Our Work

About

Featured on this page are examples of resources and products developed by the DRIP team in collaboration with our partner communities.

Between 2022-2024, DRIP worked with ten partner communities experiencing chronic and acute flooding events across six diverse regions in the state to create practical tools, including customized flood risk maps, tailored to local needs. Two communities—Fort Hancock and Wise County—were selected for additional, customized projects to serve as proof-of-concepts with potential for broader application. These efforts included the Wise County Flood Depth Surface Elevation Visualization Project and the Hudspeth County/Fort Hancock Community Flood Knowledge Collection Project.

For a deeper look at our work, we encourage you to explore our blog. The blog offers a nuanced perspective on the challenges facing many Texas communities experiencing chronic and acute flooding events, and the DRIP team’s collaborations with our partner communities. 

Community Flood Knowledge Collection Project

Fort Hancock is a community in Hudspeth County that experiences unique challenges due to frequent flash flooding, non-traditional/unregulated housing, and community berm construction. Roads and bridges washing out are a particular danger and concern to the county.

The County Judge, County Commissioner, and Emergency Management Coordinator are all interested in addressing flooding issues in this community, but there are no up-to-date traditional flood data sources available to accurately map, model, and communicate the current risks to the community. Fort Hancock does not show up in traditional risk analyses as being at risk for flooding, but they are flooding almost every year from smaller, flash-flood events.

The DRIP team and county leaders decided on this unique pilot project designed specifically to address the “data desert” found in small, underserved communities like Fort Hancock. This project developed a process to collect community-held knowledge (such as photos; verbal descriptions of water lines and dates of major storms leading to flooding; and verbal identification of areas/locations prone to flooding, etc.) to inform future mapping and modeling products.

The main products for this pilot project were:

• A process to systematically collect data to document and describe flooding in this flash-flood vulnerable community, initially through a Qualtrics survey which was then field tested and developed into a custom application to collect community survey data and photos (in both Spanish and English); and
• A GIS Data Viewer to display the information collected from the community along with official flood data sources from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Texas Water Development Board, combined with other information, such as the location of structures. 

Flood Depth Surface Elevation Visualization

Once largely rural, Wise county is now experiencing rapid population growth and development as the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex continues to expand outward. New residential subdivisions, commercial centers, and supporting infrastructure are transforming the landscape at a rapid pace. While this growth brings opportunity, it also introduces significant challenges for flood risk management. Increased development has led to a rise in impervious surfaces that reduce natural drainage and increase runoff. As a result, flood risk across Wise County is growing.

The DRIP team worked closely with Wise County to strengthen its flood risk planning and decision-making capacity. Wise County was provided with high-resolution flood hazard map products developed using the most current flood frequency studies available.