NOAA Flood Events

Event-based flood and severe weather records compiled by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), providing historical reports of flood occurrence and impacts.

Overview

NOAA Flood Events are derived from the NOAA Storm Events Database, which documents the occurrence, location, timing, and impacts of severe weather events across the United States. Flood-related events are reported by local weather offices and emergency management agencies.

This dataset is widely used for flood frequency analysis, impact assessment, and as event-level labels or targets in supervised hazard modeling, particularly when paired with meteorological reanalysis data.

Data Characteristics

  • Spatial coverage: United States

  • Temporal coverage: Historical records with monthly updates

  • Temporal resolution: Event-based (begin and end timestamps)

  • Data structure: Tabular event records (not gridded tensors)

  • Data format: CSV, database extracts

  • Coordinate system: Administrative regions and point locations (where available)

Variables

Typical flood event records include:

  • Event start and end time

  • Event location (state, county/zone, and coordinates when available)

  • Event type and narrative descriptions

  • Reported impacts such as property damage, crop damage, injuries, and fatalities

Typical Use Cases

  • Flood occurrence and frequency analysis

  • Impact and damage assessment studies

  • Supervised learning with flood events as prediction targets

  • Integration with meteorological drivers for flood hazard modeling

Access

NOAA Storm Events data are publicly available via NOAA NCEI:

Reference

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). Storm Events Database Documentation. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/metadata/landing-page/bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.ncdc:C00648