Flood Publications

This page summarizes Natural Hazards Center-supported publications, which capture key insights about flood risk assessment, mapping, and communication strategies, among many other relevant topics. Most of the publications compiled below also include recommendations to reduce future harm. We hope the approaches and findings from this prior work can be used to inform the preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation from extreme events like riverine flooding, flash flooding, and urban flooding which threaten communities nationally and globally. Please visit our Center News Story page for additional flood resources.

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Quick Response Research Award Program

Since 1986, the Natural Hazards Center has administered the Quick Response Research Award Program. This program, which is made possible with funding from the National Science Foundation, encourages the ethical collection of perishable data in the aftermath of disaster. The very first Quick Response report investigated flooding in California. The following 27 Quick Response Research Reports investigate flood events and associated hazards over the last four decades, with explorations of post-flood damage and debris, considerations for public health, household recovery outcomes, and much more.

QR369 | Disaster Debris Management and the Maine Floods of 2023 (2024)
Julia Crowley

QR360 | Lessons from the 2022 Yellowstone Floods: The Power of Documentary Film Interviews (2023)
Hugo Sindelar

Special Call for Research: FEMA Region 8

The Natural Hazards Center funded a special call to expand understanding of the recent hazards and disasters experienced in FEMA Region 8 and produce actionable guidance for emergency managers. Two of the final reports from this call focus on the aftermath of a catastrophic 500-year flood event that hit south-central Montana in 2022.

QR49 | Lessons from the 2022 Yellowstone Floods: The Power of Documentary Film Interviews (2023)
Hugo Sindelar

QR359 | Making Us Whole Again? Lessons From Montana Disaster Recovery (2023)
Lauren K. McKeague, Christina S. Barsky, Josephine K. Hazelton-Boyle, and M. Blake Emidy

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Weather Ready Research Award Program

The Natural Hazards Center—with support from the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—established the Weather Ready Research Award Program to promote knowledge and build a diverse cadre of weather ready researchers. There are currently two final Weather Ready Research Reports on flooding as well as additional data and instrument publications. Additional Flood Ready reports focused on riverine flooding, flash flooding, and urban flooding events are forthcoming.

WR16 | Strengthening Disaster Preparedness: Assessing Risk Perception and Early Warning for Flash Flooding(2025)
Ayorinde Ogunyiola and Oluwabunmi Dada

WR1 | Examining Public Response and Climate Conditions During Overlapping Tornado and Flash Flood Warnings(2022)
Jennifer M. First, Kelsey Ellis, and Stephen Strader

Call 1: Weather Ready Research

WR1 | Examining Public Response and Climate Conditions During Overlapping Tornado and Flash Flood Warnings (2022)
Jennifer M. First, Kelsey Ellis, and Stephen Strader

Call 2: Weather Ready Instrument and Data Publications

This second call for Weather Ready Research supported the publication of social science and multidisciplinary data, data collection instruments, and research protocols for natural hazards and disaster research. To learn more, read the full Call for Weather Ready Research.

Eric Best. (2021). “Three-Dimensional Property Flood Risk Visualization Using LIDAR Data.” DesignSafe-CI. https://doi.org/10.17603/ds2-hy8t-0w64

Manyu Li and Theresa Wozencraft. (2021). "Flood/Hurricane Victims' Social, Community, and Psychological Experiences." DesignSafe-CI. https://doi.org/10.17603/ds2-8q1f-wx13

Call 5: Flood Ready Research and Data Publication

WR16 | Strengthening Disaster Preparedness: Assessing Risk Perception and Early Warning for Flash Flooding (2025)
Ayorinde Ogunyiola and Oluwabunmi Dada

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Public Health Disaster Research Award Program

The Natural Hazards Center—with supplemental funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—established the Public Health Disaster Research Award Program to support public health, social science, and interdisciplinary research that can improve public health interventions. The following reports address flooding as well as other compound hazards in the U.S. territories, tribal regions, and rural communities.

Call 1: Research in U.S. Territories

PH6 | Compound Hazards, Evacuations, and Shelter Choices: Implications for Public Health Practices in the Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (2021)
Jennifer Collins, Amy Polen, Elizabeth Dunn, Leslie Maas Cortes, Erik Ackerson, Janis Valmond, Ernesto Morales, and Delián Colón-Burgos

PH4 | Real-Time Migration Tracking to Puerto Rico After Natural Hazard Events (2021)
Alejandro Arrieta, Shu-Ching Chen, Juan Pablo Sarmiento, and Richard Olson

Call 2: Strengthening Community Resilience in U.S. Territories

PH23 | The Public Health Implications of Social Vulnerability in the U.S. Virgin Islands (2022)
Greg Guannel, Hilary Lohmann, and Joe Dwyer

