Flood Forecasting for the San Luis Rey River Watershed

About the Program

Category: Risk and Emergency Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2012

San Diego County has a history of damaging floods that have occurred throughout it's various watersheds. To combat these damaging floods, the County maintains a network of flood warning stations which provide real-time information regarding rain and stream conditions. While this network has enabled County staff to observe flooding as it was occurring, there was previously no way to use the data to forecast potential flooding impacts in a community, specifically at the scores of bridges and low water crossings in the County. Current available flood forecast technology generally provides one or two point forecasts along a river. The County has developed a first of its kind model for forecasting flooding throughout the 562 square mile San Luis Rey watershed. This model extracts rainfall and streamflow data from the real-time County flood warning system database, utilizes forecast rainfall from the National Weather Service website and produces individual site forecasts. This model is used in storm operations to anticipate site-specific episodes of flooding, giving anywhere from 30 minutes to two days of warning. The County is currently utilizing the model in San Luis Rey watershed and will be developing additional flood forecast models for other flood-prone watersheds. As a result of this project, the county and it's residents are more prepared for damage from natural occurrences.