Roger Pielke - Flood Report Roger Pielke - Flood Report
This report presents the results of the second case study of the extreme mesoscale events and impact project, sponsored by the National Science Foundation (the first report was on Hurricane Andrew). The report is meant to be foundational in the sense that it provides a resource for further research into the use and value of scientific information in social and decision processes to reduce vulnerability to floods.
The graphic shows, for four streamflow gauging locations in Iowa and Missouri, peak discharge (volume) for the 1993 flood in relation to annual historical peak discharges. In these four locations, the 1993 flood was clearly an extreme, but not unprecedented, event.
Source: Parrett, C., N.B. Melchu, and R.W. Jones, 1993: Flood Discharges in the Upper Mississippi Basin, 1993, USGS Circular 1120-A, Figure 5, p. 7.