Public Works Engineering: Tropical Storm Allison, Harris County, TX

In early June 2001, Harris County received unprecedented rainfall and damage from Tropical Storm Allison. Allison wreaked havoc on Harris County and the City of Houston with torrential rains. Entire neighborhoods and freeways were completely submerged and tragedies unfolded across Houston and surrounding areas due to these record rainfall amounts.

In the aftermath of Allison, local and regional officials recognized the need for accurate and timely flood hazard information as an essential tool for decreasing future flood-related damages and making informed decisions about repairs and rebuilding. As part of the recovery effort, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) initiated an in-depth study project of the rainfall and flooding occurring from the storm and its impact to Harris County. FEMA and HCFCD worked together to develop and distribute updated flood hazard information for all areas of Harris County and shared in the $23 million cost of the three-year Tropical Storm Allison Recovery Project (TSARP).
 

During this endeavor 1,200 stream miles in 22 watersheds were restudied to develop flood recovery tools. Brown & Gay Engineers was directly responsible for the management of 16 firms and supervised the development of flood recovery data for the entire County including new topographic data, new flood insurance studies and new digital flood insurance rate maps for all of the major flooding sources in the County.

The main objectives of the project study were to use this data to supplement the short- and long-term recovery efforts of Harris County and its incorporated communities and to provide useful information for future planning. This includes damage assessment, repairs and rebuilding, buyout and relocation, flood hazard identification, risk assessment, floodplain management and flood insurance.


 


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