A brief summary of the flood plain study process

Flood plain studies involve an assembly of required information; some existing, some which
needs to be collected. Almost all of this information is stored in GIS format and is then
transferred into the computer models. Below is a list of several types of information required:

 Elevation data (from both LiDAR, manual survey, previous works)

 Land use (both existing and future determined from planning documents)
 Impervious surfaces
 Flow paths for surface run off and in-channel flow
 Precipitation data
 Key flow nodes where sub catchments input water flow
 Existing storm water management plans and infrastructure detail plans
 Culverts and other infrastructure sizing and attributes
 Location of channel cross sections and their elevation profile.

The various data are then used in the hydrology and hydraulic models along with various
precipitation events to determine the resulting water surface elevations for each event. The
highest resulting water surfaces are then used to identify the regulatory flood line.
Throughout the entire process, the input data and results are confirmed by a water resource
engineer and technical committee to ensure that the information used and decisions best
reflect the system in study. Results are also sent to a water resource engineer at another
agency to peer review the processes and results to ensure they are correct and meet industry
standards.