Disaster Resilience and Recovery

Texas Flood Registry: Measuring the Long-Term Impacts of Major Storms

This webinar shares findings from the 2020 Texas Flood Registry Report, which provides an update on the health and housing impacts of Hurricane Harvey and other major storms.

A wider view: Where Houston stands as it recovers from Harvey and builds its resilience

What do trees, bike lanes, and billions in federal disaster aid have in common? They are some of the building blocks of Houston’s future—one that is safer, more equitable and better positioned to withstand future disasters. They’re also among the inventory of measures included in the Kinder Institute’s new Resilience and Recovery Tracker.

Harris County Winter Storm Uri Resilience Assessment

This report provides a geographic analysis of damage caused by Winter Storm Uri and highlights the unmet needs it uncovered. This assessment also analyzed damages from COVID-19 and Hurricane Harvey to better understand how these crises compound on different communities and to identify where recovery efforts might make the biggest impact.

‘In Too Deep’ explores intersection of mothering, class, community—and disastrous, repetitive flooding in Houston

A new book, “In Too Deep” tells the story of Bayou Oaks, and its repetitive flooding, from the perspective of 36 mothers who are raising young children there. It follows the families across the course of more than a year, starting right after Hurricane Harvey flooded their homes, and tracking them across the recovery year and beyond as they work to restore their community for the third time in three years. 

San Antonio still reckons with lessons from deadly 1921 floods

A new book revisits a flood that devastated San Antonio a century ago that claimed hundreds of lives and reshaped the city. It also led to the construction San Antonio’s first modern flood infrastructure and the development of the nation’s earliest environmental justice movements as Hispanic people confronted deadly disparities in housing and flood control.

Floods vs. forever homes: What drove decisions to rebuild rather than relocate after Harvey?

After catastrophic floods—like those after Hurricane Harvey dumped several feet of rain on the Houston area four years ago—survivors generally have two options: rebuild, perhaps with the help of flood insurance or federal reimbursement programs, or relocate, perhaps by selling a damaged home or waiting for a government buyout program. A new study has found that the route people choose might have more to do with their pre-flood plans rather than the scale of the disaster itself. This has implications for how policies are designed to encourage resiliency and managed retreat.

Early concept shows how AI could help give urban planners, designers ground-level insight into flood resiliency

If urban planners could proactively and precisely identify which buildings and civil structures are less resilient to flooding, not only could interventions be better targeted and more effective, but communities could become more engaged in the process. An interactive, geospatial artificial intelligence-driven platform could be the answer.

Despite increasing risk in Harris County, more people are living in the flood plains

The Kinder Institute's 2021 State of Housing in Harris County and Houston report highlights new data showing an increase in occupied housing units in the 100- and 500-year flood plains from 2018 to 2019. In Harris County, for example, about 2,000 homes were newly occupied—by either renters or homeowners—in the flood plains in 2019. Kinder researchers hope to better understand these development patterns, which can leave Houstonians vulnerable to flooding.

How inequalities made Harvey recovery harder for many nonwhite Houstonians

When Stephen Klineberg was conducting the Kinder Houston Area Survey in February 2017, he asked Houston-area residents to name the biggest problem facing the region. At the time, only 1% of participants thought flooding and storms were the most important issue.

Outdated and inaccurate, FEMA flood maps fail to fully capture risk

New risk models show nearly twice as many properties are at risk from a 100-year flood today than the government's flood maps indicate. Analysis of damage from Hurricane Harvey shows Black and Hispanic residents disproportionately experienced flooding in areas beyond FEMA’s 100-year flood zones.

Texas Flood Registry 2020 Report

This report includes updates on Harvey’s long-term impact and recent findings about the health and housing effects of the May 2019 storms and Tropical Storm Imelda.

Coronavirus puts those living in flood-damaged homes at greater risk

Many families in the Houston region live in homes with flood damage, of which they may or may not be aware. These residents may face high levels of mold exposure that can lead to lung damage that puts them at a greater risk of severe complications should they become infected with the novel coronavirus.

Greens Bayou Watershed analysis reveals strategies to increase resiliency from flooding

The Greens Bayou Watershed Analysis and Resiliency Planning effort, culminated in the publication of resiliency plans for four partner neighborhoods in the Greens Bayou Watershed: East Aldine, East Houston, Eastex Jensen and Greenspoint.

Measuring Flooding with the Houston Fire Department

Bob Stein and Rick Wilson conducted two studies about flooding and local knowledge/perspective.

Scalable and Robust Prototype of Sensor Network for Real-Time Street Level Flood Measurement

Gary Woods and team from the civil and environmental engineering department created low-cost flood sensors that were tested on Rice’s campus in spring 2019.