Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

7-2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Civil Engineering

First Advisor

Jungseok Ho

Second Advisor

Abdoul A. Oubeidillah

Third Advisor

Chu-Lin Cheng

Abstract

Severe flooding is a natural hazard worldwide, potentially subjecting people to life threatening situations and leaving infrastructure vulnerable to structural damage or complete destruction. The common threat of flooding poses constant challenges for state and local agencies in identifying flood risks and proposing the necessary mitigation improvements. Developing hydraulic models to predict the hydrological interactions and identify areas at risk is a beneficial tool for urban planning. The Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) is a rapid growing region in South Texas along the border of Mexico and west of the Gulf of Mexico. The LRGV has historically suffered through various storm events of excessive and prolonged rainfall, resulting in ponding stormwater along the flat terrain. The objective of this study is to develop a hydraulic model to generate a flood inundation map for the UTRGV Edinburg Campus in the LRGV. The modeling approach utilizes HEC-RAS rain-on-grid methods over a two-dimensional mesh. Modeling results are evaluated against delineated Special Flood Hazard Areas (SHFA) and Base Flood Elevations (BFE) recorded on FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM). The results revealed that approximately 94% and 96% of the total campus area is at risk for ponding, for a 100-year and 200-year storm event respectively. The modeled results of ponding depths and flooding extents is useful information for the development of an integrated early flood warning system model, for emergency management entities. The results of this 2D HEC-RAS model will be further processed and implemented with available rainfall data for the creation of an automated real time early flood warning system

Comments

Copyright 2023 Roxana Tello. All Rights Reserved.

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