Meeting/Event Information

NOTE: This event has been rescheduled to August 17th.  We hope you will join us!

ISWMM: Developing a Semi-Realtime Urban Flood Webmap for the City of Sugar Land

In the wake of several flooding events in recent years, including the May 7, 2019 event, the City of Sugar Land moved forward on an effort to study the potential urban flood risk citywide and to communicate that risk in semi-real time through a publicly available webmap. The study included the following objectives:

• Generate Atlas 14 ponding maps of various storm durations and frequencies for citywide coverage
• Develop a webmap that displays ponding maps that correlate with live rainfall gauge data

The study team obtained 11 detailed 1D and 2D hydraulic models (InfoWorks ICM and HEC-RAS) that were previously developed for the City. and simulated Atlas 14 rainfall was simulated in these models for various storm durations (1-hour to 24-hour) and frequencies (2-year to 500-year). An approximate 2D model was developed in ICM to estimate ponding in the remaining portions of the City that were not included in a detailed model. The model results were cataloged in GIS as rasters and clipped for 27 different zones representing the rainfall gages within the City. The study team developed a webmap that retrieves stream elevation and rainfall accumulations every five minutes from the available City gages. For each gage, accumulated rainfall depths are evaluated for various time intervals (the past 1-hour to 24-hour), and the most critical storm ponding raster is automatically selected and displayed on the webmap for each gage zone. The webmap also displays live stream elevations from available gages and rainfall radar from the National Weather Service.The webmap has an additional “predictive” tool for the City, which allows a user to input forecasted rainfall depths. The webmap selects and displays the ponding map that is most closely associated with the inputted rainfall depth and duration.

This presentation will provide an overview of the detailed and approximate H&H methods used to produce the catalog of ponding maps. In addition, a live demonstration of the webmap will be provided. The presentation will also include how the City intends to use the new tool to enhance flood response during storm events.

Speaker: 

Jorge Alba, PhD, PE, CFM

Senior Engineering Manager

City of Sugar Land

Speaker biography is provided below.

Agenda:

12:00 noon       Introductory Remarks and Presentation
12:45 p.m.       Q&A and EWRI Announcements
1:00 p.m.         Adjourn

Professional Development Hours:  One PDH offered for this event.

Cost:
ASCE Members:         $15
Non-Members:           $25
Note: A link for the webinar will be sent to all registered attendees the morning of the event.

Payment:
Please pay by credit card online after clicking the "Register Now" button.

Sponsors:  Sponsorships are available for $250 each. Sponsors will receive:

• One complimentary registration
• Recognition on welcome screens and verbally during the event

Please email a high-resolution logo to [email protected] after you purchase your sponsorship.  You may purchase your sponsorship online by clicking on the "Register Now" button.

Jorge Alba, PhD, PE, CFM
Senior Engineering Manager
City of Sugar Land

Jorge L. Alba is a registered professional engineer with more than 30 years of experience. He has a BS in Civil Engineering, Master of Science in Water Resources Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and a PhD. in Geotechnical Engineering form Georgia Institute of Technology. Currently, Dr. Alba is a Senior Engineering Manager with the City of Sugar Land (the City), where he manages the City’s drainage and flood control Capital Improvement Program (CIP) projects, including the CIP program implementation, and provides leadership and assistance to the development review process. He is also responsible for establishing and maintaining engineering design standards and specifications for all public infrastructure improvements within the City Limits and ETJ and coordinates activities with various departments, outside agencies, the Levee Improvement Districts and the general public.

Dr. Alba has participated in many high profile national and international projects performing a variety of engineering responsibilities during all project phases, including planning, design, construction, and field operations. He has managed several engineering teams and successfully performed project management for a variety of federal, state, municipal and private clients. He has also been an Adjunct Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Houston.