HOUSTON – The tragic images out of the Hill Country are unlike anything so many Texans have ever seen.
“This is the fastest rising flood that I have ever seen in my entire life,” said Rice University professor Philip Bedient.
Unlike most Bedient makes his living focused on flood waters, their flow and safety as the Director of the SSPEED Center.
The program’s focus is on flood warning system, SSPEED stands for Severe, Storm, Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disaster and for the last few days he’s been focused on the system of gauges along the upper Guadalupe River.
“I think it’s antiquated,” said Bedient who also added, “I’m amazed that they don’t have a better system out there than they do.”
Bedient is closely examining the Hill Country tragedy and the future closely while reflecting on the past and the system similar to what he and others developed for the Texas Medical Center in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Allison 25-years-ago.
What Bedient helped implement was a radar system with roughly 250 rain gauges to monitor rainfall conditions and flood flows into the med center.
“The nice thing about the system we’ve got here in Houston is you get two to three hours more lead time because you’re running that radar into a computer model that moves that flood wave downstream,” said Bedient.
2 Investigates asked Bedient how to a fix a system to where people can be safe in the future.
“You need to have the radar system, you need to have more gauges,” said Bedient who drilled down further, “You also need to have the ability to have each one of those ranches or each one of those camp grounds set up so that there is high ground. So that there is a plan for them to move to high ground when a warning comes and in such a rural area I think you’re going to have to go with some sort of a siren or warning system, otherwise the word doesn’t get out.”
