Public Lands Overview

500 year floods can repeat themselves more then you would think

500 year floods can repeat themselves more then you would think

People often think it's impossible that a location can get hit by multiple 500 year floods in a single decade. But it's actually more common than you think.

The odds of two 500 year flood hitting a location twice in a decade is 1 in 5,101. Long odds but not impossible by any stretch of the imagination. 500 year floods are a lot more common than people realize. Indeed the odds of a single 500 year flood in a decade are 1 in 51. 

It is actually more likely a home will get hit by four 500 year floods in a decade then the home owner will strike it rich by buying a power ball ticket.

R is wonderful for statistical analysis.

Named Waterbodies In The Catskill Park

The Catskill Park is relatively devoid of natural lakes and ponds, most are man made reservoirs of relatively small size. The New York City reservoirs are the big water features of the park but there are a handful of other ponds and lakes around.

Data Source: National Hydrological Dataset, joined against the Catskill Park Boundaries and queried for named lakes in GNIS.