Philip Bedient, director of Rice University’s Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters (SSPEED) Center, will testify before a joint hearing of the Texas Senate Select Committee on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding and the Texas House Committee on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding. He will be joined by other experts in water engineering and flood preparedness.
When:
Thursday, July 31
Hearing begins at 9:30 a.m.
Where:
Hill Country Youth Event Center
3785 State Highway 27
Kerrville, Texas
At the invitation of Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, and Rep. Ken King, R-Canadian, Bedient and his colleagues will:
- Provide an overview of Rice’s SSPEED Center and its research in storm prediction, flood modeling and disaster preparedness;
- Present tools and systems developed by Rice to improve flood prediction, warning and impact modeling;
- Offer recommendations to strengthen Texas’ flood planning and response capabilities.
Bedient is a nationally recognized expert in hydrology and disaster management with over 50 years of experience and more than 200 published works. He has developed radar-based flood alert systems, led multi-institutional collaborations through the SSPEED Center and played a key role in evaluating and responding to major U.S. floods and storms, including Hurricane Harvey. The SSPEED Center’s regional mitigation strategies, including the Houston-Galveston Area Protection System, have helped shape flood resilience planning across Texas. You can read about the center’s FIRST flood warning system here.
Please note: Out of respect for ongoing recovery efforts, attendees have been kindly asked to book accommodations in Fredericksburg or Boerne to help ensure hotel rooms in Kerrville remain available for first responders, volunteers and displaced residents.