Could you design a neighborhood center with the resources people need in floods and other emergencies? Could you develop a plan to implement a network of them throughout the City of Houston? If so, then maybe this is for you. The City seeks vendors to help it develop a network of “lily pads” that can act as refuges during emergencies.
Seniors at Kingwood Village Estates trying to evacuate to higher ground during Harvey when floodwaters rose in the middle of the night. Twelve people died: six from injuries sustained during evacuation and six from the heartbreak of seeing their condos destroyed.
Preparing for Emergencies
The City’s first resilience effort was somewhat of a utopian effort. It focused on helping people thrive after floods, not eliminating flooding. This one looks to gain more traction. It will take survival planning down to the neighborhood level and help people dislocated during adverse events such as Hurricane Harvey.
During Harvey, churches, schools, libraries, and businesses became gathering centers. However, many of these spaces were not equipped to serve as temporary shelters. The City seeks to identify and develop a network of unflooded spaces that can become locations for individuals to obtain basic needs, assistance, and recovery resources during floods, heat events, or air quality emergencies. They will become “lilly pads” that help the City distribute food and emergency supplies, telecommunications access, and federal assistance guidance. These spaces will also become gathering centers for the dissemination of relief and recovery for individuals.
Citizen Led, Government Supported
Instead of being led by local government, lily pads are intended to be supported by local government. Community members, community-based organizations, and/or faith-based groups will lead and manage them.
The City hopes such lily pads will help prepare for future disruptions and disasters. The request for proposals states, “For Houston to become more resilient, we must be able to adapt to future risks from chronic stresses such as addressing environmental justice issues and acute shocks including: extreme heat, poor air quality, flooding, hurricanes, and public health emergencies.”
Emphasis on Social Vulnerability
The selection of the strategic location and design elements of each Lily Pad will include social vulnerability and “equity.” The City intends to use these criteria to ensure locations benefit the most vulnerable and disproportionately affected populations. Social vulnerability and equity will also be taken into consideration when developing the lily pad master plan, toolkit and pilot project.
If you work for a company that does this sort of planning, consider responding to the RFP. It certainly sounds like a worthwhile effort as far as it goes. Personally, though, I think anyone rescued half naked from 20 mph floodwaters in the middle of the night deserves help.
NOAA has updated its climate statistics for the U.S. Every 10 years, the agency comes up with a “new normal” based on the last 30 years of data. The most recent 30 years, compared to previous averages, shows that our climate is getting hotter and wetter (at least in the Houston area).
Screen capture showing new “normal” temperature and precipitation for Houston Intercontinental Airport. Blue line represents precipitation. Orange = ave. minimum temp. Red = average temp. And dark red = average max temp.
Same data in tabular format.
The “normals” help farmers, energy companies, water managers, transportation schedulers and others whose businesses depend on weather plan their activities. That includes your local TV weather casters who constantly compare what they predict for tomorrow with what has happened in the past.
What’s Normal – From 30 years Down to The Hour
The NOAA stats come in annual, seasonal, monthly, daily and even hourly tables. Because the normals have been produced since the 1930s, they also help put current weather in a historical context.
The New York Times produced a series of animated “heat” maps that show changes in temperature and precipitation for those 30-year windows from the 1930s to today. Heat maps in this sense do not refer to temperature but to colors that reflect temperature or precipition differences. Hotter colors like red and orange reflect increases. Cooler colors like green and blue reflect decreases.
Choose Your Start/Stop Points Carefully
Curiously, the animations show the U.S. getting both hotter and colder through the decades. Likewise with wetter and drier. You can clearly see alternating cycles of hot and cold, wet and dry. As cycles come and go, where you chose your start and stop points lets you support or disprove your favorite climate change hypothesis.
The change is especially drastic between the new normals and the previous ones, from 2010. “Almost every place in the U.S. has warmed,” Dr. Michael Palecki told the Times. He manages the project at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.
Palecki claims the world has warmed by more than 1 degree Celsius (about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1900, and that the pace of warming has accelerated in recent decades.
