The main purpose of the Flood Planning Data web page is to support Regional Flood Planning Groups (RFPGs).

Flood Planning Data Center

The Flood Planning Data Center is the source of information compiled by the TWDB for regional flood planning groups. This includes the resources of many entities. a GIS resource index is available on the HUB.

TWDB Key Data Sets

Regional Flood Planning Geodatabase Template

The TWDB model generated GIS geodatabases with several feature classes and tables for RFPGs. Each planning group should populate the model geodatabase with relevant regional flood planning data. The model file geodatabases for each flood planning region can be found under Geodatabase models link in the upper blue bar on the Hub. These geodatabases contain feature classes and fields that match the specifications of the RFPGs in Appendix D: Data Submission Guidelines for Regional Flood Planning. They are empty except for the Features feature class which has been populated with features in the region.

Floodplain Quilt

The Floodplain Quilt is a comprehensive coverage of existing statewide flood risk information. This is prepared by TWDB to provide RFPGs with a common starting point for their own compilation of flood risk data in their regions. RFPGs are expected to confirm, update and otherwise improve the initial floodplain quilt information, if applicable, to prepare the deliverables required for their flood risk analysis tasks.

The Floodplain Quilt The geodatabase is available for download under Flood Risk on the Hub.

The floodplain quilt is “stitched” from various data sources (national flood risk layer, basic engineering, etc.) to provide a location for all layers. The quilt prioritizes layer types and displays the top layer type available for a particular area. For more information, see the Prioritization of the floodplain quilt Overview.

An additional amount of Cursory floodplain project dataset is available for areas not covered by the quilt.

Building data with an index of demographic and social vulnerability

Buildings with associated population estimates and social vulnerability index are available in the Property and Population categories on the Hub. Population estimates are based on Landscan data from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. RFPGs are expected to confirm, update and otherwise improve building population estimates, as appropriate, to prepare the deliverables required for their flood risk analysis tasks.

External resources

• USGS BLE Viewer (on the Hub under Risk of flooding)
• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National flood risk layer (on the Hub under Risk of flooding)
• Interagency flood risk management (InFRM) Flood decision support toolkit (on the Hub under Risk of flooding). The Flood Decision Support Toolkit is intended to communicate the possible extent of flooding near a stream gauge. To see the Manual for more information.
• Hurricane Harvey – Local, Regional and State Planning – Texas General Land Office (GLO)
  • GLO River Basin Flood Study is a one-time planning effort that will result in detailed flood risk information and mitigation strategies for areas affected by disaster declarations for the flooding of Hurricane Harvey and the lower Rio Grande Valley in 2015 or 2016.
• Texas Integrated Flood Framework (TIFF), led by the Texas Water Development Board, the US Army Corps of Engineers, and the US Geological Survey, will develop guidelines and implementation processes for an integrated framework for modeling, visualizing and planning risk coastal flooding in affected counties. by Hurricane Harvey over the next four years.
• IDRT flood risk identification tool (on the Hub under Risk of flooding). The Institute for a Disaster Resilient Texas (IDRT) recently updated and improved the original tool for identifying flood hazards in 14 counties along the Upper Texas coast. New features include: (1) more explanation of how statistical machine learning techniques are used to identify expected flood impacts based on flood damage claims at the plot level; (2) different return periods / probability of flooding; and (3) a comparison section that allows a user to cycle between FEMA floodplain designations based on traditional physics and the IDRT “damage plain” approach.