how to tell if a remote lot ever floods?

Question

Any way to tell if some remote lots I have ever floods? It's 3 hours away and i've been there a few times and even after rains seems not, but I'd like to be sure. would driving some white wood stakes in a bunch of places and coming back in a few months show a water mark?

Anything distinctive in the grass or soil indicate flooding?

Do any of these images indicate rain run off flooding? Right now being winter in Central Florida and everything looks dry and brown like this.

UPDATE 4/20/2020: Something like this?

Answer 1

You could make indicators, e.g. stakes with a water-soluble dye (food coloring? water-color marker?) at various levels, covered by a plastic tube, and with a cone over the top, leaving some air-space between cone and tube. Direct rain should not be able to hit the stake, but standing water would rise in the tube, blurring the dye marks.

These indicators would be very inexpensive and easy to make, so set out a fair number in different locations.

Answer 2

You really can't test based on one season or one year, that's why there are flood maps. The house I grew up in flooded once in 20 years. The first year of ownership it didn't flood, it flooded 15 years later.

Answer 3

The fourth picture looks like the initial growth after a flood event. Not certain. Check the species (on the gardening SE), if it is a swamp/wetland plant then it may be growing to indicate the edge of the standing water (plants start growing in the shallow water). The line of young trees may approximately follow the contour line. Look at known flood sites to see the same pattern.

Answer 4

Ecological and geological tests.

The fourth picture looks like the initial growth after a flood event. Not certain. Check the species (on the gardening SE), if it is a swamp/wetland plant then it may be growing to indicate the edge of the standing water (plants start growing in the shallow water). The line of young trees may approximately follow the contour line. Look at known flood sites to see the same pattern.

Also, if flooding with still water there may be a very thin layer of silt that would not occur otherwise, difficult to check years later.

Possibly, a surface soil scraping left in a covered bowl of shallow water will hatch the invertebrates (mosquitoes etc) - then check if they are water species.

Lastly, investigate the topology around the site (up and down hill) looking for the temporary streambeds where runoff flows. These are easier to identify even a year or two after flooding.