However, if you compared 1921-50 with 1941-70, you might think the world was cooling. The same goes for large parts of the county with dry/wet cycles. Although the Houston region has experienced increasing wetness on a fairly consistent basis, you can see drought ebb and flow through other parts of the country.
If you use 1900 as your start point and today as your stopping point, Palecki says the world has warmed by more than 1 degree Celsius (about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) and that the pace of warming has accelerated in recent decades. The precipitation maps show the Southwest becoming increasingly drier, while the Central and Eastern parts of the country are getting wetter.
These two “heat” maps show the change in average annual precipitation and temperature during the previous 30-year reporting period and today’s.
Says NOAA, “Most of the U.S. was warmer, and the eastern two-thirds of the contiguous U.S. was wetter, from 1991–2020 than the previous normal period, 1981–2010. The Southwest was considerably drier on an annual basis, while the central northern U.S. has cooled somewhat.”
For More Information
Check out the fascinating NY Times article or go straight to NOAA for far more detailed information.
Like all NOAA statistics, they are publicly available. You can even customize your own data searches based on time and location.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/13/2021 based on information from The NY Times and NOAA
1353 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-13-at-1.24.08-PM.png?fit=2200%2C836&ssl=18362200adminadmin2021-05-13 13:44:502021-05-13 13:50:52NOAA Adopts New Normal: Hotter, Wetter
In its March 10th board meeting, the Coastal Water Authority (CWA) accepted the recommendation of a preliminary engineering report to add one thousand feet of crest gates to the uncontrolled spillway portion the Lake Houston Dam. The additional release capacity would let operators shed water faster before, during or after major storms to reduce the risk of flooding.
At the March meeting, directors also approved $4.4 million to begin Phase II of the project. Phase II calls for Black & Veatch to proceed to final engineering of the gates and a coffer dam to protect the work area during construction.
This morning, at its May board meeting, directors received an update on the progress of Phase II work to date and plans for the remainder of the project.
Start of Phase II Engineering Approved in March
In the March meeting, CWA approved funds to begin Phase 2 of the engineering which includes the final design of the selected alternative by Black & Veatch. The selected alternative was “crest gates” constructed on the uncontrolled spillway portion of the dam on its west side. (See below.)
Looking NE at the Spillway of the Lake Houston Dam is in foreground. One thousand feet (about a third) of this spillway will be replaced with crest gates. Gates will be placed at the end closest to the camera position in the image above.
Dam operators can raise or lower crest gates from a bottom hinge, much like the lid on a piano. When in the up position, gates hold water back. When lowered, they release water.
Also in March, CWA and Black & Veatch completed negotiation of the scope and fee for the final design. The key deliverables during Phase II will include:
Plans to modify the spillway to support the 1,000 linear feet of crest gates (in five 200-foot long sections)
Design of the cofferdam system to protect the work areas during construction
Preparation of a new gate operations plan for CWA Lake Houston Dam operators.
Director Douglas Walker moved to authorize the Executive Director to issue a contract amendment with Black & Veatch Inc. in the amount of $4,465,727.00 for “Phase 2 – Final Design of the Lake Houston Dam Spillway Improvement Project.” Director Giti Zarinkelk seconded the motion. The Motion carried unanimously.
May Update
In the May board meeting this morning, directors received an update on Phase II work to date and plans.
In April, the design team held a number of workshops and coordination meetings.
Black & Veatch also completed three weeks of field surveying of the existing spillway; that’s why CWA temporarily lowered Lake Houston during that period.
In other news, for next steps CWA will:
Submit the permit application to the US Army Corps of Engineers by the end of May.
Support City of Houston in a public outreach meeting scheduled for June 17. The public outreach meeting will coincide with the public comment period for the permit application. CWA expects permitting to take nine months, i.e., through March of 2022.
Complete final design by the end of September 2022.
Screen capture from portion of CWA Board meeting today shows status of Phase II Design work on the dam.
