Planning for a Hurricane an/or Flood Critical to TMC

On June 9, the annual Hurricane Preparedness Meeting for Texas Medical Center institutions was held at the Hornberger Conference Center. This forum is hosted each year by Texas Medical Center and is meant to be a time to discuss critical issues relative to hurricane and flood preparation. The diverse audience at the June 9 meeting included administrators, TMC security officers, mayors and other city officials from Harris County cities, civic associations and the invited guests from numerous agencies. A team from the New Orleans Medical Complex also attended the meeting.

Bill Read, Meteorologist in Charge, National Weather Service, presented "A Hurricane Scenario" to the audience. "Texas has weathered 10 of the 30 worst hurricanes to hit the U.S. since 1900," Read told the group. But with the current capabilities of monitoring and predicting a storm's path, loss of life should be minimal even in a major storm. The "imagined" hurricane Read described to the audience was a category 4 (wind speed of 131-155 m.p.h.). In such a storm, evacuation would include Friendswood, Clear Lake City and as far inland as Galena Park. "It would be important for these evacuees to leave as soon as they are asked to do so," said Read. "It could take as long as an entire day to get away from the area."

James F. White, coordinator of the Harris County Office of Emergency Management, described the Early Warning ALERT System , using data from remote automatic sensors. The system, showing amount of rainfall and movement of the storm, would be especially useful in predicting what areas would be hardest hit by the torrential rains on the "wet" side of a hurricane. "Remember," White reminded his audience, "Far more lives are lost in flooding than in the winds of a hurricane."

Professor Philip Bedient of Rice University described the Rice University/Texas Medical Center Flood Alert System, which he was instrumental in designing. The system is an integrated system of storm cell tracking, rain gage data collection, bayou stage data, and hydrologic modeling. In short, this system can provide a very accurate prediction of flooding. Most importantly, the Rice Flood Alert System provides real-time information about stage levels and flow of Brays Bayou. "You need an increased lead time for flood warning," Dr. Bedient told the audience.

Using Tropical Storm Frances - which occurred Sept. 11, 1998 - as a reference, Dr. Bedient traced the storm's effect on the Brays watershed from midnight through 10 a.m. The storm dropped anywhere from four to nine inches of rain within the Brays watershed; at 10 a.m., the flow rate of the Brays at Main Street, close to the edge of the Texas Medical Center campus, was 27,000 cubic feet per second, and very close to flood stage.

As shown in the flow nomograph (left), the Flood Alert System can equate rainfall intensity (inches fallen in an hour) with duration of rainfall and predict the flow of cubic feet per second in Brays Bayou. With NEXRAD radar capable of telling how long the rain will be falling, the prediction of flooding can be made fairly certain and with increased lead time.

Jeffrey Peters, P.E., director of facility management services and public safety at Methodist Health Care System, and Dr. Kenneth Mattox, chief of staff at Ben Taub General Hospital, made comments on readying the TMC institutions for a hurricane and/or flooding situation. Before there is even a threat of a hurricane, an institution should have conducted annual hurricane/flood drills and determined staffing needs.

-Roger Widmeyer

Some helpful Web sites:

Rice University-Texas Medical Center Flood Alert System

Harris County Office of Emergency Management

City of Houston Division of Emergency Management

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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