Reference · built on requestCommons signalHazards & public safety

USGS Flood Event Viewer

High-water marks, storm-tide sensors, and flood peaks from the USGS Short-Term Network, via the Flood Event Viewer and STN web services.

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About

During major storms and other short-term flood events the U.S. Geological Survey deploys temporary sensors and surveys high-water marks, then loads them into the Short-Term Network for archival. The Flood Event Viewer at apps.usgs.gov/fev gives map-based, per-event access to that record, and the STN Web Services at stn.wim.usgs.gov/STNServices expose the same data as REST resources in JSON, XML, and, for spatial resources, GeoJSON. Events carry a type such as Hurricane, Riverine Flood, Noreaster, Tsunami, or Typhoon and a status of Active or Completed. Sensor types include Pressure Transducer for water level, wave height, and barometric pressure, Meterological Station, Rapid Deployment Gage, and Rain Gage.

Through Fibric, an operator reads the marks and peaks near each site after an event and proposes inspections, storm-prep thresholds, or an evidence file for your approval.

This is a reference listing. It documents what Fibric would read from USGS Flood Event Viewer and what it could propose, based on the publisher's published interfaces. Fibric builds it under a managed deployment when you request it; selecting it here installs nothing.

Inputs

  • Events from /Events with event_name, event_start_date, event_end_date, event_type_id, and event_status_id, plus /Events/FilteredEvents by Date, Type, and State
  • High-water marks from /HWMs and /HWMs/FilteredHWMs by Event, States, County, HWMType, HWMQuality, HWMEnvironment, SurveyComplete, and StillWater
  • Sites from /Sites and /Sites/FilteredSites, or by Latitude, Longitude, and Buffer, with the most recent datum location and network names
  • Peak summaries from /PeakSummaries/FilteredPeaks by Event, EventType, EventStatus, States, County, StartDate, and EndDate, with site information
  • Sensor deployments from /Instruments/FilteredInstruments and /SensorViews by Event, SensorType, DeploymentType, CurrentStatus, and CollectionCondition
  • Data files and approvals: /DataFiles by IsApproved and Event, and /HWMs/{id}/Approval, which tells you whether a mark is approved or provisional
  • Lookup lists: EventTypes, EventStatus, SensorTypes with their deployment types, HWMTypes, HWMQualities, States, and Counties

Proposed actions

Read-only. This feed informs operators; it changes nothing.

Proposed actions are target capabilities. Every action runs propose-first and needs a validated deployment and the appropriate permissions.

What you can build

  • Schedule inspections where the water rose

    After a named storm, the operator pulls high-water marks and peak summaries within a buffer of each property, ranks sites by elev_ft and height_above_gnd, and proposes an inspection order.

    With Inspection Scheduling

  • Ground storm prep in past peaks

    Before a forecast landfall, the operator reads the surveyed peaks and marks from earlier events near each site and proposes sandbag, equipment-lift, and closure thresholds tied to those elevations.

    With Storm Prep

  • File the flood record for insurers

    The operator files the approved marks, their datum and quality, and the STN site number for each affected property, with the FEV citation, so claims cite USGS data rather than memory.

    With Compliance Evidence

  • Rank sites by flood exposure

    Across a portfolio, the operator counts events with marks or sensors within a buffer of each site and proposes a table for the site review.

    With Site Benchmark

Requirements

  • A latitude, longitude, and buffer per site for /Sites, or state and county lists for the Filtered resources
  • The event_id of each storm you follow, taken from /Events or /Events/FilteredEvents
  • A rule for provisional versus approved records: a mark is Approved when /HWMs/{id}/Approval returns a record, otherwise Provisional
  • The FEV citation in anything you publish: U.S. Geological Survey, year, Short-Term Network Data Portal, accessed on date, at water.usgs.gov/floods/FEV
Authentication
No key or account for reading. STN lists its resources as GET, and without authentication only approved data files are returned.

Limits

  • These data are preliminary or provisional and subject to revision; the USGS states they have not received final approval
  • STN holds short-term deployments and surveyed marks for specific events, not long-term streamgage records, which USGS Water Data for the Nation holds
  • The service documentation lists no rate limit; large filtered pulls should be scoped by event and state
  • Inundated areas shown in the viewer are not for navigation, regulatory, permitting, or other legal purposes, per the USGS disclaimer

Access and pricing

Reference listing. Public feed access is separate from Fibric integration. If you request this feed, your quote covers the build, usage, and support.

Request USGS Flood Event Viewer ↗

Questions and answers

Is Flood Event Viewer data final?
No. The USGS states these data are preliminary or provisional and subject to revision, provided to meet the need for timely best science, and that they have not received final approval. A high-water mark shows as Approved only once an approval record exists.
What sensors and marks does the Short-Term Network hold?
Sensor types are Pressure Transducer (Water Level, Wave Height, Barometric Pressure), Meterological Station (Humidity, Temperature, Windspeed), Thermometer, Webcam, Rapid Deployment Gage, and Rain Gage. High-water mark types include Mud, Debris, Clear water, Seed line, Stain line, Cut line, and Wash line.
How do I query STN by location?
Call /Sites with Latitude, Longitude, and an optional Buffer, or use the Filtered resources with States and County lists. Sites, HWMs, ObjectivePoints, and FilteredPeaks answer in .geojson as well as .json and .xml.
Ask about USGS Flood Event Viewer

Ask about the capabilities and requirements in this listing.

For project-specific requirements, contact Fibric.

This Commons signal listing is developed, published, and supported by Fibric. It reads public data published by U.S. Geological Survey Short-Term Network (stn.wim.usgs.gov, apps.usgs.gov/fev). Upstream agencies and projects are the property of their respective owners, who are not affiliated with Fibric and do not sponsor or endorse this listing. Trademark policy