Flood Communications and Decision Support Research

As part of NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology (CIROH), we collaborate with researchers working to improve the way information related to flooding is communicated to a variety of audiences.  We are motivated by the idea that good decisions need good information communicated well.

When flooding is forecast or occurring, the NOAA’s National Weather Service uses multiple models to predict the magnitude, extent, and timing of flood impacts. That information is shared via tools like water.noaa.gov, briefings with emergency managers and other core partners, and in emergency alerts and social media accessible to the public.

Across multiple CIROH-funded research projects, the Watershed Lab is collaborating with social scientists at the University of Vermont, University of Minnesota, Research Triangle Institute, Northeastern University, and beyond to answer questions like:

  1. How does flood warning information reach community organizations who do not receive direct briefings from the National Weather Service? How do those organizations share flood information with the people they serve? (2023-2025)
  2. What are the barriers to correct interpretation (and thus good decision-making) found in real-time and forecast flood inundation mapping services? (2023-2025)
  3. For technical and non-technical users of flood forecasts, what makes a forecast useful for decision-making? How do perceptions of accuracy, uncertainty, timeliness influence trust placed in forecasts and how forecast information is used? How can we help the NWS improve flood forecast briefings? (2025-2027)
  4. How can we visualize total water level (river + coastal flooding) in a way that enables accurate and timely interpretation of these data? (2025-2027)
  5. What are the best practices for multi-model visualizations of spatio-temporal flood inundation forecasts? (2025-2027)
  6. Is it possible to develop a holistic flood hazard scale that goes beyond water level to communicate the velocity and erosive hazards associated with flooding? (2025-2027)

Within these projects, Watershed Lab personnel play critical roles in

  • connecting the specific research questions, approaches, and analyses to hydrologic and geomorphic principles (e.g., how do the flood generating mechanisms in different regions affect the timescale and types of communication around flood forecasts?),
  • translating hydrology into plain language for cross-disciplinary collaboration and engagement with non-technical audiences
  • fostering interdisciplinary training of early career researchers.

From 2023-2025, Dr. Lakelyn Taylor was a postdoc with the Watershed Lab, working on projects 1 and 2 above. Lakelyn brought critical scholarly skills in risk and crisis communication, with a focus on natural disasters. Since August 2025,  we’ve been delighted to have the time and talents of post-doc Dr. Rodrigo Soares, working on what we call the “Useful Forecasts” project (#3 above). Rodrigo is also a scholar of risk and crisis communication, with deep engagement on flooding. 

Related Publications

(Watershed Lab members in bold)

Taylor, L.E., Brown, J.A., Jefferson, A.J., Doran, E.M.B., DeBree, S., Johns, C., Luukinen, B., Milazzo, J., Motes, H., van Werkhoven, K., Van Houtven, G., and Southwell, B., 2025. Applying the IDEA Model to Flood Risk Communication. Crisis and Risk Communication. 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/29986907.2025.2561036

Kandel, S., Stumpf, A.C., Joshi, A., Sharma, S., Taylor, L.E., Jefferson, A.J., Kenney, M.E., 2026. Comparing Flood Inundation Map Features and Diagnosing Decision Support Design Challenges. Hydrological Processes. 40(1): e70362. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70362

Brown, J.A., Taylor, L.E., Mullen, N., Motes, H., DeBree, S., Jefferson, A.J., Doran, E.M.B., van Werkhoven, K., Van Houtven, G., Southwell, B., in review.  Evaluating the Design, Perception, and Dissemination of Flood Warning Messages in Local Community Organizations.