BackgroundBased on the flooding of last April, we argue that determining sound evacuation routes will help deal with the unpredictability of flooding in the county of Jackson IL. In April of 2011 there was a record level of rainfall of 7.45 inches which caused a massive flood that nearly wiped out most of the area. Jackson County was declared a disaster area and in damage was done. The services that are provided now are useful but mostly to assess flood insurance and floodplain. We would like to produce a map of Jackson County that will allow average citizens and emergency services to assess their own flood risk and to show possible evacuation routes to safe fallout structures set up throughout the county.

References & Acknowledgments -Jackson County CSI Emergency Service Database

-National Data Seamless Viewer(USGS)

-2000 Census Bureau geographic block groups

-The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA)

-National Climate Data Center

ConclusionsOverall our maps and analysis accurately provide safe evacuation routes in the event of a catastrophic flood.. Through analyzing elevation and precipitation we were able to spatially show where dangerous areas are during a flood and also what evacuation routes are safe during a flood. We hope that the finding is our project can allow people to safely evacuate Jackson county in the case of a severe flood disaster.

Study area and datasetsThe study area for this project is Jackson County. All the data for our maps came from Jackson County CSI Emergency Database, National Data Seamless Viewer(USGS), 2000 Census Bureau geographic block groups, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA), National Climate Data Center. The elevation DEM image came from the seamless viewer, population data and tables came from American Factfinder, precipitation data came from the NOAA and NCDC, and all Jackson County shapefiles (centerline, hydrology, etc) came from the CSI database.

AbstractWe want to provide an assessment on alternate routes that could be utilized in case of flooding in Jackson County using elevation and precipitation data as our main focus. We thought of this particular issue because of the flooding that occurred in April of 2011 which hindered travel on many roadways and especially around the lakes and rivers. We wanted to provide emergency vehicles with alternate routes based on the level of elevation of the land and Jackson County land layout. We are going to query certain routes and use buffering to display and represent that where travel is allowed

Methods

Amber Blakeslee, Nicholas Kunkel, Cassidy Younker, Ryan WendellGeography 416: Cartographic Design, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Fall 2011

Figure 5: Jackson County Immediate Danger Zones. These danger zones were hand-picked based on overlap of buffer zones and low lying elevation. According to the analysis, Grand Tower possesses the greater risk for a flood in the county.

Figure 3: Jackson County Flood Variables. Same as figure 2. June, July and August consist of Summer precipitation months.

Figure 1: A general reference map showing the locations of temporary shelters. Centerline road segments were added to give people an idea of how to get to shelters in the event of a flood.

Figure 4: Jackson County Safe Route scenario. Red lines represent calculated routes based on specified criteria. A Geometric Network was created from the centerline road shapefile in order to calculate said routes. Black dots represent the shelters that the safe routes lead to.

Figure 2: Jackson County Flood Variables. Precipitation data were calculated in inches . The population density units are persons per square mile. Elevation range is from 97 feet to 260 feet. March, April and May consist of Spring months.

Results & DiscussionOur first two maps show the precipitation, population density and Elevation data. These are all crucial factors in finding safe routes during a flood evacuation. The third map shows possible evacuation routes due to the precipitation and elevation data. The map clearly shows danger zones that drivers should avoid. This map also clearly displays, in red marks, the safe routes to evacuate flooded areas in Jackson County. Our last map just points out the danger zones specifically. These better cartographic design techniques break down and better label exactly where the danger zones for dangerous flooding is. These maps clearly show that areas of danger are directly correlated to bodies of water. Our maps effectively show the main factors in finding good flood evacuation routes and preparation.

Jackson County, IL Flood Disaster Preparation & Assessment

STATION NAME YEAR MARCH APRIL MAY. JUNE JULY AUGUSTCARBONDALE SEWAGE PLT 2006 9.24 3.48 4.71 1.4 9.77 2.04CARBONDALE SEWAGE PLT 2007 1.54 4.04 3.01 5.58 2.22 1.18CARBONDALE SEWAGE PLT 2008 11.76 7.29 6.92 1.62 5.68 3.19CARBONDALE SEWAGE PLT 2009 2.8 7.02 8.44 4.76 7.16 6.93CARBONDALE SEWAGE PLT 2010 5.08 3.29 5.84 3.59 1.69 2.83CARBONDALE SEWAGE PLT 2011 5.34 14.84 7.41 7.93 0 0

GRAND TWR 2 N 2006 11.55 2.2 4.31 2.38 6.6 1.01GRAND TWR 2 N 2007 1.88 2.67 2.12 3.08 2.15 1.58GRAND TWR 2 N 2008 8.07 6.69 4.83 1.69 5.55 2.18GRAND TWR 2 N 2009 2.55 4.26 6.7 3 2 3.96GRAND TWR 2 N 2011 0 0 0 0 0 0

MURPHYSBORO 2 SW 2006 8.88 2.84 3.25 2.43 7.06 1.68MURPHYSBORO 2 SW 2007 2.6 3.85 2.57 0 0.93 1.54MURPHYSBORO 2 SW 2008 9.75 1.85 4.27 0 0 0MURPHYSBORO 2 SW 2009 2.27 6.11 8.29 3.95 5.31 3.75MURPHYSBORO 2 SW 2010 4.55 2.56 4.26 4.69 1.28 3.45MURPHYSBORO 2 SW 2011 4.63 15.04 7.37 7.24 0 0

Figure 6: Jackson County Precipitation Data Table. Only spring and summer months are shown. Data were converted into inches for each station: Carbondale, Murphysboro and Grand Tower (see figure 2-3).

Precipitation data were data scrubbed and organized using MS Excel. The table was then joined to the station structure shapefile for analysis. 3D bar charts for Spring and Summer 2009,2010, and 2011 calculations were used. Multiple-ring buffers were used to estimate the flood danger zones for major bodies of water in the county. A DEM image was then clipped to an existing county polygon in order to display elevation. Text background callout labeling techniques were used for all labeling in the maps. A Geometric Network was created from the centerline (roads) shapefile in order to calculate safe routes for people in the county. The Utility Network Analyst tool was used in the calculation of said routes.

Future Directions

The map showing safe routes and evacuation (figure 4) is far from perfect and can be improved upon with more specified criteria. Also, the temporary shelters need to be geographically monitored in order to determine if they are at risk of being under water in a flood disaster. Precipitation data is greatly needed for Grand Tower (2010 and 2011 data is missing) due to our analysis showing that the town is in danger zone 1 (figure 5). Lastly, soil and aquifer data is needed in order to perform

more accurate analyses on Jackson County flood disasters.