VISION STATEMENT

To increase efficiency and coordination between the State and Federal governments in developing comprehensive and sustainable solutions to flood risk management in the State of Texas.

GOALS

• Document and share information on current and future projects and initiatives.
• Conduct studies using data and models that can be utilized by the team.
• Identify risk communication opportunities and gaps to combine resources to minimize duplication of efforts.
• Coordinate and streamline collaborative efforts (such as Hazard Mitigation Planning).
• Work with communities through extensive public outreach to develop comprehensive and sustainable solutions to flood risk management.
• Identify and promote successful best practices for flood risk management.

Texas Floodplain Prioritization Plan

This interagency project provides outreach to identify needs, resources, and strategies related to flood risk of stakeholders within prioritized flood risk areas of the Trinity River watershed. In the past seven years there have been eight major flood disaster declarations in Texas leading to nearly $1.7 billion in approved mitigation funding for individual and household programs. Development in the upper reaches of the Trinity River (Dallas/Ft. Worth, Denton, etc.) has increased impervious surface and reduction in riparian habitats and increased the overall flood risk. interagency partners (USACE, EPA, GLO, Upper Trinity Regional Water District, TX AgriLife, and The Nature Conservancy Texas Chapter) are working to identify tools, resources, and strategies that support local communities in effectively implementing non-structural means to manage and reduce overall flood risk.  Regional data is being incorporated into existing tools and regionally available information encompassing the Trinity River basin.  Goals will include identification of areas of high flood risk for local communities, identifying resources available to support watershed-level prioritization, and provide an accurate, actionable, functional, resource for end-users.

Upper Trinity River Watershed Storm-Shifting Study

This interagency project utilizes existing data and recent technological advances to produce and disseminate new flood information such as inundation mapping, flood timing, and flood duration for the purpose of increasing resiliency to flood disasters. Because of the harm resulting from flood disasters to Communities within North Central Texas, This interagency project utilizes existing data and recent technological advances (storm shifting) made readily available through the recently released USACE Hydrologic Engineering Center's Meteorological Visualization Utility Engine (HEC-MetVue) program to  partner with local Communities through the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) to produce and disseminate new flood information such as inundation mapping, flood timing, and flood to increase flood resiliency.  USACE provides technical (modeling/mapping) and planning assistance while the NCTCOG facilitates public meetings, presentations, and tabletop exercises. 

A storm shift study uses observed storm data within the region, shifting that storm data to a new location and combining it with engineering models to estimate the resulting flooding scenario.  This can address concerns such as scenario planning for potential events, impacts to critical infrastructure,  amount of freeboard required for local ordinances, establishing evacuation timelines. The goal of this study is to produce information that can be used to increase resiliency to flood disasters by providing flood information that can be used to support updates to local floodplain ordinances and/or emergency action plan procedures.

Denton County Green Asset Management and Outreach

This interagency project utilizes green asset management for the proper operation and maintenance (O&M) green infrastructure (GI) Best Management Practices (BMPs) to ensure their effectiveness to reduce flood risks in vulnerable and repetitive flood areas in Denton County. Flood reduction is being assessed using the TAMU AgriLife flood resilience tool as well as others to identify potential operation and maintenance strategies of GI BMPs to address current and proposed future growth. 

Partner assistance to address flood risks includes:

• City of Denton provides GI BMP sites to apply green asset management, inspection template, technical evaluations, enhance the Geographic Information System (GIS) inventory beyond the parcel level, and initiate GI BMP inspections.
• Texas A&M University AgriLife provides technical expertise in GI assessment and inspection, technical evaluations, apply TAMU AgriLife flood resilience tool to assist the City of Denton in ranking their GI BMP inventory list to prioritize the most flood vulnerable areas, and develop a GIBMP O & M certification program.
• EPA Region 6 promoting green asset management in support of proper O&M practices, facilitate partner meetings, apply project management, and support outreach.
• USACE evaluating GI BMPs, provide Auto CADD and design support to TAMU AgriLife, use GIS to evaluate floodplain impacts and inundation assessments, conduct GI BMP life cycle analysis, and provide technical, engineering, and outreach assistance.