High-resolution estimates of the US population in fluvial or coastal flood hazard areas

Abstract

Flooding is the most common and damaging natural disaster in the United States (US), and understanding the number of people at risk of flooding is critical information for planning. The dataset presented here uses publicly available census and building footprint data to improve upon previous estimates of the number of people and housing units in fluvial or coastal flood hazard areas in the contiguous US. To calculate the population and housing unit estimates, the ratio of total residential building footprint area that intersects high flood hazard areas is multiplied by 2020 Decennial Census block counts. This flexible framework will allow the dataset to be updated over time and with additional flood risk datasets such as those that incorporate pluvial flooding. These high-resolution estimates of people and housing in fluvial or coastal flood hazard areas will provide valuable information to flood resilience planning efforts.