## 1 Introduction  
Flooding problems frequently occur because drainage infrastructures have insufficient capacity [1]. These structures capture runoff from urban basins whose hydrological analyses are generally carried out with heterogeneous criteria. This is because they depend on the experience of those in charge of each urban storm drainage project [2]. The design discharge is usually the main variable for designing storm drainage systems. However, there is a lack of a single criterion to calculate it [3]. Such criteria may include factors such as the definition of runoff coefficients, times of concentration, rainfall intensities, and basin areas, as well as the calculation method itself. In many cases, hydrological studies are conducted without considering the basin as a basic unit [4]. Instead, the calculations may have a geographic scope that corresponds to the layout of real estate developments, even though their runoff drains into the same storm drain because they are in the same urban basin [5]. In addition, basic information is often scarce in cities located in developing and even developed countries [6]. On the other hand, in general, there is no measurement of stormwater discharges into the surface or subsurface storm drainage network in cities [7]. Therefore, such discharges must be estimated indirectly from rainfall data registered in one or several stations. For example, for the case study presented here, there are only two climatological stations in the city, one in CONAGUA (DGE) and the other in the School of Biology at the Autonomous University of Sinaloa. This makes it difficult to sectorize precipitation along the urban territory to simulate the different precipitations that have been observed during the same day in the city in recent years [8]. In addition, there are areas of cities where information on the layout of the surface and subsurface drainage network is lacking [9]. The case of the City of Culiacan, Mexico, may be representative of several cities subject to torrential rainfall regimes [10]. In 2013, Culiacan was affected by tropical storm Manuel, which caused major damage due to its high winds and flooding. The latter was due to the intense rainfall that occurred over approximately three days, which included the historical maximum of 250.3 mm of accumulated rainfall in the city in 24 h [11]. Following this event, the Culiacan City Council focused its attention on the hydrological studies that were previously established as a requirement in Art. 274 Bis of the Building Regulations for the Municipality of Culiacan, Sinaloa [12]. According to these regulations, to approve each real estate development, a hydrological study is required. The purpose of this is to ensure that the rainwater generated by the development planned for construction, as well as the rainwater generated by other developments that pass through the site, can be quickly and safely drained. The hydrological basin is a convenient geographic unit for analyzing the surface water flow pattern in urban areas. This is because the directions of the water currents of the main urban storm drainage network converge and thus facilitate the understanding of the flow pattern. However, the division into urban basins may not be officially established, so it should be generated for each project. Generally, this is achieved based on digital terrain models obtained from freely available databases that have lower resolutions than those required for an urban basin [13]. The heterogeneity of criteria used to carry out hydrological studies in different areas located in an urban basin makes it difficult to analyze the flow pattern over territories that drain into the same storm drain. This is because each discharge may have been calculated using different methods and assumptions, which are sometimes not specified in the calculation report. In addition, it makes it difficult and laborious for researchers and authorities to understand and review the different studies.