HCFCD M3 System: Maximizing and Maintaining Local Investments in Floodplain Modeling

Harris County, Texas, one of the most heavily populated and fastest growing areas in the nation, has 25% of its 1800 square miles located within the 1% annual chance floodplain. The District, in association with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recently completed a county-wide Flood Insurance Study for Harris County, Texas (Houston, Texas) also known as the Tropical Storm Allison Recovery Project (TSARP), which encompassed the restudy of 22 major watersheds and approximately 1300 miles of channels. The hydrologic and hydraulic (H&H) models produced as part of this study became effective in June 2007 and the citizens, developers and engineers within Harris County are now actively using them. It is HCFCD's desire to protect their significant investment in these models by ensuring their efficient management and update into the future. As a result, the number of requests for the effective Flood Insurance Study models and the resultant frequency of updates to these models have prompted Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) to implement an automated system for model management.