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[Yi Chan] Anywhere it rains, it can flood.
So, it's really important to ensure that you are
building and developing in the floodplain
in ways that are going to keep your community members
safe from flooding.
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We serve as the state coordinating office
for the National Flood Insurance Program in Texas.
We provide outreach, technical assistance,
and training opportunities across the state of Texas,
related to floodplain management.
So, we really serve as the liaison between FEMA
and the local communities.
And in 2019, we traveled
over 48,000 miles,
providing those services to Texas.
[Matt Valentin] It's a partnership.
We're sharing the load to try and get Texas communities
capable.
And trying to get them so that they know their floodplain
and are able to make decisions properly,
regarding it. (engine noise)
[Siri] Turn right onto West Loop South, then turn right...
[Yi Chan] So, a community assistance visit, or a CAV,
is a chance for us to do a comprehensive overview
of a community's floodplain management program.
In general, (driving noises)
we want to choose communities that have had a lot of
recent and expanding development,
especially in the floodplain.
On top of that, in the past couple of years,
we've been trying to prioritize CAVs
to do with communities that have been severely impacted
by Harvey along the coast.
So, it was for a combination of all those reasons
that we chose Houston. (music) (driving noises)
We take a look at the permitting processes,
the ordinance and court orders
related to floodplain development.
And we also drive the entire floodplain
to see how development in the floodplain is occurring.
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[Jessica Fleming] We want to check with the city
and make sure that they have a permit for this project.
[Yi Chan] The co-pilot is
using an app that we have on our tablets
to look at structures and input (background talking)
points that we might want to revisit.
And so that person's role is to
guide the tour,
and if we need to stop to look anything,
direct the driver to do that.
Get out and take pictures if needed
and plug everything into the app.
[Jessica Fleming] We need a picture? (driving noises)
[Yi Chan] And in the floodplain,
we want to make sure that homes are being elevated properly,
including all mechanical and electrical utilities.
[Yi Chan] So, if floodwaters were to pass by,
that AC unit would just get yanked off
of the block that it's on. (car blinker flickering)
If there is any sort of crawl space
that's below that base flood elevation
that they're supposed to be elevated to,
we want to make sure that it's properly vented
and built with particular materials.
And we want to make sure that nobody's living in that
space below that base flood elevation,
because that is the area that could be subject to
inundation if it floods.
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We take all that data and we download it
into a spreadsheet.
And we'll review it once we're back in the office,
and provide that list of information
to the floodplain administrator
to see if there's any follow up needed.
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They were substantially damaged.
So, the Texas Water Development Board
is not a regulatory agency.
So, we are not here to induce fines or regulations on
any of these communities.
We do work with the city or county to ensure that they are
enforcing those regulations.
Any opportunity that we're able to provide,
to provide technical assistance or education,
I feel like has a really great impact on both local
officials and community members.
And really, our ultimate goal of what we're trying to do
is protect people from the impacts of flooding.
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