Citation

Sauer VB. Transp. Res. Rec. 1986; 1073: 10-15.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1986, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Five reports dealing with flood magnitude and frequency in urban areas in the southeastern United States have been published during the past 2 years by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). These reports are based on data collected in Tampa and Tallahassee, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; and several cities in Alabama and Tennessee. Each report contains regression equations useful for estimating flood peaks for selected recurrence intervals at ungauged urban sites in their respective study area. A nationwide study of urban flood characteristics by the USGS published in 1983 contains equations for estimating urban peak discharges for ungauged sites throughout the United States. At the time that the nationwide study was conducted, data from only 35 sites in the southeastern United States were available. The five new reports contain data for 88 additional sites in the southeastern United States. These new data show that the seven-parameter estimating equations developed in the nationwide study are unbiased and have prediction errors less than those described in the nationwide report. On the other hand, the new data indicate that the three-parameter equations are biased and significantly underestimate flood discharge in four of the new study areas. The five new reports on the southeastern United States and the nationwide report provide reliable methods for estimating design discharges.

Record URL:
http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1986/1073/1073-002.pdf

Language: en

Keywords

FLOODS; URBAN PLANNING - Statistical Methods; DATA PROCESSING - Natural Sciences Applications