I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1438 
To establish a national integrated flood information system within the 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 26, 2021 
Ms. SHERRILL (for herself, Ms. ROSS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PASCRELL, Ms. 
JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. CRIST, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. SIRES, and Ms. 
MOORE of Wisconsin) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and in addition to the 
Committees on Natural Resources, and Transportation and Infrastruc-
ture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each 
case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 
the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To establish a national integrated flood information system 
within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
tration, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Flood Level Observation, Operations, and Decision Sup-
port Act’’ or the ‘‘FLOODS Act’’. 
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(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Definitions. 
Sec. 3. National Integrated Flood Information System. 
Sec. 4. Observations and modeling for total water prediction. 
Sec. 5. Service coordination hydrologists at River Forecast Centers of the Na-
tional Weather Service. 
Sec. 6. Improving National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration commu-
nication of future flood risks and hazardous flash flood events. 
Sec. 7. Freshwater monitoring along the coast. 
Sec. 8. Tornado warning improvement. 
Sec. 9. Hurricane forecast improvement program. 
Sec. 10. Weather and water research and development planning. 
Sec. 11. Forecast communication coordinators. 
Sec. 12. Improving precipitation frequency estimates. 
Sec. 13. Interagency Coordinating Committee on Water Management. 
Sec. 14. Hydrologic research fellowship program. 
Sec. 15. Identification and support of consistent, Federal set of forward-look-
ing, long-term meteorological information. 
Sec. 16. Gap analysis on availability of snow-related data to assess and predict 
flood and flood impacts. 
Sec. 17. Availability to the public of flood-related data. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each 
State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American 
Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern 
Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands of the United 
States, and any other territory or possession of the 
United States. 
(2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-
trator’’ means the Administrator of the National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 
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SEC. 3. NATIONAL INTEGRATED FLOOD INFORMATION SYS-
TEM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall establish 
a system, to be known as the ‘‘National Integrated Flood 
Information System’’, to better inform and provide for 
more timely decision making to reduce flood-related effects 
and costs. 
(b) 
SYSTEM
FUNCTIONS.—The 
Administrator, 
through the National Integrated Flood Information Sys-
tem, shall— 
(1) provide an effective flood early warning sys-
tem that— 
(A) collects and integrates information on 
the key indicators of floods and flood impacts, 
including streamflow, reservoir release and di-
version, precipitation, soil moisture, snow water 
equivalent, land cover, and evaporative demand; 
(B) makes usable, reliable, and timely fore-
casts of floods; 
(C) assesses the severity of flood conditions 
and effects; 
(D) issues flood watches and warnings 
when necessary; 
(E) provides information described in sub-
paragraph (A), forecasts described in subpara-
graph (B), and assessments described in sub-
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paragraph (C) at the national, regional, and 
local levels, as appropriate; and 
(F) communicates flood forecasts, flood 
conditions, and flood impacts to public and pri-
vate entities engaged in flood planning, pre-
paredness, response, and post-event flood extent 
including— 
(i) decision makers at the Federal, 
State, local, and Tribal levels of govern-
ment; 
(ii) the private sector; and 
(iii) the public; 
(2) provide timely data, information, and prod-
ucts that reflect differences in flood conditions 
among localities, regions, watersheds, and States; 
(3) coordinate and integrate, through inter-
agency agreements as practicable, Federal research 
and monitoring in support of the flood early warning 
information system provided under paragraph (1); 
(4) use existing forecasting and assessment pro-
grams and partnerships; 
(5) make improvements in seasonal precipita-
tion and temperature, subseasonal precipitation and 
temperature, and flood water prediction; and 
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(6) continue ongoing research and monitoring 
activities relating to floods, including research activi-
ties relating to— 
(A) the prediction, length, severity, and 
impacts of floods and improvement of the accu-
racy, timing, and specificity of flash flood warn-
ings; 
(B) the role of extreme weather events and 
climate variability in floods; and 
(C) how water travels over and through 
surfaces. 
