SETx FCS Monthly Meeting Logs

 

SETxFCS kick off meeting (11/13/2019):
Summary: Discussed the topics on coordination between Lamar and UT, flood emergency response, flood mitigation, industrial issues, GIS base mapping, data assembly and robust access, an enactment exercise and development of protocols and a maintenance plan.

SETxFCS monthly meeting 1 (12/11/2019):
Summary: Focused on updates of regional projects (GLO), federal projects which could support data creation in the area, and workgroup creation. Presenters: Dr. David Maidment (UT Austin), Alan Rhea and Jason Stoker (USGS), and Dr. Clint Dawson (UT Austin)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 2 (01/08/2020):
Summary: Focused on hearing from the SE Texas Local & Regional members and their needs to best serve the area for flood preparedness. Presenters: Andy Carter (LandDev Consulting)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 3 (02/12/2020):
Summary: Focused on R.A.I.N, which is the Southeast Texas Regional Alerting & Information Network Portal. Also discussed ways to provide an on-line presence for the SETxFCS. Presenters: Mark Howard

SETxFCS monthly meeting 4 (03/11/2020):
Summary: Focused on USGS plans to conduct a case study in SE Texas and then upcoming HSEEP-compliant exercise (Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program) in April. Presenters: Jeff Danielson (USGS), Carman Apple (TDEM)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 5 (04/16/2020):
Summary: Focused on finding more resources readily. Funding has been appropriated for national hydrography mapping for Jefferson and Orange Counties. Presenters: Jonathan Brazzell NOAA/NWS

SETxFCS monthly meeting 6 (05/13/2020):
Summary: Executed SETxFCS Virtual Flood Exercise following the Homeland Security Exercise Evaluation Program (HSEEP) to help non-public safety groups better understand the data needs of public safety personnel during a flood. Planning Team: Carmen Apple and Edward Norman (TDEM); Harry Evans, Christine Thies, Larry Jantzen and David Arctur (UT) Page 2 of 2 October 2020

SETxFCS monthly meeting 7 (06/17/2020):
Summary: Focused on the data of high-water marks, introduction on reading post-event high water marks and the related online sources. Presenters: Jeff East (USGS)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 8 (07/15/2020):
Summary: Presentation from West Gulf River Forecast Center on NOAA/NWS Flood Inundation Mapping Across Texas Presenters: Mark Null, Derek Giardino (WGRFC)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 9 (08/12/2020):
Summary: Presented on various aspects of drainage in Jefferson, Orange and Chambers counties. Presenters: Dr. Joseph Majdalani (DD6), Alan Sims (LJA representing DD7 and DD3 and TBCD), Don Carona (Orange County Drainage District)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 10 (09/16/2020):
Summary: Texas General Land Office presented on planning grants & regional watershed studies. Chris Sallese (Dannenbaum Engineering) was introduced as leading the Region One River Basins Planning. Presenters: Tyler Payne (GLO)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 11 (10/12/2020):
Summary: Focused on TxDOT stream gauge project. Presented on area covering with National Terrain model work in SETx and also on the SETx Flood Topography Model.
Presenters: David Maidment (UT), Scott Grzyb (USGS), Al Rea (USGS), Xing Wu (LU), Mubarak Adesina (LU), Amin Kiaghadi (TWDB)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 12 (11/17/2020):
Summary: Focused on HSEEP-compliant Virtual Exercise which evaluated https://setexasrain.org/ from a public safety perspective. The exercise focused on data obtained from the website during Hurricane Delta (Oct 2020).
Planning Team: Carmen Apple and Edward Norman (TDEM); Harry Evans, Christine Thies, Larry Jantzen and David Arctur (UT)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 13 (12/16/2020):
Update 1: Overview of the National Water Dashboard and Primer on the USGS Gauge Tool. Presenter: Daniel Pearson (USGS)
Update 2: USGS Elevation Integration program. Expected completion of coastal integration with the land of areas east of Texas early in 2021. Presenters: Jeff Danielson, Cynthia Corbett.
Update 3: Newly formed task groups are Historical Flooding, Terrain Modeling, Gauges, and Communication. Presenter: Liv Haselbach
Update 4: Summary on November HSEEP Exercise. Presenter: Christine Theis

