What Is Nuisance Flooding? Defining and Monitoring an Emerging Challenge

TLDR

Nuisance flooding is low‑level inundation that does not threaten safety or cause major damage but disrupts daily activities, strains infrastructure, and can cause minor property damage, and it is increasingly relevant as sea‑level rise raises high tides in low‑lying coastal cities, yet it remains widespread and under‑studied. The study aims to provide a simple, quantitative definition of nuisance flooding based on established flood‑intensity thresholds for pedestrian safety, property damage, and health risks. The authors define nuisance flooding as water depth between 3 cm and 10 cm regardless of source, encompassing pluvial, fluvial, and oceanic drivers, and distinguish between NF as a process and as an event to link trends and compounding effects to societal impacts and policy interventions. The paper presents potential applications and implications of monitoring nuisance flooding.

Abstract

Abstract Nuisance flooding (NF) refers to low levels of inundation that do not pose significant threats to public safety or cause major property damage, but can disrupt routine day‐to‐day activities, put added strain on infrastructure systems such as roadways and sewers, and cause minor property damage. NF has received some attention in the context of low‐lying coastal cities exposed to increasingly higher high tides, a consequence of sea level rise, which exceeds the heights of coastal topography. However, low levels of flooding are widespread and deserve greater attention. Here a simple, quantitative definition of NF is proposed based on established flood intensity thresholds for flood consequences (e.g., pedestrian safety, property damage, and health risks). Based on a wide range of literature including hydrology, transportation, public health risk, and safety impacts, we define NF based on depth >3 cm and <10 cm, regardless of the source. This definition of NF is not limited to high tide flooding but rather is inclusive of all possible flood drivers including pluvial, fluvial, and oceanic and can capture trends in NF resulting from trends in, and compounding effects of, flood drivers. Furthermore, we also distinguish between NF as a process and NF as an event , which is important for linking NF to societal impacts and developing effective policy interventions and mitigation strategies. Potential applications and implications of NF monitoring are also presented.