Flooding expert available for interviews

Media Note: Links to high-resolution images and video of Houston flooding available for download below.

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Flooding expert available for interviews
Images and B-roll of Houston flooding available for download

HOUSTON – (May 26, 2015) – Phil Bedient, Rice University professor of civil engineering, director of Rice’s SSPEED Center and designer of the Flood Alert System 3, is available for interviews today to discuss the current flooding in Houston.

Created in 1997, the Flood Alert System 3 is an integrated system utilizing radar, rain gauge information, bayou stage data and hydrologic modeling for the purpose of issuing flood warnings and forecasts for its users. This Third-Generation Rice University/Texas Medical Center Flood Alert System (FAS3) uses the latest hydrologic technology to more accurately predict the overall threat of out-of-bank flooding of Brays Bayou near the Texas Medical Center and uses Google Maps.

The FAS3 is interactive and provides real-time updates every 5 minutes through state-of-the-art servers, allows extreme traffic visits and has a back-up monitoring system in Oklahoma. Accessible from any computer with Internet access, automatic emergency alerts are distributed to notify and initiate flood protection measures. FAS3 has a track record of success with over 50-plus major events, including Tropical Storm Allison (2001) and Hurricane Ike (2008).

Media who want to interview Bedient should contact David Ruth on his cell at david@rice.edu.

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A high-resolution version of the video can be downloaded here.

This and other images are available for download in high-resolution here.

Images and video B-roll courtesy of Brandon Martin/Rice University.

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Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,888 undergraduates and 2,610 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked among some of the top schools for best quality of life by the Princeton Review and for best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. To read “What they’re saying about Rice,” click here.