Honduras – Flood Inundation Mapping System for the Río Choluteca

Riverside Technology, inc. (RTi) worked with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Northrop Grumman, and Sutron under continued funding from USAID’s Hurricane Mitch Reconstruction Program to develop and implement a flood forecasting system for Honduras. RTi was responsible for hydrometeorological network design, data analysis, hydrologic model calibration, and the RiverTrak® Forecast System installation and training. RTi implemented the forecasting system for Honduras’ Río Choluteca and Upper Río Aguan.

Because of the importance of forecast information for Honduras’ capital city of Tegucigalpa, and the availability of detailed Digital Elevation Model data, RTi developed a system to produce real-time flood inundation maps for the Río Choluteca in Tegucigalpa. RTi incorporated the HEC-RAS model into RiverTrak® to compute water surface elevations. The forecasting system has been coupled with the NOAA FldView application to produce flood inundation maps of Tegucigalpa. Updated flood inundation maps can be produced every fifteen minutes for both current and forecasted conditions. These maps provide detailed flood information to Honduran emergency management personnel helping them to make flood warning and evacuation decisions.

2290 East Prospect Road, Suite 1, Fort Collins, Colorado 80525
phone: (970) 484–7573  fax: (970) 484–7593 www.riverside.com