RAPID: Fast Reconstruction of Flood Hydrographs in the Houston Metropolitan Area during Hurricane Harvey Based on Image Processing and In-situ Measurements

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The ability to construct flood hydrographs in urban areas in real-time during flash floods, hurricanes, and other extreme weather events is difficult because of the low spatial density of water level measurements and the complex interactions of built infrastructure, ground topography, and natural landscape with flowing water. The goal of this RAPID project is to leverage perishable images and video footage from traffic intersection and interstate highway cameras, major news media outlets, and social media along with reference objects/points. Subsequent photo image processing, scaled to the reference objects, will enable development of a more continuous, accurate hydrograph in the Houston metropolitan area. By reconstructing the flood hydrographs at a large number of locations in flooded highways, streets and residential subdivisions, high-resolution, process-based urban inundation modeling from hurricane-generated surge and rainfall will become significantly more accurate. For example, it will facilitate a better understanding of transport of sediments and pollutants in and out of Houston during Hurricane Harvey. Such a model validated by the reconstructed hydrographs will also aid state and local governments in making timely evacuation decisions for low-lying areas to mitigate the impact of similar hurricane-induced hazards.This RAPID project based on reconstruction of flood hydrographs in Houston using image processing and in-situ measurements has significant intellectual merit: (1) The proposed methodology is innovative and creative because it does not employ any traditional stream gages. Instead, it relies on a unique form of existing data employed for a new application. (2) The reconstructed flood hydrographs will significantly improve the understanding of the hydrological processes of this unprecedented flood event caused by the extreme rainfall of Hurricane Harvey. (3) The data will benefit the development of a new flood model for Houston. (4) The developed algorithms and software for processing the traffic image data, which will be available on the NHERI DesignSafe-CI platform, can be readily applied to many other flood-prone urban centers, such as New York City, New Orleans, and Miami.