SETxFCS monthly meeting 14 (01/20/2021):
Update 1: GLO CMP Project: Location of High Frequency Radar Network for Texas Bays and Ports. Presenter: Christopher Fuller (RATES)
Update 2: LVNA Network’s focus on water supply and distribution. Presenter: Scott Hall
Update 3: Summary on November HSEEP Exercise: Presenter: Christine Theis
Update 4: Newly formed task groups are Historical Flooding, Terrain Modeling, Gauges, and Communication. Presenter: Liv Haselbach
Update 5: Potential Low Cost Sensor program coming to SeTX

SETxFCS monthly meeting 15 (03/03/2021):
Update 1: River forecasting and flood mapping programs and future plans of NOAA West Gulf Coast River Forecast Center. Presenter: Kris Lander (NOAA)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 16 (03/17/2021):
Update 1: NASA SPORT Stream Height Forecast Project: Using methods to predict stream heights at various locations farther into the future. Presenters: Kris White (NOAA), Andrew White (NASA)
Update 2: Resiliency efforts with respect to flooding. Presenter: Adam Jack (TxDOT)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 17 (04/21/2021):
Update 1: USACE summarizing current and future projects in the Savine Neches Waterways. USACE is also adding offices in the region to handle the large amount of work with one in Orange County, TX opening soon. Presenter: Time White (USACE)
Update 2: Regional Flood Planning Groups in Region 5 (Neches) and 4 (Sabine). The sponsors who coordinate the meetings are the LNVA and the SRA respectively and both planning groups have chosen Freese and Nichols as their technical consultant.
Update 3: Updated on the Low-cost sensor project where we have the opportunity to get more than one hundred flood sensors from the DHS and hope to have many deployed this year. Presenter: Liv Haselbach (Lamar University)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 18 (06/02/2021):
Update 1: The TIFF (Texas Integrated Flooding Framework project with Texas General Land Office and TWDB in partnership with USGS and USACE) and the InFrm model. TIFF is for the Harvey impacted area and launched in November and goes for 3 years. Presenter: Sam Rendon (USGS)
Update 2: Updates on new things at the NWS and the upcoming hurricane season. Presenter: Jonathon Brazzell (NWS)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 19 (06/16/2021):
Update 1: listen in to the NWS briefing on the storm which is fortunately bypassing us this weekend and spoke about TDEM storm staging needs. Presenter: Carman Apple (TDEM)
Update 2:  Liv mentioned that the legal agreements have been approved for this region to acquire 125 flood sensors through the DHS. 
Update 3: Presentation on 3-D cameras that TDEM acquired during the pandemic and deployed for damage and debris assessment after the tornado in Onalaska, TX. The reconnaissance missions are run by talented civil air patrol members. A priority is for areas that might meet a Presidential Declaration threshold. Presenter: Mike Ouimet (TDEM)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 20 (07/21/2021):
Update 1: Presentation on “NHC Forecast Verification”. Presenter: John Cangialosi (NHC)
Update 2: Representatives from Freese and Nichols on behalf of the Neches and Sabine River Flood Planning Groups of the TWDB summarized a survey to gather input on flooding in the 2 watersheds.
Update 3: Presented "A CLIMATE-INFORMED DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR APPRAISING ADAPTION MEASURES TO REDUCE FLOODING RISKS FOR SE TEXAS". Presenter: Dr. Yu Zhang (UT Arlington)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 21 (08/18/2021):
Update 1: Presented on nature-Based solutions and showed how for instance the Neches has moved over time and there is a very large historic floodplain. Presenter: Dr. Matt Berg
Update 2: Gauge Update from Liv. The first batch of 28 flood sensors arrived on August 11, 2021, more are expected in a week or two. They are at the County Courthouse.

SETxFCS monthly meeting 22 (09/15/2021):
Update 1: Provided information and solicited input to project ideas for the 2023 Coastal Resiliency Plan. Please contact him directly if you have project ideas or would like to be part of the Region 1 TAC. Presenter: Josh Oyer (TxGLO)
Update 2: Presented on the IH-10 Hydraulic Design and Resilience Assessment Status. Presenters: RoseMarie Klee (TxDOT), Rob Armstrong (Huitt-Zollars)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 23 (10/13/2021):
Update 1: Presented on the Geodetic Controls: SETx Suppression Area Adjustment. They have completed their field campaign on GPS observations for the greater southeast Texas area, of which approximately 19 benchmarks are in the eight-county region that we mainly focus on. This data will be submitted to OPUS (Online Positioning User Service) and then for blue booking at the NGS (National Geodetic Survey) and hopefully available to us in the spring of 2022. Presenter: Ibrahim Ali (Blucher Institute)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 24 (11/17/2021):
Update 1: Presentation on the NOAA Atlas 14. Presenters: Jonathan Brazzell (NWS), Katie Landry-Guyton (NWS)
Update 2: Presented on Rainfall & Flood Frequency and design considerations and also related it to NOAA Atlas 14. Presenter: Jason Caldwell (Wood)

