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Projecting Changes in Expected Annual Damages From Riverine Flooding in the United States

C. Wobus , P. Zheng, J. Stein, C. Lay , H. Mahoney, M. Lorie, D. Mills , R. Spies, B. Szafranski, and J. Martinich

Article

June 18, 2019

Inland flood risk in the United States is most often conveyed in the context of “100‐year” floodplains. However, monetary damages from flooding arise from a wide range of events, including floods both larger and smaller than the 100-year benchmark. Abt researchers and their colleagues used a sample of 376 watersheds to explore the implications of a changing frequency and magnitude of flooding across a wide spectrum of flood events in the United States. The expected annual damages under baseline climate conditions are typically significantly higher than the expected damages from 100‐year events alone.