BIT-INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE

TAGBILARAN CITY

Bangot, Via C. MST 2

BSED- Biological Science 4 Score:

Formative Assessment 5: Peak Flow Data

Instructions:
Answer each question in 2-3 complete sentences. Consider each question carefully and be sure to provide a complete
answer.
Questions

Figure 4. Orange bars show the histogram of the annual peak flows shown in Figure 3 for the Lehigh River. Grey dashed
line is a theoretical distribution (a probability density function, or PDF) approximating the complete distribution represented
by the histogram of historical data. The PDF can be used to make predictions of flood frequency.
Source: Data from US Geological Survey
1. Determine which of the following should be considered forecasts versus predictions:
1. The peak flow of the Mississippi River in St. Louis, MO next year
 Forecast
2. Weather in Charleston, SC tomorrow
 Forecasts
3. Mean global temperature in 2100
 Predictions
2. Why do you think flood magnitude histograms (and associated probability density functions) like Figure 4 above are
typically right skewed (i.e., have a long tail to the right side of the plot, as opposed to a bell curve which has the
mean, median and mode in the middle and symmetrical tails on each side)? What does this say about how these
systems function?
 Flood Magnitude histograms as shown above, show a skewed distribution to the right. Positively skewed
means that the distribution is biased to the right. The lower value cells (left side) have a significant number
of occurrences, while the top value cells have a few (right side). When data is collected from a system
having a boundary like zero, it can result in a skewed distribution. To put it another way, all of the
information gathered has a value greater than zero.
 BIT-INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE
TAGBILARAN CITY

Bangot, Via C. MST 2

BSED- Biological Science 4 Score:

Formative Assessment 6: Flood Risk

Flood risk map for a section of the city of St. Louis,

Missouri Source: FEMA

Instructions
Answer each question in 2-3 complete sentences. Consider each question carefully and be sure to provide a
complete answer.

Questions
1. The map above is a flood risk map for a section of the city of St. Louis, Missouri. The Mississippi river is in the
top right corner, the area in blue shading is the designated floodway, and the area in yellow is the estimated
flood area
for the 100-year flood (although it is protected from the 100-year flood by a levee system). You are a flood
insurance salesperson selling insurance to the houses marked by the blue and orange dots.
1. Which house (blue or orange) would you charge higher rates for flood insurance? Why?
 I'd charge blue house higher flood insurance rates because their area is a designated floodway, which
means they're at risk. For example, if the flood rises significantly and they don't have a levee system
to prevent water from entering their area, it could cause damage to the house or anything else in the
area. Despite the fact that the yellow house is in the flood zone, they have a levee system in place to
protect them and lessen the chance of flooding.
2. The owners of the blue house do not want to buy flood insurance, because they are not within the 100-year
flood risk zone. Do you agree with the homeowners or would you suggest they purchase flood insurance?
Explain your reasoning.
 I would suggest to them to purchase flood insurance. I'd tell them about the advantages of obtaining
 flood insurance. Even though we can tell that they are not within the 100-year flood risk zone, their
area still has a chance to be at risk because it is in the designated floodway. And tell them that at any
moment of time there’s the possibility that the flood will overflow and damage their area. So, having
flood insurance secure/help them if there’s damage to their belongingness in the future.
3. The 1993 flood discussed above exceeded the 100-year flood at many locations on the Mississippi River.
Knowing this, the owners of the orange house argue that they do not need insurance, because the 100-year
flood occurred recently. Do you agree with the homeowners or would you suggest they purchase flood
insurance? Explain your reasoning.
 I would advise them to buy flood insurance since we cannot guarantee that a major flood will not
occur at any time, particularly if there is heavy rain and the flood water would overflow and cause
damage to their home. I would tell them that having a safety net is preferable to having none at all.
4. The owners of the orange house also argue that they do not need flood insurance because the levee system
eliminates the risk of flooding. What would you say to the homeowners to convince them that flood insurance
is a good investment?
 I would explain to them that levee system can eliminates the risk of flooding but there is also a limit to
it, what if the flood water overflow because the levee system cannot handle it due to the heavy rain
and also we cannot assure if when it will happen. So, I would tell them that flood insurance is good
investment for them to purchase especially they are prone into flood area. It will help them if anything
in their properties during flood.
5. The owners of the blue house are real-estate developers and do not understand why valuable
riverfront property is set aside as a floodway. Explain whether you as an insurance salesperson would
agree on housing development in the floodway (think in terms of economic benefit and risk). Also
explain why the homeowners should value the floodway, especially given the location of their house.
 As an insurance salesperson, I would agree on housing development in the floodway
where it makes the people living near in the area to be safe. Hence, even if there is a
floodway, there’s a chance that the people will purchase flood insurance to secure their
future. The homeowners should value the floodway for its purpose is to lessen the impacts of
the flood water from the river that may cause harm to people and destruction of their
properties.
2. Flood risk maps are available throughout the U.S. Visit the F EMA Flood Map Service Center website and lookup
the flood risk map for your community. To do this, type in your address into the search bar and click "Search".
Click
"View Map" icon to see a paper copy of the flood map, then click on the "Interactive Map" icon to be directed to
a web-based Geographic Information System (GIS) map that contains digitized flood maps for the US. You can
then explore the interactive map for your community and around the country. Use the flood map of your
community to answer the following questions.
1. Is there a potential flood risk for your community?
 Yes, there is a potential flood risk in our community especially if there’s a heavy rain due to the storm
and there also one time that the river near in our market overflow and causes the floodwater enter the
houses near it. And also we don’t have a clear floodway due to stock pile of soil that wash out from
the flood.
2. Is there a floodway established for any rivers that run through your community?
 Yes, it has but it’s not working due to stock pile of garbage and soil. And also some of it are still
working but it’s enough
3. Are there any houses or structures within a flood risk zone in your community?
 Yes, the houses near the river. They are in the flood risk zone since the water in the river overflow
especially due to the heavy rain. And also to the lower area