On-line street network analysis for flood evacuation planning

Flooding has been one of the most costly disasters in terms of property damage and human casualties. The damage to the infrastructure can also be extensive, and it can endanger flood evacuation efforts. During flooding, emergency managers need to know which evacuation route is safe for their vehicles.

In evacuation planning, knowing the water depths on roads and taking into account vehicle types available for rescue is highly demanded. This paper presents a Web GIS system for dynamic street network analysis in evacuation planning, which includes a flood monitoring and prediction system, a street network and flooding spatial data model, and an application for analysis of street network flooding in near-real time conditions.

The results obtained in this research demonstrate that users can obtain evacuation routes in different situations, where water depths and vehicle types are considered as constraints for the street network. The use of this system enables emergency management services and the general public to make a timely and effective decision for flood evacuation planning.