Long-Term Performance of a Flood Alert System and Upgrade to FAS3: A Houston, Texas, Case Study
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 16, Issue 10
Abstract
The second-generation radar-based flood alert system (FAS2) has been operational for more than a decade, and provides accurate advanced warning to the Texas Medical Center (TMC) in the Brays Bayou watershed of southwest Houston. Over the past nine years, FAS has generally predicted floods with average differences of 0.88 h in time of peak and 3.6% in peak flows and a value of 0.90 for the overall performance. After years of urbanization in the watershed, the hydrologic model as a core engine in the system has been updated with recent routing information and loss rate factors to provide more reliable prediction information. Recently, the system has been upgraded into its third generation (FAS3) by incorporating a hydraulic prediction tool—FloodPlain Map Library (FPML)—so that mapped warning information in geographic information systems (GIS) and Google Maps can be provided to emergency personnel in real time. In addition to briefly reviewing the theory and design of the flood warning system for Brays Bayou, this paper focuses on recent improvements with a summary of the flood alert system’s performance over the past years, including three recent major events: Hurricane Ike on September 13, 2008, a smaller event on April 27–28, 2009, and a complex event on July 2, 2010.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Texas Medical Center and the Severe Storm Prediction, Education, and Evacuation from Disasters (SSPEED) Center in Houston Texas. In particular, the authors would like to express their gratitude to Dr. Richard E. Wainerdi and his personnel at the Texas Medical Center for the great support in the past. The authors would also like to thank all the reviewers and the section and associate editors of the Journal for their valuable comments and important advice on improving the quality.
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Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 16 • Issue 10 • October 2011
Pages: 818 - 828
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 6, 2009
Accepted: Jan 12, 2011
Published online: Jan 14, 2011
Published in print: Oct 1, 2011
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