Association of State Floodplain Managers 2023

In May, Fathom’s team of flood experts will join floodplain managers, disaster mitigation experts and engineering consultants from across the US and beyond to explore the varying challenges faced by the industry. 

The Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) conference now enters its 47th year and will deliver a range of presentations, workshops and events geared towards a wide range of flood-related topics, including coastal risk, dams, mapping, mitigation, NFIP and risk communication. 

As a sponsor, Fathom will support the event in several ways: 

1. Exhibiting – come visit us at stand #121!

2. Networking event – for attendees at the conference, our team will host a networking event. Alongside free drinks and food, the evening event is a great opportunity to meet up with like-minded professionals working in the space.

3. Presentations with partners

Presentation 1 – Behind the vale of Florida’s flood risk – a demonstration of the latest in hazard and vulnerability

In collaboration with Jones Edmunds 

This presentation will demonstrate how we have applied the latest results from Fathom to assess countywide vulnerability to future flood risk for communities and critical infrastructure; considering Florida’s most recent statewide LiDAR datasets and projected changes in extreme precipitation. 

Fathom’s flood hazard maps for vulnerability assessments provide the potential for consistent analysis across the whole state, the evaluation of multiple future scenarios for inland and coastal flooding, and the application of the latest research in flood modeling. Furthermore, this presentation will contrast this analysis with traditional flood modeling approaches to assessing future flood vulnerabilities.

Presentation 2 – Goldilocks and the Three Urban Flood Models: How to size it Just Right!

In collaboration with Jacobs

The summer of 2022 continued the trend of increasing urban flood frequency due to extreme storm events. Urban areas are increasingly impacted by heavy rainfall, even when an open body of water is nowhere in sight. Yet urban flood potential and the interaction of pluvial risk with fluvial and coastal inundation areas is not widely mapped in the United States.

Consequently, urban flood potential is not fully understood by the public and many stakeholders, and populations are left vulnerable to flood exposure.

Increased impervious, deferred maintenance of catch basins, undersized sewer systems, sediment and debris in sewers, and too few catch basins are some of the major contributing factors to urban flooding. Historic practices of filling natural waterways without safe relief pathways have reduced overland flow conveyance opportunities, and historic practices such as redlining have increased the economically disparate impacts of urban flooding on our most vulnerable populations.

Reduced physics modeling approaches, such as the Fathom-US 2.0 dataset, quickly increase our understanding of urban flood potential by providing a first look at inundation risk for a range of extreme events with current and escalated climate conditions. This presentation will include case studies where “starter maps” like Fathom and FEMA have been coupled with historical flood complaint records to focus 1D/2D modeling, planning, and mitigation prioritization efforts to a “just right” modeling approach and extent.