FLOOD06826 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

) .J ) Depth-damage relationships are based on the premise that water height, and its relationship to structure height, is the most important variable in determining the expected value of damage to buildings, Similar properties, constructed, furnished, and maintained alike, and exposed to the same flood stages and forces, may be assumed to incur damages in similar magnitudes or proportion to actual values, However, there are many factors that can explain the variations in the extent of flood damages. There is no widely,accepted, quantified relationship in the United States between any of these factors and the extent of flood damage, In prior steps, floodwater elevations for various discharges were derived, along with the frequency with which to expect these flows, In this step, and in the next step, the objective is to determine how much damage occurs at various flood elevations. There are two basic approaches. The most accurate approach is to determine the damages that ~ccurred during a recent flood, usually by conducting extensive interviews with floodplain residents and business proprietors. During the interviews, damages are also estimated for elevations above and below the flood of reference, This is still the preferred method of determining the elevation-damage curve. However, it is a time consuming and expensive process for most large floodplains, Consequently, it is not unusual to obtain stage-damage data by using generalized data in a computer, oriented analysis, This approach is described below, Aoolication, Predictable depth-damage relationships can be used to estimate the amount of damage from any given level of flooding, and consequently, to assess the benefits of flood damage alleviation, Depth-damage functions are used to compute the probable damage for a given V-35