Project Profile: Award-winning Flood Warning System in Harris County, TX

During Hurricane Ike in 2008, the flood warning system (FWS) in Harris County suffered significant damages. David Haynes, Distinctive AFWS Designs, Inc. (DDi) president, was contracted as part of a specialized rehabilitation and assessment team to start the restoration process for that system. Harris County soon learned that not only had it suffered damage from Hurricane Ike but it also was seriously degraded due to system overloading and lack of proper maintenance. Subsequently, DDi was hired by the Harris County Flood Control District as an independent contractor to plan necessary upgrades to the telemetry and gauging networks.

David Haynes began immediately working with the in-house technicians on proper maintenance procedures and troubleshooting techniques for the flood warning system equipment. Once the ALERT2 technology was proven and equipment commercially available, HCFCD decided to convert their network (140+) gauges to the ALERT2 protocol. Efforts were also initiated for the conversion process which entailed designing prototype “enclosures” for site consistency, developing bid specifications, custom gauging station configuration software, and an implementation plan.

A six week technician training curriculum was developed to encompass all aspects of maintaining a flood warning system which included classroom and hands-on field training; complete with module and final examinations.

The Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) won the National Hydrologic Warning Council’s Operational Excellence Award in 2015 for this project. Hurricane Harvey delivered record setting rainfall to the Houston Metro area. Many highways, bridges and homes were inundated with unprecedented floodwaters. Yet, the flood warning system  performed expertly throughout the event. A testament to the overall success of this effort is the turn-around from more than 35% data loss (prior to effort) to less than 1% loss in a 2016 Tax Day flood event.