Flood scenario analysis for California legislative hearings

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=185 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="David Ford Consulting Engineers"><U><B><IMG SRC="0d058960.png" border=0 width="88" height="150" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> <div>    <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" > </FONT></div> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="4" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="156" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#FFFFFF" BORDERCOLORDARK="#FFFFFF" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 27 WIDTH="146"><div> David Ford Consulting Engineers, Inc.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 27 ><NOBR><div> 2015 J Street, Suite 200</div> <div> Sacramento, CA 95811</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 27 WIDTH="146"><div> tel: 916.447.8779</div> <div> fax: 916.447.8780</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 27 WIDTH="146"><div> <A HREF="mailto:support@ford-consulting.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:support@ford-consulting.com"><U>support@ford-consulting.com</U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div>    </div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="David Ford Consulting Engineers"><U>Home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id461.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About us"><U>About us</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="news.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News"><U>News</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="hydrologic_engineering.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hydrologic engineering"><U>Hydrologic engineering</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="water_resource_planning.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Water resource planning"><U>Water resource planning</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="flood_economic_and_risk_analyses.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Flood economic and risk analyses"><U>Flood economic/risk analyses</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="flood_warning.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Flood warning"><U>Flood warning</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="decision_support_system_development.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Decision support system development"><U>Decision support systems</U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=40 BGCOLOR="#3366CC" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="14400980ezthpx.png"> <div> <B>Flood scenario analysis for California legislative hearings</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=440 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="06c00962egerdp.png"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="547" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=3 BGCOLOR=#CC0000 HEIGHT= 16 WIDTH="537"><div> <B>Situation</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=3 HEIGHT= 320 WIDTH="537"><div> A January 2005 report by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) noted that the need for adequate flood management in California's Central Valley is "more critical now than ever before." The report went on to recommend a series of actions, including ensuring "the integrity of existing flood project infrastructure through improved maintenance programs… and creating …a sustainable fund to support flood management programs." Following the devastating flooding in New Orleans that came as a consequence of Hurricane Katrina, the California legislature scheduled a series of hearings on this subject, and called for testimony from the DWR director. This testimony was to include an assessment of the impacts of failure to maintain the infrastructure. DWR staff was to prepare technical information for this, but the schedule for these hearings and the availability of DWR subject matter experts made this impossible.</div> <div> As we had completed similar analyses for the local flood control agency (SAFCA), DWR staff called upon us to assist with preparation of the technical material for the hearings. They asked that we complete the analysis of a levee breach in the greater Sacramento metropolitan area. This analysis was to include reports of depths of flooding, property damaged, loss of income and other financial impacts, and estimates of casualties and other impacts on human safety and welfare. The work was to be completed within 2 weeks to meet the legislative deadline.</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=3 BGCOLOR=#339933 HEIGHT= 16 WIDTH="537"><div> <B>Action</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=3 HEIGHT= 595 WIDTH="537"><div> To provide the required information in a timely manner, we did the following:</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Gathered our staff subject matter experts, including staff with 25+ years experience with flood damage analysis.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Coordinated with DWR to identify the requirements of the analysis and intended audience for the presentation, to identify any "hot topics," to identify any sensitive issues to avoid, and to decide upon levee breach scenarios and impact analyses that could be completed in the time available.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Coordinated with flood and stormwater managers, floodplain managers, and emergency managers from the local flood control agency, Corps of Engineers, City and County of Sacramento, local utility districts, and other stakeholders to acquire the best-available information for the analyses required, and to avoid unpleasant surprises for those agencies and jurisdictions when the results of the scenario analysis were released.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Organized our staff project team and undertook the analysis required. This included running hydraulics models to estimate flood depths within the otherwise protected floodplain, using geographic information system tools to create required inundation maps, using the Corps' HEC-FDA software for damage evaluation, using spreadsheets and methods developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to compute other economic and financial impacts, and using database management tools to track data for approximately 400,000 structures in the area.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Prepared required presentation material and presented this to DWR staff and the stakeholder group identified above.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Coordinated with DWR to identify a second scenario that we then analyzed.</div> <div> In a subsequent letter to us, DWR Chief of Flood Operations wrote the following: </div> <div> <I>"…You and your staff worked diligently to complete the study within the short time frame. The assignment was completed on time, met the needs of the Department of Water Resources' (DWR) management and provided the information needed for the legislative committee hearing. The report illustrates the possible impacts of a levee failure in the metropolitan Sacramento area very well. The information you provided was used to brief legislative committee members…"</I></div> <bR> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=3 HEIGHT= 650 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="21af8840.jpg" border=0 width="504" height="644" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>