Dissertation
Investigating the intersection of hydrology and socioeconomics through insured flood losses
University of Iowa
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
Autumn 2024
DOI: 10.25820/etd.007594
Abstract
Floods continue to be one of the costliest natural disasters plaguing the United States,
with billions of dollars of damage incurred annually. As climate change continues to drive more
frequent and severe flood events, an increasing amount of economic burden will fall to federal
programs like the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) offered by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) to restore and protect homes. It is well known that the economic
impacts of flooding and other natural disasters are borne disproportionately by disadvantaged
and marginalized communities, a trend which will likely grow under climate change. Thus, there
is a serious and urgent need to identify and quantify flood losses to these unique communities to
better estimate future damages and mitigate potential long-term economic impacts.
To this end, my dissertation focuses on investigating the intersection between hydrologic
and socioeconomics in the context of flood losses. Chapter 2 examines the value of hydrologic
data for statistical modeling frameworks to describe the relationship between natural hazards and
flood insurance claims for three cities in Iowa, conditioned on various sources of hydrologic
data. In Chapter 3, I analyze both the hydrologic and socio-economic factors associated with the
2019 Midwest Flood to gain an understanding of the intersection between flood severity and
subsequent economic damages. In Chapter 4, I expand on the lessons learned from Chapters 2
and 3 to develop statistical model frameworks for insurance claims in Houston, Texas,
conditioned on both hydrologic and socio-economic information, and investigate the impact of
climate-change induced flood hazard on future claims. Chapter 5 builds off the concepts from the
previous chapters where I investigate disparities in federal aid of federally recognized tribes
through historical flood events and evaluating 57 tribal nation Hazard Mitigation Plans.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Investigating the intersection of hydrology and socioeconomics through insured flood losses
- Creators
- Lily L Kraft
- Contributors
- Gabriele Villarini (Advisor)Allen Bradley (Advisor)Brandi Janssen (Committee Member)Humberto Vergara (Committee Member)Larry Weber (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Date degree season
- Autumn 2024
- DOI
- 10.25820/etd.007594
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- Number of pages
- xvi, 135 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2024 Lily L Kraft
- Language
- English
- Date submitted
- 11/12/2024
- Description illustrations
- illustrations, maps, tables, graphs
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 128-135).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
- Studies have shown that certain populations are more vulnerable to the effects of flooding and will continue to be impacted by increasingly severe floods due to climate change. However, a large body of research separately focuses on the hydrologic aspects of floods and the impacted communities. In this thesis, I examine how relating flood severity or risk to population characteristics such as race, income, and age can be used to gain information regarding the amount of flooding damage a community may experience. In Chapter 2, I first examine how effective different sources of hydrologic data are for predicting flood insurance claims for select cities in Iowa. My results find that using high- resolution information, such as inundation maps, improve prediction ability. In Chapter 3, I assess both the hydrologic characteristics and economic impacts of the 2019 Midwest flood to understand the intersection between flood risk, social demographics, and flood losses. In Chapter 4, I expand on these principles and develop statistical model frameworks for both the number of flood insurance claims and claim amounts for communities in Houston, Texas. I find that both communities exposed to severe flooding and communities with vulnerable populations are more likely to report flood insurance claims. Furthermore, analysis shows that factors such as climate change and population growth will lead to substantial increases in both the number of flood insurance claims and overall claim amounts. Finally, in Chapter 5 I expand on these principles and apply them to an assessment of federally recognized tribes’ participation in the National Flood Insurance Program, including an investigation into historical flood events affecting tribal nations, evaluating tribal Hazard Mitigation Plans, and providing perspective from a member of a Midwest tribe’s tribal council.
- Academic Unit
- Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Record Identifier
- 9984774960402771
Metrics
5 Record Views