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TexasFlood.org provides information on emergency preparation for and recovery from flood events Posted on August 09, 2021


Transcript

Saul Nuccitelli - Director Flood Science and Community Assistance, Texas Water Development Board

Flooding is a really dangerous phenomenon in Texas. We have flash floods in Central Texas that come very rapidly, and people get washed away from roads, and homes get damaged very quickly. We have coastal flooding; hurricanes that damage a lot of properties. Texas has led the country in most amount of accidental flood deaths, largest amount of flood damages, certain years. It's a very dangerous thing. TexasFlood.org is a place where you can learn the basics about flooding, help you prepare in advance for floods that may occur, and then help you recover after floods happen.

So it's kind of broken up into a couple different categories. First, you can learn a little bit just about the basics of flooding; what it is, how it can impact you. Second is how you can prepare in advance—what sorts of things should you do in advance of a flood, how you might be able to prepare for it and mitigate for it when it happens. And then finally, some information how to recover after a flood. So you've been flooded, you've gotten damage. How do you recover? What sort of funding is available? How you might initiate repairs to your home, that sort of thing.

The redesign or refresh of our TexasFlood.org website is focused on making it easier to use, easier to understand the information. All Texans don't have the ability to access information in the same way. And so we want to make it as broadly accessible to everybody in Texas as easily as possible.

Second, when we did the redesign, we wanted to make sure the information was all consolidated in one place at TexasFlood.org. There's been a proliferation of new flood maps. And what we're doing is we're consolidating it to where you can see all the different viewers of the different types of flood maps all within TexasFlood.org, in one area.

We provide real-time estimates of what might be happening for a particular storm. And so you can look that up on a map view to see, okay, you know, storm front's coming—what are the chances of the extensive flooding in a specific area? We also provide mapping information that shows, just in general, what the risks are.

Nobody wants to have to live through a flooding disaster. And a lot of times, you may have some heads up that it's coming, but you don't necessarily know. And the information isn't always readily available in certain places. And so what we're hoping to do is make this easy to access, easy to understand. And it's important for folks to prepare and have a little bit of a game plan in advance of when the flooding is actually coming.



Soundbites

The benefits of TexasFlood.org

Saul Nuccitelli - Director of Flood Science and Community Assistance, Texas Water Development Board

"TexasFlood.org just helps you understand a little bit of the basics about flooding—what is flooding, how can it impact you? Some specifics also about Texas, like what makes it unique in Texas? And then, it also acts as a gateway for information in other areas that you can learn from that's outside of our website."

TexasFlood.org and emergency preparedness

Saul Nuccitelli - Director of Flood Science and Community Assistance, Texas Water Development Board

"TexasFlood.org has three basic areas that it covers. First is basic information about flooding—kind of learning about flooding, how it can affect you, that sort of thing. The second area is emergency preparedness—simple stuff you can do in advance—having an emergency kit ready so you can get out of your house quickly, having a plan in place of where you might choose to go. Even what specific areas when flooding is coming to start monitoring to be paying attention to. And then thirdly, the third section is information about how to recover from flooding. So, you've been damaged, you have some flood damage, and you're trying to figure out how can I get funding? How can I start to repair my property? TexasFlood.org site has information about that."

This article is posted in Flood .