Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) has introduced a new, near-real-time, inundation mapping tool – just in time for a tropical disturbance predicted to affect the Houston area from this Saturday through Monday. The NOAA map below (created 6/13/18) shows expected rainfall totals associated with the disturbance which is currently centered just south of the Yucatan. Depending on how far north you live in the Houston area, the storm could dump from 3 to 7 inches of rain on you.
Jeff Lindner, Director of Hydrologic Operations for HCFCD cautions that rainfall totals will be adjusted in coming days and that locally heavy rainfall within the storm could create flash flooding with rains of 4 inches in one hour. All of which leads me to the second part of this post…
New Inundation Mapping Tool
The Harris County Flood Control District has added inundation mapping to the Harris County Flood Warning System, providing a new tool to help you make safety decisions during flooding events. Information is posted on the Harris County Flood Warning System website (www.harriscountyfws.org).
The inundation mapping system even contains a historical feature. If you like, you can go back to floods in 2015, 2016, and 2017. The image below is from Harvey and gives you an idea of what the mapping feature would potentially show during an actual event.
The Harris County Flood Control District’s new near-real-time-inundation mapping tool can be accessed through their Flood Warning System at harriscountyfws.org. It also contains a historical feature that lets you review the extent of prior floods. Shown above: Hurricane Harvey. You can zoom in to see details within 500 feet.
15-Minute Updates
Lindner says, “Moving forward, this will be available every 15 minutes based off of the current gage data along our creeks and bayous.”
The new inundation mapping tool generates a map of flooded areas adjacent to Harris County bayous and creeks where the Flood Warning System has water level gages. The tool runs continuously to provide live inundation mapping during a flood, though the results may be delayed as much as15 minutes. That’s due to the time required to generate maps from gage data.
Please share this with your neighbors and friends so they can use this tool during heavy rains and flooding.
How Inundation Mapping Works
Inundation mapping provides information about areas of current bayou and channel flooding, based on information collected by Flood Warning System gage stations strategically placed along Harris County bayous and their tributaries.
During heavy rains, to monitor inundation levels near your home, school, work place, relatives, or commuting routes, just type in an address at or near your area of interest.
Inundation mapping can zoom from county-wide down to 500 feet. The map depicts the current extent of flooding, but does not include water depth. To experiment with it:
The “MAP VIEW OPTIONS” section at the top left allows you to add inundation mapping and other features to the county map. (When there has been no rainfall, the inundation mapping feature will not be available.)
Go to the “ADDRESS SEARCH” box in the lower left column and type your address.
The map will zoom to the gage station nearest to your location of interest. The icon shows the amount of rainfall (in inches) received at that location in the past 24 hours.
Click on the gage station icon for more detailed information.
Other “MAP VIEW OPTIONS” allow you to add watershed boundaries, drainage channels and channel status icons to the county map. You can also change the setting in the “RAINFALL DATA” section to see rainfall during various time periods.
An instructional video that shows how to use the entire Flood Warning System, including the new inundation mapping tool, is available on our YouTube page at:https://youtu.be/eb4AFIspQSQ
Experiment
A personal review.
I typed in my address as instructed above and zoomed into my neighborhood as closely as I could. Then I used the historical feature to type in different dates and times during “Harvey Week” starting with 8/25/17 and going to 9/1/17.
The results were not perfectly accurate down to the household level, but they certainly were to the block level. With this tool, a weather forecast and upstream gage data, people could have seen the flood coming at them and made better decisions that would have protected their property and safety.
Limitations of Inundation Mapping System
This is NOT a notification system for flood watches, warnings or evacuations. It’s a tool to help make critical decisions that may ultimately reduce risk.
The mapping tool will only generate a new map if the gage data for water levels changes by one-half foot. Also, damage to gages during a flood may affect the accuracy of the flooding estimate and inundation mapping in the vicinity of the damaged gages.
The new mapping tool does not show all flooding that may occur. This map will not depict flooding from:
Channels and tributaries without gages
Ponding, which may occur during or after intense rainfall when water gathers in low-lying areas, such as in streets when the capacity of the storm sewer is exceeded.
Sheet flow, which occurs when intense local rainfall flows overland to reach a channel. Frequently, this exists when water “ponds” in streets deep enough to flood residences that are not even near a creek of bayou. The water will seek a path to the channel by flowing overland, flooding residences and other structures that are in that path.
