Flood Damage Evaluation for Residential Structures

As Civil/Structural engineers in the field of forensic engineering, we are often asked to evaluate residential buildings exposed to flood events. Whether the flooding is due to the storm surge from a hurricane, heavy rainfall events that result in riverine flooding, or failure of a levee, the effects on residential buildings have many common structural concerns. The purpose of this paper is to provide a primer on the evaluation of residential buildings exposed to flood events. Basic information regarding the National Flood Insurance Program will be discussed, including common insurance-related questions to be answered by the forensic engineer. An overview of flooding effects on structures will be provided, including considerations for hydrostatic forces, dynamic forces from flowing water, buoyancy, saturation of soils and related foundation movement, and environmental/contamination concerns. Case studies and selected topics will be examined as permitted by the length limitations of this paper.