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The Problem:

Within the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Risk Mapping, Assessment, and Planning (Risk MAP) program, the discovery process is intended to initiate watershed-wide discussions about boosting resilience to flooding. The purpose of the discovery is to identify which areas within a watershed require mapping, risk assessment, or mitigation planning support.

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The Solution:

Coordination was organized to gather data and information on flood issues, flood risk, and flood mitigation efforts within the Carson River watershed. This included stakeholders from the six counties in the Carson River watershed across two states, Nevada and California, as well as additional stakeholders such as the Nevada Division of Emergency Management, Nevada Division of Water Resources, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Truckee Carson Irrigation District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Geological Survey, and FEMA.

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Several discovery meetings took place with the Carson Water Subconservancy District to engage stakeholders for reviewing and validating available flood data. The discussions also covered flood history, cataloging areas at risk for flood loss, examining development plans, reviewing the adequacy of current hazard data, assessing mapping needs, and discussing community activities related to flood risk and solutions to reduce it.

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The Results:

Data was inventoried and analyzed, including hazard mitigation plans, National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) mapping needs, socio-economic data, flood control structures, community assistance visits, regulatory mapping, ongoing and completed watershed projects, and future project needs. The information gathered was then summarized as part of the discovery process into the Carson River Watershed Discovery Report. This task also involved preparing base GIS mapping to display the collected data on the Discovery Maps visually.