Geospatial Datasets for the Flood-Inundation Study of Blue River Near Red Bridge Road, Kansas City, Missouri, 2019

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 4.46-mile reach of the Blue River near Kansas City, Missouri, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the City of Kansas City, Missouri. The flood-inundation maps, accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Program website at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/ , depict estimates of the spatial extent and depth of flooding corresponding to select-water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage 06893195 Blue River at Red Bridge Road, Kansas City, Missouri reference streamgage. Near-real-time stage data from the streamgage may be obtained from the USGS National Water Information System database at https://doi.org/10.5066/F7P55KJN. Flood profiles were computed for the reach by means of a one-dimensional hydraulic model. The model was calibrated by using the current stage-streamflow relations at USGS streamgages upstream and downstream from the study reach. The hydraulic model was used to compute water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1-foot intervals referenced to the streamgage datum ranging from the estimated bankfull streamflow, through the stage corresponding to, or exceeding, the estimated 0.2-percent annual exceedance probability flood (500-year recurrence interval flood). The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a geographic information system digital elevation model with a maximum 10-centimeter vertical root mean square error and 4.0-ft horizontal resolution to delineate the area flooded at each 1-foot increment of stage. The availability of these maps, along with information regarding current stage from the USGS streamgage and forecasted high-flow stages from the National Weather Service, will provide emergency management personnel and residents with information that is critical for flood mitigation, preparedness and planning, flood-response activities such as evacuations and road closures, as well as for post flood recovery efforts.