Spatial distribution of socio-demographic and housing-based factors in relation to flash and slow-rise flooding hazards in the U.S

Assessing flood risk without differentiating floods by their characteristics (e.g. duration and intensity of precipitation leading to flooding) may lead to less accurate estimates of the most vulnerable locations and populations.

In this study, we compare the spatial patterning of social vulnerability, types of housing, and housing tenure (i.e. rented vs. owned) between two specific flood types used operationally by the National Weather Service-flash floods and slow-rise floods-in the floodplains across the Contiguous United States (CONUS). We synthesized several datasets, including established distributions of flood hazards and flooding characteristics, indicators of socioeconomic status, social vulnerability, and housing characteristics, and used generalized estimating equations to examine the proportion of socially vulnerable populations and housing types and tenure residing in the flash and slow-rise flood extents.