Resilient America, in partnership with Texas A&M University at Galveston (TAMUG), conducted a pilot project that integrated data in new ways to visualize hazards and risks of flooding in Southeastern Texas coastal communities that are subject to repetitive floods. The ultimate goal of this project is to create maps and other visualizations or products that 1) better communicate flood risk, 2) help community members make informed decisions on how to best avoid, minimize, and adapt to flood risk, and 3) motivate individuals and organizations to take actions to mitigate their flood risk.
In 2019, Resilient America held a series of community stakeholder meetings in Greater Greenspoint (a super neighborhood of Houston) in Harris County and Lake Jackson and Richwood in Brazoria County. At the end of 2019, TAMUG produced a prototype flood risk map of Greater Greenspoint.
The purpose of this annual partners' meeting was for Resilient America to summarize what it learned from community stakeholders, for TAMUG and its partners to provide an update on its flood risk models, and to plan potential follow-on work in light of what was learned in 2019.
Resilient America Project: Flood Risk in Southeast Texas (Sherrie Forrest and Charlene Milliken, Resilient America Program)
Resilient America provided a broad overview of its community engagement work in Harris County (Greenspoint in Houston) and Brazoria County (Lake Jackson and Richwood) and a summary of what it learned. This community engagement work entailed a series of stakeholder and one-on-one meetings in each community. Stakeholders came from academia, government, nonprofits, and the private sector.
Failing to Communicate: Flood Risk and the 100-year Floodplain (Russell Blessing, Texas A&M University at Galveston)
Texas A&M University at Galveston (TAMUG) provided an overview of the project’s problem space. Specifically, FEMA's NFIP (National Flood Insurance Program) floodplains were created to set insurance rates, create standards for new development, and discourage floodplain development. However, NFIP maps do not discourage flood development because flood insurance is subsidized and people are willing to take on the risk.
Delving Deeper: What Underlies the 100-year Floodplain? (Antonia Sebastian, Texas A&M University at Galveston)
TAMUG provided an overview of floodplain mapping, the challenges with flood models, and a review of the project’s objectives.
Evaluating Neighborhood-scale Flood Hazard for Greens Bayou Watershed (Andrew Juan, Rice University)
TAMUG’s partner, Rice University, is primarily working on hydraulic and hydrologic modeling to complement and verify TAMUG’s machine learning model (discussed below). Rice University is developing a model that captures both fluvial and pluvial flooding, using Greenspoint as a test case since it has both types of flooding. FEMA floodplain maps do not capture both types of flooding.
Can we use historical claims to predict flood hazard? (William Mobley, Texas A&M University at Galveston)
TAMUG trained a machine learning algorithm using historic flood claims to predict flood hazard. Specifically, TAMUG used Greenspoint as a case study to test whether historical claims could be used to predict flood hazards.
Merging Engagement and Modeling: The Importance of Community Feedback (Ryan Eddings, Texas A&M University at Galveston)
TAMUG discussed the importance of merging mapping and modeling (conducted by TAMUG) with community engagement (facilitated by the Resilient America Program).