Flood Hazards

BACKGROUND Long Island Sound has 600 miles of coastline and there are over 23 million people living within 50 miles of its shores. In response to water-quality issues and nitrogen pollution in the Sound, Congress created the Long Island Sound Study (LISS) in 1985. LISS is a partnership of federal, state, and local government agencies, private organizations and educational institutions working tog

Summary: Extreme flooding can threaten life and property in flood-prone areas, as well as cause damage to critical infrastructure along roadways and canals. The effective management of these areas, and appropriate design of structures along rivers and streams, relies on understanding the magnitude and frequency of floods at gaged locations, and the ability to estimate these data at ungaged strea

Problem– Lake Ontario experienced period-of-record (1918-2017) maximum monthly average water levels during May through July 2017. NOAA lake gages recorded instantaneous peaks-of record, 249.2 at Olcott, 249.1 at Rochester, and 249.0 at Oswego and St. Vincent. These high water levels along with wind-generated waves caused flooding of thousands of residences and businesses and the erosion of miles o...

For emergency situations, please contact Chris Gazoorian, Surface Water Specialist at the USGS New York Water Science Center or call our general number (518) 285-5600 and follow the directions to leave voicemail which will be immediately forwarded to a responsible party and responded to as quickly as possible.

USGS monitoring data for estuary and coastal-ocean sites in the southeastern New York region and links to related projects with more information about coastal flood hazards, water quality, and other topics. The USGS operates the most extensive satellite network of tide-gaging stations in the region, many of which form the backbone of flood-warning systems. The USGS provides current ("real-time")...

The foundation of any groundwater analysis, including those analyses whose objective is to propose and evaluate alternative management strategies, is the availability of high-quality data. Some, such as precipitation data, are generally available and relatively easy to obtain at the time of a hydrologic analysis. Other data and information, such as geologic and hydrogeologic maps, can require...

Hazards which may impact the ground water system adversely are presented in this web page. The impacts of these hazards are only shown here as a topic for further discussion and may need to be investigated with further details.

The Mohawk River near Schenectady, NY is prone to ice jams during periods of river-ice break-up. Ice jams in this reach typically form at channel constrictions, bridge piers, lock and dam structures, and sections with a reduced floodplain (Foster and others, 2011). Ice jam related flooding can result from backwater associated with the jam or from water released downstream when a jam fails...

Background / Problem Hurricane Irene Figure 1 shows the declared counties for Hurricane Irene (FEMA) Five to ten inches of rain from Hurricane Irene produced widespread moderate to major flooding throughout eastern New York August 28-30. Highest rainfall totals occurred in the Catskill Mountains of southeastern New York where over 18-inches of rain was reported at Maplecrest, NY. Record water

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is collaborating with the New York Department of State (NYDOS) Office of Planning and Development to prepare a new Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve (SSER) Coordinated Water Resources Monitoring Strategy (CWRMS). Since 2000, when the last CWRMS was published, numerous research projects and studies are demonstrating several new threats to the ecologic health

Problem Coastal communities are susceptible to damage from coastal storms and associated storm surge, and although tidal wetlands provide a buffer against shoreline erosion and aid in shoreline stabilization, they too are vulnerable to the action of storms. Tidal wetland dynamics need to be better understood, as they are also intrinsically valuable as nursery, feeding, and refuge areas for many

The coastal areas of southeastern New York (fig. 1) are highly vulnerable to tidal flooding (fig. 2). Timely evacuation of people from flood-threatened areas in advance of approaching hurricanes and nor'easters (northeast coastal storms) requires adequate flood-warning time. To begin addressing this need for immediate information on coastal flooding, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperati