Impact of Impervious Surface on Flood Susceptibility in Cook, DuPage, and DeKalb Counties, Illinois.

Author(s): Khadijeh Asadi

This project examines the relationship between impervious surface coverage and flood susceptibility indicators in Cook, DuPage, and DeKalb Counties, Illinois. NLCD 2023 fractional impervious surface data (0–100%) were processed and clipped to each county using TIGER/Line boundaries after CRS alignment. County maps and summary statistics (mean, median, and percent area above 20%, 50%, and 80% imperviousness) show a clear urban–rural gradient: Cook and DuPage are substantially more impervious than DeKalb. To include a vulnerability perspective, CDC/ATSDR SVI tract-level data were joined to Illinois census tract geometries using tract identifiers, and mean imperviousness was calculated for each tract via raster masking. Tract-level analysis shows a moderate positive association between social vulnerability (RPL_THEMES) and mean imperviousness (correlation r ≈ 0.344). Overall, the results indicate that more socially vulnerable communities are often located in more developed areas, where higher imperviousness may increase runoff and potential flood impacts.

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Khadijeh Asadi

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign




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