Ice‐Related Flood Damage Estimation

Abstract

Ice jams are a major cause of flooding. Little has been done to develop methods for economic analysis of ice‐related flooding. Since the economic feasibility of a project is generally based on damages prevented, reliable estimates of expected annual damages are necessary for efficient allocation of scarce resources by decision makers. Estimation of expected annual damages under ice conditions is a complex problem because up to three different sets of hydraulic conditions must be accounted for. Expected annual damages can be estimated by assigning probabilistic weights at various points in the computation of these damages. Estimates of these weights, which are very sensitive to simplifying assumptions must be made in the analysis.