Date on Honors Thesis

Spring 4-20-2026

Major

Earth and Environmental Sciences

Examining Committee Member

Haluk Cetin, PhD, Advisor

Examining Committee Member

Bassil El Masri, PhD, Committee Member

Examining Committee Member

Katharine Loughney, PhD, Committee Member

Abstract/Description

In April of 2025, extreme flooding damaged many homes and buildings of people across Kentucky. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) produces maps that show the potential for flooding in areas around water bodies, but many of the April flooding damaged areas were well outside of the FEMA classification zones. The main purpose of this thesis research was to create an accurate model of potential flood extent in Kentucky and compare it to FEMA maps. This model did not require extensive computing power and produced a map that accurately depicted flood extent through the use of Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data, as well as information about the underlying geology of the study areas, and flood height data represented by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) flood gauges. Three study areas defined in the research were Highbridge on the Kentucky River, the New Haven site on the Rolling Fork River, and the Green River located in Rochester, Kentucky. The principal data sources were the DEMs of each study area, the USGS stream data, and the underlying geology data. The synthesis of these datasets created maps that showed the most important areas in respect to flood impact.

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