Next Steps
Does all this mean construction is assured? No. The Army Corps could reject the permit or FEMA could find some fault with the plans. But at least it shows progress. If all plans and permits are approved, construction dollars have already been committed by FEMA. Originally, construction was supposed to have been completed within three years from April 8, 2020. That now looks unlikely unless the City can obtain a deadline extension from FEMA..
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/12/2021
1352 Days after Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/20210512-Screen-Shot-2021-05-12-at-10.23.26-AM.jpg?fit=1200%2C670&ssl=16701200adminadmin2021-05-12 12:28:352021-05-12 15:19:42May 2021 Gate Project Update for Lake Houston Dam
City of Houston Seeks Proposals for Planning Lily Pads
Could you design a neighborhood center with the resources people need in floods and other emergencies? Could you develop a plan to implement a network of them throughout the City of Houston? If so, then maybe this is for you. The City seeks vendors to help it develop a network of “lily pads” that can act as refuges during emergencies.
Preparing for Emergencies
The City’s first resilience effort was somewhat of a utopian effort. It focused on helping people thrive after floods, not eliminating flooding. This one looks to gain more traction. It will take survival planning down to the neighborhood level and help people dislocated during adverse events such as Hurricane Harvey.
During Harvey, churches, schools, libraries, and businesses became gathering centers. However, many of these spaces were not equipped to serve as temporary shelters. The City seeks to identify and develop a network of unflooded spaces that can become locations for individuals to obtain basic needs, assistance, and recovery resources during floods, heat events, or air quality emergencies. They will become “lilly pads” that help the City distribute food and emergency supplies, telecommunications access, and federal assistance guidance. These spaces will also become gathering centers for the dissemination of relief and recovery for individuals.
Citizen Led, Government Supported
Instead of being led by local government, lily pads are intended to be supported by local government. Community members, community-based organizations, and/or faith-based groups will lead and manage them.
The City hopes such lily pads will help prepare for future disruptions and disasters. The request for proposals states, “For Houston to become more resilient, we must be able to adapt to future risks from chronic stresses such as addressing environmental justice issues and acute shocks including: extreme heat, poor air quality, flooding, hurricanes, and public health emergencies.”
Emphasis on Social Vulnerability
The selection of the strategic location and design elements of each Lily Pad will include social vulnerability and “equity.” The City intends to use these criteria to ensure locations benefit the most vulnerable and disproportionately affected populations. Social vulnerability and equity will also be taken into consideration when developing the lily pad master plan, toolkit and pilot project.
If you work for a company that does this sort of planning, consider responding to the RFP. It certainly sounds like a worthwhile effort as far as it goes. Personally, though, I think anyone rescued half naked from 20 mph floodwaters in the middle of the night deserves help.
You can find additional documents here on the City’s bid website. The City will hold a pre-proposal bid conference on May 26. The bid deadline is June 10.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/13/2021 with thanks to Carla Alvarez for the heads up
1353 Days since Hurricane Harvey
NOAA Adopts New Normal: Hotter, Wetter
NOAA has updated its climate statistics for the U.S. Every 10 years, the agency comes up with a “new normal” based on the last 30 years of data. The most recent 30 years, compared to previous averages, shows that our climate is getting hotter and wetter (at least in the Houston area).
The “normals” help farmers, energy companies, water managers, transportation schedulers and others whose businesses depend on weather plan their activities. That includes your local TV weather casters who constantly compare what they predict for tomorrow with what has happened in the past.
What’s Normal – From 30 years Down to The Hour
The NOAA stats come in annual, seasonal, monthly, daily and even hourly tables. Because the normals have been produced since the 1930s, they also help put current weather in a historical context.
The New York Times produced a series of animated “heat” maps that show changes in temperature and precipitation for those 30-year windows from the 1930s to today. Heat maps in this sense do not refer to temperature but to colors that reflect temperature or precipition differences. Hotter colors like red and orange reflect increases. Cooler colors like green and blue reflect decreases.
Choose Your Start/Stop Points Carefully
Curiously, the animations show the U.S. getting both hotter and colder through the decades. Likewise with wetter and drier. You can clearly see alternating cycles of hot and cold, wet and dry. As cycles come and go, where you chose your start and stop points lets you support or disprove your favorite climate change hypothesis.