Posted 6/13/18 by Bob Rehak
288 Days since Hurricane Harvey
00adminadmin2018-06-13 15:29:572018-06-13 15:29:57Just In Time for Tropical Wave: Harris County Flood Control Announces Near-Real-Time Inundation Mapping
At the 2018_FloodWarn_Training_Kingwood on May 2, Diane Cooper of FEMA pointed out several startling statistics about the Hurricane Harvey Flood and flood insurance.
Home outside the 100-year flood plain during Hurricane Harvey.
According to the City of Houston, approximately 90,000 structures OUTSIDE of the 0.2% Risk Area (500-year flood plain) were impacted. Additionally, another 30,500 structures INSIDE the 1% risk area (100-year flood plain) and 29,000 in the 0.2% risk area flooded.
However, out of approximately 150,000 total homes flooded, only 26,511 insurance claims were filed. That’s because approximately only one in six Houstonians had flood insurance.
Most people felt that if they lived outside the 1% risk area, flood insurance was an expense they could do without. Yet four in every five flooded homes were outside the 1% risk area.
Let’s examine flood insurance vs. disaster assistance as hedge against such risk.
You are in control. Flood insurance claims are paid even if a disaster is not declared by the President.
More than 20 percent of NFIP claims from from outside of mapped Special Flood Hazard Areas.
There is no payback requirement.
Flood insurance policies are continuous, and are no non-renewable or canceled for repeat losses.
Flood insurance reimburses you for all covered building losses up to $250,000 for residential occupancies and upon to $500,000 for businesses. Contents coverage is also available up to $100,000 for residential occupancies and up to $500,000 for businesses.
The average cost of a flood insurance policy is about $600 annually. The cost of a preferred risk policy is less than $450 annually, if you live in a moderate-to-low-risk area.
Disaster Assistance
Compared to flood insurance, disaster assistance has several drawbacks.
Most forms of Federal disaster assistance require a Presidential declaration.
Federal disaster assistance declarations are not awarded in all flooding incidents.
The most typical form of disaster assistance is a loan that must be repaid with interest.
The duration of a small Business Administration (SBA) disaster home loan could extend to 30 years.
The average Individuals and Households Program award for Presidential disaster declarations related to flooding in 2008 was less than $4,000.
Repayment on a $50,000 SBA disaster home load is $240 a month or $2,880 annually at 4 percent interest.
The More You Know, the Better Flood Insurance Looks
Everyone should have flood insurance. Remember, not all flooding comes from rivers and streams. During Harvey, thousands of homes flooded from overflowing streets when storm drains and sewers backed up. Floods can happen anytime, anywhere…even in deserts.
Homeowners insurance policies typically don’t cover flood damage. Disaster assistance payouts will not come close to covering all the damage that people typically suffer from a flood. And the most common type of disaster assistance is a loan that must be repaid with interest.
You can buy flood insurance through the NFIP regardless of your flood risk; it’s easy to get through any licensed broker. You can even use your credit card. Consider it seriously as we enter another hurricane season and a tropical wave is expected to slime us this weekend.
Posted by Bob Rehak on June 12, 2018
287 Days since Hurricane Harvey
00adminadmin2018-06-12 12:34:462018-06-13 00:05:57Benefits of Flood Insurance vs. Disaster Assistance
Structures flooded in Lake Houston area by watershed and political jurisdiction.
From this damage map, it’s clear that Kingwood suffered the most home damage in the upper Lake Houston area during Hurricane Harvey.
Harris County Food Control has worked diligently to map damage due to Harvey. The map above shows the total number of damaged homes by watershed AND political jurisdiction. The black line that divides Kingwood in two is the dividing line between East Fork and West Fork drainage.
In Harris County, there were 4,484 homes (City of Houston – Primarily Kingwood 3,652; Humble 466, Atascacita: 366) flooded by the West Fork. Additionally, 1,290 homes (Kingwood 1,162; Huffman 128) were flooded along the East Fork.
These totals do not include additional homes flooded along each Fork that were not in Harris County, i.e., in Montgomery County. They do not include businesses. Nor do they include homes flooded further down on the lake, i.e., in Crosby or Summerwood.
These totals are lower than initially expected based on SBA and FEMA data. At a meeting of the Houston Geological Society on June 6, County Judge Ed Emmett explained that after floods many con artists file fraudulent claims. Therefore, he says, it’s common to see reductions in damage numbers after claims are investigated.