(c) PARTNERSHIPS.—The Administrator, through the 
National Integrated Flood Information System, may— 
(1) engage with the private sector to improve 
flood monitoring, forecasts, land and topography 
data, and communication, if the Administrator de-
termines that such engagement is appropriate, cost 
effective, and beneficial to the public and decision 
makers described in subsection (b)(1)(F)(i); 
(2) facilitate the development of 1 or more aca-
demic cooperative partnerships to assist in carrying 
out the functions of the National Integrated Flood 
Information System described in subsection (b); 
(3) use and support monitoring by citizen sci-
entists, including by developing best practices to fa-
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cilitate maximum data integration, as the Adminis-
trator considers appropriate; 
(4) engage with, and leverage the resources of, 
entities within the National Oceanic and Atmos-
pheric Administration in existence as of the date of 
the enactment of this Act, such as the National 
Weather Service with respect to forecast and warn-
ing functions, the National Integrated Drought In-
formation System, the Regional Climate Center, and 
the National Mesonet Program, to improve coordina-
tion of water monitoring, forecasting, and manage-
ment; and 
(5) engage with and support water monitoring 
by the United States Geological Survey— 
(A) to improve the availability and con-
tinuity of streamflow data at critical locations 
through the deployment of Rapid Deployment 
Gages and the flood-hardening of at-risk 
streamflow gages; and 
(B) to increase storm surge monitoring 
data through the deployment of additional 
storm surge sensors. 
(d) CONSULTATION.—In developing and maintaining 
the National Integrated Flood Information System, the 
Administrator shall consult with relevant Federal, State, 
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local, and Tribal government agencies, research institu-
tions, and the private sector. 
(e) COOPERATION FROM OTHER FEDERAL AGEN-
CIES.—Each Federal agency shall cooperate as appro-
priate with the Administrator in carrying out this section. 
SEC. 4. OBSERVATIONS AND MODELING FOR TOTAL WATER 
PREDICTION. 
(a) PARTNERSHIPS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall es-
tablish partnerships with 1 or more institutions of 
higher education (as defined in section 101 of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) to 
evaluate observations that would improve total water 
prediction. 
(2) PRIORITY OBSERVATIONS.—In establishing 
partnerships under paragraph (1), the Administrator 
shall prioritize partnerships to evaluate observations 
from uncrewed aerial systems. 
(b) MAINTAINED OBSERVATIONS.—If the Adminis-
trator determines that incorporating additional observa-
tions improves total water prediction, the Administrator 
shall, to the extent practicable, continue incorporating 
those observations. 
(c) MODELING IMPROVEMENTS.—The Administrator 
shall advance geographic coverage, resolution, skill, and 
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efficiency of coastal oceanographic modeling, including ef-
forts that improve the coupling of and interoperability be-
tween hydrological models and coastal ocean models. 
(d) GEOSPATIAL DATA.—The Administrator shall ad-
vance the development of models to vertically transform 
geospatial data into a common system for use as the Fed-
eral standard for surveys and mapping, and engage with 
the United States Geological Survey to collaborate and im-
plement the National Hydrography Datasets as the 
geospatial underpinning of the system, and to collaborate 
and implement the National Hydrography Infrastructure 
to improve discovery and access to flood and other water- 
related information. 
SEC. 5. SERVICE COORDINATION HYDROLOGISTS AT RIVER 
FORECAST 
CENTERS 
OF 
THE 
NATIONAL 
WEATHER SERVICE. 
(a) DESIGNATION OF SERVICE COORDINATION HY-
DROLOGISTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 
Weather Service (in this section referred to as the 
‘‘Director’’) shall designate at least 1 service coordi-
nation hydrologist at each River Forecast Center of 
the National Weather Service. 
(2) PERFORMANCE BY OTHER EMPLOYEES.— 
Performance of the responsibilities outlined in this 
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