Mapping Out the Future: Development Initiatives for the National Weather Service Flood Inundation Mapping Program

The purpose of Flood Inundation Mapping for the National Weather Service is to achieve the mission of protecting life and property from the flood hazards in the United States through innovative research to operations flood mapping techniques. Currently, the flood inundation mapping capabilities are available in an experimental phase for 30% of the population, with the goal to serve the entire nation by 2026. The period during the phased roll out years allows for real world flood event utility, collaboration, and evaluation of the products and services into the initiatives and priorities of future development cycles designed to improve flood inundation mapping. Each preceding year has made systematic advancements to accuracy, efficiency, and utility of the flood inundation mapping and services.

Now, as the Geo-Intelligence Division receives assessment on how the flood inundation mapping is utilized during flood events over the past year and a half of its public release, the improvement priorities are shifting to accommodate the needs for the public, deep core partners, and the meteorologists and hydrologists in the field. The next steps for 2025 to continue phased development alongside our phased rollout include improvements to accuracy utilizing machine learning, expansion of the mapping services by prototyping probabilistic flood mapping, and enhancement of flood mapping utility by creating a bridge threat assessment. These upgrades to the current system will continue to push the innovation of the flood inundation mapping to better meet the mission of protecting life and property from life-threatening flood hazards.