of precipitation into detailed susceptibility models.

For more information about the warning system, visit the web site: www.usgs.gov/homepage/science_features/debris_flow_ca.asp. The 60-page report can be downloaded from: http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/2005/1283/