Spatial distribution of socio-demographic and housing-based factors in relation to flash and slow-rise flooding hazards in the U.S

Abstract

Previous studies have drawn attention to racial and socioeconomic disparities in exposures associated with flood events at varying spatial scales, but most of these studies have not differentiated flood risk. Assessing flood risk without differentiating floods by their characteristics (e.g., duration and intensity of precipitation leading to flooding) may lead to less accurate estimates of the most vulnerable locations and populations. In this study, we compare the spatial patterning of social vulnerability, types of housing, and housing tenure (i.e., rented vs. owned) between two specific flood types used operationally by the National Weather Service—flash floods and slow-rise floods— in the floodplains across the contiguous United States. We synthesized several datasets, including established distributions of flood hazards and flooding characteristics, indicators of socioeconomic status, social vulnerability, and housing characteristics, and used generalized estimating equations to examine the proportion of socially vulnerable populations and housing types and tenure residing in the flash and slow-rise flood extents.
Our statistical findings show that the proportion of the slow-rise flooded area in the floodplains is significantly greater in tracts characterized by higher percentages of socially vulnerable. However, the results could not confirm the hypothesis that they are exposed considerably more than less vulnerable in the flash flooded floodplains. Considering housing-occupancy vulnerability, the percentage of renter-occupancies are greater in the flash flood floodplains compared to slow-rise, especially in areas with high rainfall accumulation producing storms (e.g., in the Southeast). This assessment contributes insights into how specific flood types could impact different populations and housing tenure across the CONUS and informs strategies to support urban and rural community resilience and planning at local and state levels.

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