How to Read the Map
The total number of damaged structures within both the West Fork watershed and Houston appears three separate times for three different subdivisions. The total for all three is associated with each segment; do not make the mistake of adding the same number three times to get an exaggerated total for the damage.
Harris County Flood Control compiled this map for the Lake Houston Area Grass Roots Flood Prevention Initiative. Thanks go out to Matt Zeve and his team. They are currently working on a more granular breakdown that would show damage by subdivision, for instance, Barrington, Kingwood Lakes, Kings Point, etc.
Don’t Forget Meeting Tonight: Featured Speakers from Army Corps
Don’t forget the meeting tonight at the Kingwood Community Center. Mark Micheletti will update the community on SJRA flood mitigation projects. Bill Fowler will address tax valuations. Jonathan Holley will give us a quick overview of the Harris County Flood Bond. And the featured speakers from the Army Corps will address objectives, scope, timing and details of their emergency dredging project. The meeting starts promptly at 6:30 pm and will end by 8. Please attend.
Posted 6/11/2018 by Bob Rehak
286 Days since Hurricane Harvey
00adminadmin2018-06-10 22:14:082020-01-17 10:15:15Damage Map: Neighborhoods in Lake Houston Area Hardest Hit by Harvey
Just In Time for Tropical Wave: Harris County Flood Control Announces Near-Real-Time Inundation Mapping
Approaching Storm
Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) has introduced a new, near-real-time, inundation mapping tool – just in time for a tropical disturbance predicted to affect the Houston area from this Saturday through Monday. The NOAA map below (created 6/13/18) shows expected rainfall totals associated with the disturbance which is currently centered just south of the Yucatan. Depending on how far north you live in the Houston area, the storm could dump from 3 to 7 inches of rain on you.
Jeff Lindner, Director of Hydrologic Operations for HCFCD cautions that rainfall totals will be adjusted in coming days and that locally heavy rainfall within the storm could create flash flooding with rains of 4 inches in one hour. All of which leads me to the second part of this post…
New Inundation Mapping Tool
The Harris County Flood Control District has added inundation mapping to the Harris County Flood Warning System, providing a new tool to help you make safety decisions during flooding events. Information is posted on the Harris County Flood Warning System website (www.harriscountyfws.org).
The inundation mapping system even contains a historical feature. If you like, you can go back to floods in 2015, 2016, and 2017. The image below is from Harvey and gives you an idea of what the mapping feature would potentially show during an actual event.
The Harris County Flood Control District’s new near-real-time-inundation mapping tool can be accessed through their Flood Warning System at harriscountyfws.org. It also contains a historical feature that lets you review the extent of prior floods. Shown above: Hurricane Harvey. You can zoom in to see details within 500 feet.
15-Minute Updates
Lindner says, “Moving forward, this will be available every 15 minutes based off of the current gage data along our creeks and bayous.”
The new inundation mapping tool generates a map of flooded areas adjacent to Harris County bayous and creeks where the Flood Warning System has water level gages. The tool runs continuously to provide live inundation mapping during a flood, though the results may be delayed as much as 15 minutes. That’s due to the time required to generate maps from gage data.
Please share this with your neighbors and friends so they can use this tool during heavy rains and flooding.
How Inundation Mapping Works
Inundation mapping provides information about areas of current bayou and channel flooding, based on information collected by Flood Warning System gage stations strategically placed along Harris County bayous and their tributaries.
During heavy rains, to monitor inundation levels near your home, school, work place, relatives, or commuting routes, just type in an address at or near your area of interest.
Inundation mapping can zoom from county-wide down to 500 feet. The map depicts the current extent of flooding, but does not include water depth. To experiment with it:
An instructional video that shows how to use the entire Flood Warning System, including the new inundation mapping tool, is available on our YouTube page at:https://youtu.be/eb4AFIspQSQ
Experiment
A personal review.
I typed in my address as instructed above and zoomed into my neighborhood as closely as I could. Then I used the historical feature to type in different dates and times during “Harvey Week” starting with 8/25/17 and going to 9/1/17.
The results were not perfectly accurate down to the household level, but they certainly were to the block level. With this tool, a weather forecast and upstream gage data, people could have seen the flood coming at them and made better decisions that would have protected their property and safety.
Limitations of Inundation Mapping System
This is NOT a notification system for flood watches, warnings or evacuations. It’s a tool to help make critical decisions that may ultimately reduce risk.
