A mapping tool that aims to provide forecasters and communities with flooding information has expanded to cover 60% of the U.S. population, the National Weather Service announced Thursday. With this development, the experimental tool promises to serve twice as many Americans as it did before.
The Flood Inundation Mapping, or FIM, tool is designed to show Google Earth-like visualizations of flood waters as they are either impacting, or forecasted to impact, neighborhoods across the country, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. NOAA is the federal parent agency of the Weather Service, which is a primary source of weather forecasts during emergencies, including floods.
The interactive, online tool allows people to learn more about flood forecasts or observations that could affect them, by exploring their regions, cities or neighborhoods. NOAA said the mapping interface updates almost in real time, which will support Weather Service forecasters in issuing flood watches and warnings.
Some local forecast offices have already had access to the tool for two years, while others have had access for one year, depending on where they are. When it launched in 2023, the tool offered flooding information for about 10% of the U.S. population, and it expanded to include 30% last September, according to NOAA.
On social media Wednesday, NOAA and the Weather Service shared a simulated image generated by the tool, which showed possible flooding along the Tug Fork River in Warfield, Kentucky, in February.
“Local emergency teams used those maps to deploy the National Guard with high-water vehicles to affected neighborhoods where they evacuated all the residents before water entered their apartments,” the agencies said.
Originally, the mapping feature was accessible to forecasting offices in parts of Louisiana, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas, and it later grew to include much larger parts of the Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Mississippi Valley and Pacific Northwest regions. Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands were also covered.
The latest expansion means forecasters can use the map’s services in the Great Plains, interior Southeast, Southwest and West Coast. It now covers Hawaii and parts of Alaska, too, including the Cook Inlet, Kenai Peninsula, Copper River and Prince William Sound, where flooding can be especially severe.
“Flooding is the most frequent severe weather-related threat, and our costliest natural disaster,” said David Vallee of NOAA’s National Water Center, in a statement. “Expanding our FIM availability has been a game-changer in providing actionable, real-time information to emergency and water resource managers, and will expand the delivery of impact-based decision support services to our core partners who work to keep Americans safe and informed.”
The mapping tool will be fully activated across the U.S. next year, NOAA said, adding that it will include 110,000 river miles near the Weather Service’s river forecast centers, which handle predictions in different regions. It will also cover more than 3.6 million miles of rivers being monitored for the National Water Model, a massive simulation that uses real data to help forecasters make predictions about the flow of rivers and streams throughout the U.S.
Sharpening communications between forecasters, emergency managers and first responders during weather emergencies, like the catastrophic floods that struck Texas in July, is a subject of national concern, particularly at the peak of the current hurricane season.
CBS News has reached out to NOAA for more information.
Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She typically covers breaking news, extreme weather and issues involving social justice. Emily Mae previously wrote for outlets like the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.
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