The HEC-FIA software provides the capability to estimate a variety of flood impacts associated with actual or modeled events. HEC-FIA is designed to facilitate:

  • Assessment of disaster impacts after a flood.
  • Real-time flood impact analysis to assist with decision-making and response activities.
  • Development of annual reports, required by USACE Headquarters and Congress, that detail the reduction in flood damages resulting from USACE projects.
  • Development of consequence estimates to support risk assessments for the Dam Safety and Levee Safety Programs.

HEC-FIA evaluates impacts to a study area, and the damageable elements are defined through the addition of user defined agricultural inventories, structural inventories, critical infrastructure, and impact response curves. These damageable elements can be impacted by hydraulic parameters which can be described through two main data formats, either geo-referenced gridded model outputs (which describe depth, arrival time, duration and depth times velocity) or through a set of geo-referenced hydrographs (stage, or flow with accompanying rating curves) which represent a single event. For the specified analysis period of that single event, the software can estimate:

Estimate

Project Minimum Requirements

  • Structure damage
  • Content damage
  • Car damage

To estimate these damages, HEC-FIA requires a user-defined structure inventory, and the hydraulic information must include maximum depth for the flood event.

  • Population impacted
  • Life loss

To estimate these impacts, HEC-FIA requires a user-defined structure inventory with the population for each structure provided. In addition, the hydraulic information must include maximum depth, duration and depth times velocity, and arrival time for the flood event. Emergency planning zones (formerly known in FIA as impact areas), and at least one warning issuance scenario are also required.

  • Indirect income and job losses

The basic requirements for estimating life loss are necessary for this estimate. In addition, the user must define the total supply of available labor and capital for the entire county (or counties) in the study area.

  • Agricultural losses

The basic requirements include importing gridded agricultural data, and the user-provided hydraulic information must contain flood duration and arrival time.

  • Impacts based on exceeding high stage or flow thresholds
  • Impacts based on falling below low stage or flow thresholds

To estimate these damages, the HEC-FIA project must include a user-defined structure inventory, and the hydraulic information must include maximum depth for the flood event. In addition, the user must define impact response curves to set the stage or flow thresholds.

  • Impacts to critical infrastructure

To estimate these impacts, HEC-FIA requires a user-defined critical structure inventory, and the hydraulic information must include maximum depth for the flood event.

  • Flood Damages Reduced

The basic requirements for estimating Flood Damages Reduced is a user-defined structure inventory. In addition, the hydraulic information for the flood event must include multiple hydraulic simulations, either regulated vs. unregulated, and/or leveed vs. not leveed.

  • Reconstruction

To estimate these damages, HEC-FIA requires a user-defined structure inventory. In addition, the hydraulic information must include maximum depth and arrival time for the flood event.

HEC-FIA includes a number of reports that detail these impacts. The impacts can be sorted by geographic area based on any user supplied polygon (e.g., impact area, emergency planning zone).

To calculate impacts, HEC-FIA requires the user to identify the study, assemble and enter data, and execute the software. These analysis steps are covered in detail in this manual.