Nuisance Flooding Gets a New Definition

Nuisance flooding, or “sunny day flooding” has been in the news a lot lately. These types of floods can occur when the position of the sun and moon align such that the tide range is higher than normal. In general, these floods don’t cause major property damage or seriously threaten public safety. But nuisance floods can strain infrastructure like roadways and sewers, provide habitats for mosquitoes and bacteria, affect property values, and discourage tourism. In places where such floods happen all the time, the cumulative costs may add up to be equivalent to one big hurricane!

Most people “know nuisance flooding when they see it”, but there hasn’t been a consistent definition of when this occurs. To arrive at a clearer definition, Moftakhari et al. did a massive literature review on nuisance flooding. They looked at a range of different factors of nuisance flooding, including pedestrian safety, property damage, hydrology, and transportation impacts. On the basis of this research, the team came  up with the following definition: A nuisance flood is a layer of water between 3 and 10 centimeters high, traveling at a speed of less than 3 meters per second.  The new definition can help cities measure the cumulative impacts of nuisance floods and encourage flood-resilient construction. - Beth Sciaudone, DTC Civil Water Resources & Environmental Instructor

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