Knowing the road conditions during storms is crucial. The new system along White Oak Bayou will provide neighboring residents with tools to see road conditions during floods.
Using the flood alert system along Brays Bayou as a starting point, Phil Bedient, the Herman and George R. Brown Professor of Civil Engineering and director of Rice University’s Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters Center (SSPEED), and Jamie Padgett, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, created the White Oak Bayou system, which relies on real-time, radar-based rainfall estimates.
Every five minutes, the system takes in new radar data and generates a predictive flood map, according to a Rice News press release. The flood map indicates the areas and travel routes most likely to flood, thus, officials and individuals during emergencies will know what routes are clear of flooding and safe for traveling.
In the future, Bedient and Padgett hope to fund and create a coupling tool that lets first responders see if they can make it to and from critical facilities such as police and fire stations, shelters and hospitals.
“This tool would allow emergency personnel to begin flood preparations with as much lead time as possible,” Padgett said in the press release. “We are very encouraged that our research results suggest that this type of expansion of the system is possible.”
New flood alert system for White Oak Bayou can warn residents in real time. Video credit: Rice University
There is also potential that the data collected by the systems can help with determining how to mitigate and avoid future flooding events in order to save lives.
"The real value added here to this system is coupling the flood alert with transportation models and looking at safety in and around the city," Padgett said.
The researchers are developing similar systems for Greens Bayou and Cypress Creek watersheds, specifically the overflow problem at Addicks Reservoir, with funding from the Greater Houston Flood Mitigation Consortium.
New flood alert system for White Oak Bayou can warn residents in real time. Video credit: Rice University