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Estimation of magnitude and frequency of floods for streams in Puerto Rico: New empirical models

Water-Resources Investigations Report 99-4142
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https://doi.org/10.3133/wri994142

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Abstract

Flood-peak discharges and frequencies are presented for 57 gaged sites in Puerto Rico for recurrence intervals ranging from 2 to 500 years. The log-Pearson Type III distribution, the methodology recommended by the United States Interagency Committee on Water Data, was used to determine the magnitude and frequency of floods at the gaged sites having 10 to 43 years of record. A technique is presented for estimating flood-peak discharges at recurrence intervals ranging from 2 to 500 years for unregulated streams in Puerto Rico with contributing drainage areas ranging from 0.83 to 208 square miles. Loglinear multiple regression analyses, using climatic and basin characteristics and peak-discharge data from the 57 gaged sites, were used to construct regression equations to transfer the magnitude and frequency information from gaged to ungaged sites. The equations have contributing drainage area, depth-to-rock, and mean annual rainfall as the basin and climatic characteristics in estimating flood peak discharges. Examples are given to show a step-by-step procedure in calculating a 100-year flood at a gaged site, an ungaged site, a site near a gaged location, and a site between two gaged sites.

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Estimation of magnitude and frequency of floods for streams in Puerto Rico: New empirical models
Series title Water-Resources Investigations Report
Series number 99-4142
DOI 10.3133/wri994142
Year Published 1999
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Description v, 41 p.
Country United States
State Puerto Rico
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