PH17 | Exploring Post-Disaster Transportation Barriers to Healthcare of Socially Vulnerable Puerto Rican Communities (2022)
Diana Ramirez-Rios, William A. Wallace, Jordan Kinsler, Norianne Martinez Viota, and Paola Mendez

Call 3: Research in U.S. Territories, Tribal Areas, and Rural Communities

PH36 | Mapping Puerto Rican Student Vulnerability and Risk To Improve School Emergency Planning (2023)
Eileen V. Segarra-Alméstica, Yolanda Cordero, and Amílcar Vélez-Flores

PH35 | Evacuation Decision-Making Post-Vaccine: Implications of Compound Hazards in U.S. Territories (2023)
Jennifer Collins, Elizabeth Dunn, Justin Hartnett, Leslie Maas Cortes, and Rashida Jones

Call 4: Research in U.S. Territories, Tribal Areas, and Rural Communities

PH44 | The Compounding Effects of Disasters and Confinement on the Mental Health of Incarcerated Women (2024)
Benika Dixon, Carlee Purdum, Tara Goddard, Jennifer Toon, Marci Simmons, TyKeara Mims, and Pisila Finau

PH43 | Social Vulnerability of Refugees to Climate Disasters in the Texas Panhandle (2024)
Ming Xie and Li Chen

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Mitigation Matters Research Award Program

The Natural Hazards Center—with supplemental funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency—established the Mitigation Matters Research Award Program to provide funding for researchers focused on natural hazard mitigation. This program is designed to support research that can be applied to reduce loss of life and the destruction of property through reducing risk. Please see below for Mitigation Matters reports focused on flood hazard mapping, risk communication, and policymaking for the reduction of flood threats.

MM24 | Developing a New Interdisciplinary Model for Mapping Flood Risks and Impacts (2025)
Noah Bezanson, Elizabeth Reddy, Charis Boke, Sarah Kelly, and Paul Santi
View the Research Brief

MM20 | Understanding Flood Mitigation Implementation Activities in Minnesota’s Red River Basin (2024)
Sarah Kirkpatrick
View the Research Brief

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Research Counts

The Research Counts series serves as a platform for hazards and disaster scholars to provide insights about research findings and the enduring lessons of disaster, as well as to raise new questions that are worthy of exploration. The pieces in the series are brief, drawn from a variety of disciplines, and intended for a broad audience. The four articles below focus on flood related topics, including urban planning for flood control and mitigation, public health threats associated with flooding, and educational disruption during flood events.

Berke, Philip. 2017. Part I: Why is Houston so Vulnerable to Flooding? Research Counts, 1(6).

Berke, Philip. 2017. Part II: How Houston Can Learn to Build Back Better from Other Cities. Research Counts, 1(7).

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Our Scholarship

Researchers at the Natural Hazards Center and our collaborators have published many books, edited volumes, monographs, peer-reviewed journal articles, and book chapters. Some of the earliest publications listed here come from the Natural Hazard Center’s founding director, Gilbert F. White, who has been referred to as the "father of floodplain management.” See below for a selection of flood-related research publications and readings.

Books and Monographs

Wescoat, James L. Jr., and Gilbert F. White. 2003. Water for Life: Water Management and Environmental Policy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

White, Gilbert F. 1977. Environmental Effects of Complex River Development. New York: Routledge.

Journal Articles

Chisty, Musabber Ali, Nesar Ahmed Khan, Syeda Erena Alam Dola, Israt Aris Sumaya, and Md. Mostafizur Rahman. 2023. “Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Toward Flood Volunteerism in Bangladesh: A Gender-Based Analysis with Policy Implications.” Global Social Welfare.https://doi.org/10.1007/s40609-023-00276-9

van de Lindt, John, Walter Gillis Peacock, Judith Mitrani-Reiser, Nathanael Rosenheim, Derya Deniz, Maria Dillard, Tori Tomiczek, Maria Koliou, Andrew Graettinger, Shane Crawford, Kenneth Harrison, Andre Barbosa, Jennifer Tobin, Jennifer Helgeson, Lori Peek, Mehrdad Memari, Elaina Sutley, Sara Hamideh, Donghwan Gu, Stephen Cauffman, and Juan Fung. 2020. “Community Resilience-Focused Technical Investigation of the 2016 Lumberton, North Carolina Flood: An Interdisciplinary Approach.” Natural Hazards Review 21(3): 04020029. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)NH.1527-6996.0000387

Books Chapters

White, Gilbert F. 2000. “Lessons for Flood Hazard and Disaster Management from the International Decade and Future Challenges.” Pp. 271-75 in Floods, edited by D. J. Parker. New York: Routledge.

Tierney, Kathleen, Joanne M. Nigg, and James M. Dahlhamer. 1996. "The Impact of the 1993 Midwest Floods: Business Vulnerability and Disruption in Des Moines." Pp. 214-233 in Cities and Disaster: North American Studies in Emergency Management, edited by R. T. Sylves and W. L. Waugh, Jr. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.