EFAS rapid flood mapping

This data set contains the estimated flood extent at 100 m resolution for the whole of Europe based on the EFAS flood forecast and local flood protection levels.

The methodology in brief: For each location in the river the forecasted magnitude of peak discharge is compared with the local flood protection level. For locations where the local flood protection level is predicted to be exceeded the flood extend is estimated. The delineation of flood prone areas is based on a catalogue of flood hazard maps covering all the EFAS river network. The catalogue is based on simulations run with the 2D hydrodynamic model LISFLOOD-FP, fed with flood hydrographs derived from the EFAS climatology through a statistical analysis of extreme values for several reference return periods.

This information is produced by the operational EFAS (www.efas.eu) in order to communicate to the EFAS partners the estimated flood extent affiliated to the flood forecast.

The update frequency of this data set is twice a day (00:00 and 12:00 UTC); and the spatial coverage is the extended geographic Europe, with a 100 m resolution.