Record setting rains that fell on Sunday in Texas and Oklahoma are still wreaking havoc as flooding continues in the region. The storms dumped enough water that the rivers and creek banks were not able to contain all of the wet weather flow. Runoff peaked as late as Monday in these areas causing the National Weather Service to advise of continued flooding threats.

A project that lasted for 20 years and aims at defending a vulnerable region to flooding in the UK has been completed.

With half a million dollars spent to adress direct flooding costs in the U.S. in 2012, flood risk evaluation is still hard to perform, since not all contributing factors are recognized, frequently leading to questionable river basin management decisions. A new study by UC Santa Barbara focuses on the basic principles of flood hazard analysis, indicating that not accounting for channel capacity may result into misleading estimates of the flood susceptibility levels also affecting flood insurance premiums calculation. 

As a flooding event is still in progress, real-time information on its extent and the population affected is difficult to obtain, putting rescue crews and associated agencies in a difficult position in terms of planning and decision making. A joint study carried out by two Dutch organizations - Deltares and Floodtags - aims in developing twitter-based real-time flood maps. The project is considered a proof of concept and was presented at the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union taking place in Vienna these days.