The mapping tool will only generate a new map if the gage data for water levels changes by one-half foot. Also, damage to gages during a flood may affect the accuracy of the flooding estimate and inundation mapping in the vicinity of the damaged gages.
The new mapping tool does not show all flooding that may occur. This map will not depict flooding from:
Posted 6/13/18 by Bob Rehak
288 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Benefits of Flood Insurance vs. Disaster Assistance
At the 2018_FloodWarn_Training_Kingwood on May 2, Diane Cooper of FEMA pointed out several startling statistics about the Hurricane Harvey Flood and flood insurance.
Home outside the 100-year flood plain during Hurricane Harvey.
According to the City of Houston, approximately 90,000 structures OUTSIDE of the 0.2% Risk Area (500-year flood plain) were impacted. Additionally, another 30,500 structures INSIDE the 1% risk area (100-year flood plain) and 29,000 in the 0.2% risk area flooded.
However, out of approximately 150,000 total homes flooded, only 26,511 insurance claims were filed. That’s because approximately only one in six Houstonians had flood insurance.
Let’s examine flood insurance vs. disaster assistance as hedge against such risk.
The following information came from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) portion of the FEMA website.
Flood Insurance
Flood insurance has six primary benefits:
Disaster Assistance
Compared to flood insurance, disaster assistance has several drawbacks.
The More You Know, the Better Flood Insurance Looks
Everyone should have flood insurance. Remember, not all flooding comes from rivers and streams. During Harvey, thousands of homes flooded from overflowing streets when storm drains and sewers backed up. Floods can happen anytime, anywhere…even in deserts.
Homeowners insurance policies typically don’t cover flood damage. Disaster assistance payouts will not come close to covering all the damage that people typically suffer from a flood. And the most common type of disaster assistance is a loan that must be repaid with interest.
You can buy flood insurance through the NFIP regardless of your flood risk; it’s easy to get through any licensed broker. You can even use your credit card. Consider it seriously as we enter another hurricane season and a tropical wave is expected to slime us this weekend.
Posted by Bob Rehak on June 12, 2018
287 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Damage Map: Neighborhoods in Lake Houston Area Hardest Hit by Harvey
Structures flooded in Lake Houston area by watershed and political jurisdiction.
From this damage map, it’s clear that Kingwood suffered the most home damage in the upper Lake Houston area during Hurricane Harvey.
Harris County Food Control has worked diligently to map damage due to Harvey. The map above shows the total number of damaged homes by watershed AND political jurisdiction. The black line that divides Kingwood in two is the dividing line between East Fork and West Fork drainage.
In Harris County, there were 4,484 homes (City of Houston – Primarily Kingwood 3,652; Humble 466, Atascacita: 366) flooded by the West Fork. Additionally, 1,290 homes (Kingwood 1,162; Huffman 128) were flooded along the East Fork.
These totals do not include additional homes flooded along each Fork that were not in Harris County, i.e., in Montgomery County. They do not include businesses. Nor do they include homes flooded further down on the lake, i.e., in Crosby or Summerwood.
These totals are lower than initially expected based on SBA and FEMA data. At a meeting of the Houston Geological Society on June 6, County Judge Ed Emmett explained that after floods many con artists file fraudulent claims. Therefore, he says, it’s common to see reductions in damage numbers after claims are investigated.
How to Read the Map
The total number of damaged structures within both the West Fork watershed and Houston appears three separate times for three different subdivisions. The total for all three is associated with each segment; do not make the mistake of adding the same number three times to get an exaggerated total for the damage.
Harris County Flood Control compiled this map for the Lake Houston Area Grass Roots Flood Prevention Initiative. Thanks go out to Matt Zeve and his team. They are currently working on a more granular breakdown that would show damage by subdivision, for instance, Barrington, Kingwood Lakes, Kings Point, etc.
Don’t Forget Meeting Tonight: Featured Speakers from Army Corps
Don’t forget the meeting tonight at the Kingwood Community Center. Mark Micheletti will update the community on SJRA flood mitigation projects. Bill Fowler will address tax valuations. Jonathan Holley will give us a quick overview of the Harris County Flood Bond. And the featured speakers from the Army Corps will address objectives, scope, timing and details of their emergency dredging project. The meeting starts promptly at 6:30 pm and will end by 8. Please attend.
Posted 6/11/2018 by Bob Rehak
286 Days since Hurricane Harvey