 

SETxFCS monthly meeting 25 (12/15/2021):
Update 1: Presented on the dozens of IoT low-cost flood sensors from DHS-S&T so far deployed throughout the region. They also showed the various dashboards they are working with and spoke about possible future data transfer options. Presenters: Dr. Nicholas Brake (Lamar), Remington Whitt (City of Beaumont), Scott Hall (LNVA)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 26 (01/19/2022):
Update 1: Updated on the extensive GLO River Basin Flood Study: Eastern Region in the Sabine and Neches Watersheds. Presenters: Bart Standley (RPS), Col. (Ret.) Chris Sallese (Dannenbaum Engr. Co.)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 27 (02/16/2022):
Update 1: Post Harvey Development Pros & Cons Panel. Presenters: Jon Steiber (Harris County), Choyce Morrow (Houston DPW) 

SETxFCS monthly meeting 28 (03/23/2022):
Update 1: Spoke about the Method of Distribution Process for the Mitigation Funds. Over 140 million dollars are available from HUD for the 3-county region (Orange, Jefferson, Hardin). Presenter: Shanna Burke (SETRPC)
Update 2: Updated on the other Infrastructure Competition based on TS Imelda. Presenter: Rhonda Masters (GLO)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 29 (04/22/2022):
Update 1: Presented on the current NOAA Grant and how local governance networks help shape resilience efforts. Presenters: Dr. Paola Passalacqua (UT), Patrick Bixler (UT)
Update 2: Presented on the flood emergency response exercise that Beaumont performed with TxDOT. Presenter: Dr. David Maidment (UT Austin)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 30 (05/25/2022):
Update 1: Presented on the Gulf Coast Protection District activities. Presenter: Nicole Sunstrum (GCPD)\
Update 2: Presented on the Texas Coastal Exchange and the 100-mile living shoreline. Presenters: Jim Blackburn (Rice), Lalise Mason (TCE)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 31 (06/15/2022):
Update 1: Presented on how to interpret excessive rainfall outlooks. Presenter: Jonathan Brazzell (NWS)
Update 2: Presented two ongoing Lamar University students' research to gain feedback from attending members. Presenters: Liv Haselbach (Lamar), Parker Lee (Lamar), Nayana Muppavarapu (Lamar)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 32 (07/23/2022):

Update 1: Presented on how people perceive risk and the responses to a real-world hurricane threat. Presenter: Julie Demuth (NCAR)
Update 2: Presented on the subsidence area adjustment that has been happening using GPS in SETx. Presenter: Ibraheem Ali (Blucher Institute) 

 SETxFCS monthly meeting 33 (08/16/2022):
Update 1: Presented on the 3D Nation, an initiative of the USGS and NOAA. Presenter: Sue Hoegberg (Dewberry)
Update 2: Presented on the Sabine Neches Waterway Deepening project. Presenter: Sherry Willey (USACE)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 34 (10/18/2022 - 10/19/2022):
Update 1: Presented on historical and real-time flood data. Presenters: Tyler Payne (GLO), David Maidment (UT), Suzanne Pierce (TDIS)
Update 2: Panels on Flooding: What we do and what you can do for us! Agenda was as follows:

8:30 Welcome

9-9:45 USACE Panel (SWG Colonel and Chiefs, ERDC)

10-10:45 County Judge Panel (Jefferson, Hardin, Orange, Chambers)

11-11:45 State Agency Panel (TDEM, GLO, TxDOT, TWDB)

12-12:30 UT and LU updates and thank yous!

SETxFCS monthly meeting 35 (11/14/2022):
Update 1: Presented on the Sabine to Galveston projects and the Coastal Texas Resiliency Improvement Program. Presenter: Kelly Burks-Copes
Update 2: Presented on soliciting input on a home elevation user-friendly mobile app decision tool. Presenters: Sea Grant and Dr. Nur Yazdani (UT Arlington)

SETxFCS monthly meeting 36 (12/13/2022):

Update 1: Presented on Flooding Funding. Presenter: Mark Evans (Freese and Nichols)
Update 2: Presented on Natural and Nature Based designs. Presenter: Arsum Pathank (NWF)