Flood Vulnerability Index
The Flood Vulnerability Index estimates the vulnerability to flooding across NYC. It combines information about exposure (estimated flood extents under different current and future scenarios) with information about susceptibility to harm and capacity to recover.
This information is used to estimate areas’ relative vulnerability to flooding to storm surges, and to tidal flooding. To account for changes in sea levels and flood plains, there are Flood Vulnerability Indices for three time periods: present-day (the 2020s), the 2050s, and the 2080s.
About the data
The Flood Vulnerability Index (FVI) is part of the Climate Vulnerability, Impact, and Adaptation Analysis (VIA) report from the Mayor's Office of Climate and Environmental Justice. Remember, a neighborhood with low vulnerability to one type of flooding may still have high vulnerability to another type of flooding.
Download the data (geoJSON). Census tracts are clipped to shorelines.
Storm surge
Neighborhood-level vulnerability to storm surges, under sea level conditions and floodplains estimated for the selected time period.
Tidal flooding
Neighborhood-level vulnerability to tidal flooding, under sea level conditions estimated for the selected time period.
Flood Vulnerability
1: Less vulnerable2
3
4
5: More vulnerable
Physical exposure risk
Each FVI includes present and projected information about physical exposure risk to one specific type of flooding (like tidal or storm surge flooding).
Each of the Flood Vulnerability Indices show how vulnerability to these flood hazards is different across neighborhoods.
The storm surge FVI, for example, uses FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area (2015) data to map physical exposure risk to this type of flooding, relative to other parts of NYC.
Susceptibility to harm and capacity to recover
Each FVI also combines flood exposure information with a single Flood Susceptibility to Harm and Recovery Index (FSHRI), which aggregates selected socio-demographic factors that have been observed to correlate with greater harm suffered due to flooding or lower capacity to recover from flooding.
The factors included in the FSHRI are: disability; language isolation; elder adults living alone; lack of health insurance; low-income households (below 75K annually); home ownership; per capita income; rent and cost burdened homes; Population with a vulnerable age (below 5, above 65 yrs old); and BIPOC residents.
Some of the differences in these risk factors across neighborhoods are rooted in past and present racism and drive variation in flood vulnerability across the city.