Development of Flood Risk Maps for State of Hawai‘i

While FEMA’s Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) maps can offer valuable information about flood risk, they do not present a comprehensive picture of flood risk. Furthermore, many FEMA flood maps rely on outdated data and methodologies. Outdated and inaccurate flood maps pose significant risks to communities. FEMA uses historical flow data from the river and tidal gauges, but it does not account for recent floods. Some areas, especially rural and less developed regions, remain unmapped or mapping is not available in all areas, hindering local access to flood risk information. In this project, the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa will spearhead the development of advanced GIS-based flood susceptibility, vulnerability, and risk maps for the State of Hawai’i. This project serves as a crucial amendment to the flooding chapters of the 2023 State of Hawai’i Hazard Mitigation Plan, SHMP (or the future SHMP), addressing the pressing need for updated and comprehensive flood risk assessments.