The change is especially drastic between the new normals and the previous ones, from 2010. “Almost every place in the U.S. has warmed,” Dr. Michael Palecki told the Times. He manages the project at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.
Palecki claims the world has warmed by more than 1 degree Celsius (about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1900, and that the pace of warming has accelerated in recent decades.
However, if you compared 1921-50 with 1941-70, you might think the world was cooling. The same goes for large parts of the county with dry/wet cycles. Although the Houston region has experienced increasing wetness on a fairly consistent basis, you can see drought ebb and flow through other parts of the country.
If you use 1900 as your start point and today as your stopping point, Palecki says the world has warmed by more than 1 degree Celsius (about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) and that the pace of warming has accelerated in recent decades. The precipitation maps show the Southwest becoming increasingly drier, while the Central and Eastern parts of the country are getting wetter.
Says NOAA, “Most of the U.S. was warmer, and the eastern two-thirds of the contiguous U.S. was wetter, from 1991–2020 than the previous normal period, 1981–2010. The Southwest was considerably drier on an annual basis, while the central northern U.S. has cooled somewhat.”
For More Information
Check out the fascinating NY Times article or go straight to NOAA for far more detailed information.
Like all NOAA statistics, they are publicly available. You can even customize your own data searches based on time and location.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/13/2021 based on information from The NY Times and NOAA
1353 Days since Hurricane Harvey
May 2021 Gate Project Update for Lake Houston Dam
In its March 10th board meeting, the Coastal Water Authority (CWA) accepted the recommendation of a preliminary engineering report to add one thousand feet of crest gates to the uncontrolled spillway portion the Lake Houston Dam. The additional release capacity would let operators shed water faster before, during or after major storms to reduce the risk of flooding.
At the March meeting, directors also approved $4.4 million to begin Phase II of the project. Phase II calls for Black & Veatch to proceed to final engineering of the gates and a coffer dam to protect the work area during construction.
Read the minutes of the March board meeting here. The discussion of the gates starts on page 4 under Item B.
This morning, at its May board meeting, directors received an update on the progress of Phase II work to date and plans for the remainder of the project.
Start of Phase II Engineering Approved in March
In the March meeting, CWA approved funds to begin Phase 2 of the engineering which includes the final design of the selected alternative by Black & Veatch. The selected alternative was “crest gates” constructed on the uncontrolled spillway portion of the dam on its west side. (See below.)
Dam operators can raise or lower crest gates from a bottom hinge, much like the lid on a piano. When in the up position, gates hold water back. When lowered, they release water.
During Harvey, the peak flow over the spillway was five times the average flow over Niagra Falls. A wall of water 11 feet tall cascaded over the spillway above. Enough to fill NRG stadium in 3.5 minutes.
Scope of Phase II Design Work
Also in March, CWA and Black & Veatch completed negotiation of the scope and fee for the final design. The key deliverables during Phase II will include:
Director Douglas Walker moved to authorize the Executive Director to issue a contract amendment with Black & Veatch Inc. in the amount of $4,465,727.00 for “Phase 2 – Final Design of the Lake Houston Dam Spillway Improvement Project.” Director Giti Zarinkelk seconded the motion. The Motion carried unanimously.
May Update
In the May board meeting this morning, directors received an update on Phase II work to date and plans.
In April, the design team held a number of workshops and coordination meetings.
Black & Veatch also completed three weeks of field surveying of the existing spillway; that’s why CWA temporarily lowered Lake Houston during that period.
In other news, for next steps CWA will:
Next Steps
Does all this mean construction is assured? No. The Army Corps could reject the permit or FEMA could find some fault with the plans. But at least it shows progress. If all plans and permits are approved, construction dollars have already been committed by FEMA. Originally, construction was supposed to have been completed within three years from April 8, 2020. That now looks unlikely unless the City can obtain a deadline extension from FEMA..
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/12/2021
1352 Days after Hurricane Harvey