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Tampa Bay Regional Inundation Project (TBRIC)
Flood Scenario GIS Data, Tools, and Best Practices to Assist With Vulnerability Assessments in the Tampa Bay Region
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Background
In partnership with the City of Tampa , the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council (TBRPC) was awarded grant funding from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Resilient Florida Program for 2022/2023 to complete the Tampa Bay Regional Inundation Coordination (TBRIC) project.
The TBRIC project aimed to address the needs of members of the Tampa Bay Regional Resiliency Coalition , who are in the process of conducting Resilient Florida funded vulnerability assessments, by providing flood scenario data, tools and best practices that comply with Florida Statutes 380.093 . The Resiliency Coalition is comprised of a seven county area, which includes Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee and Sarasota. Project stakeholders included planners, emergency management, GIS, storm water, resilience, and transportation staff, and floodplain and natural resource managers along with regional climate and hydrology experts at universities, agencies and in private sector firms.
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Tampa Bay Regional Resiliency Coalition Counties
TBRPC hired Halff Associates, Inc. to complete TBRIC's scope of work. TBRPC also hired the University of Florida's GeoPlan Center to act as a third party reviewer of Halff's work. The third party's objective was to ensure quality and to champion best practices. GeoPlan Center staff also acted as a communication bridge between project stakeholders, TBRPC staff and consultants.
Goals
The TBRIC project goals were threefold:
- Define flood scenario data best practices to facilitate assessment consistency throughout the Tampa Bay region.
- Create Resilient Florida compliant flood scenario GIS datasets to increase the technical capacity of local governments.
- Develop GIS flood scenario tools that allows users to extend their assessments beyond the requirements of the Resilient Florida program.
Best Practices
The TBRIC project defined a set of best practices for collecting and analyzing flood scenario data by first identifying what flood data was currently utilized by project stakeholders. These data were documented in a crosswalk. The second step was to interview Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to gather feedback on the data crosswalk and what recommendations they had to improve flood scenario data analysis in the Tampa Bay Region. The SME feedback informed the direction of the TBRIC project's GIS data outputs and flood scenario tools. You may access the best practices documentation at TBRPC's SharePoint site .
GIS Data
By meeting with our stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle, it became clear that creating Resilient Florida compliant flood scenario GIS data was likely to be the most valuable outcome of TBRIC. Many of our local governments expressed the need for "out of the box" flood data that they could directly incorporate into their vulnerability assessments. The availability of this data will save local governments time and money. The TBRIC flood scenario GIS data can be downloaded directly from TBRPC's SharePoint site . The datasets are packaged by County. ArcGIS Pro , QGIS or equivalent GIS software is required to view and work with these datasets. Please refer to the Standardized Vulnerability Assessment: Scope of Work Guidance section 3.3 for guidance on incorporating this data into your vulnerability assessment. All TBRIC GIS data conforms to the Resilient Florida Program's GIS data standards .
An example of Resilient Florida compliant datasets that are available to users via the TBRPC SharePoint .
Flood Tools
TBRIC's main objective was to meet Resilient Florida flood scenario requirements, but the TBRPC also wanted to extend the project's scope to include tools that would enable users in local governments to analyze flood scenarios beyond those requirements. The TBRIC flood scenario tools' flexibility allows analyses based upon user defined parameters and its functionality is transferable to other project scales, horizons and scenarios. This enables tool users to adapt to emerging science and changing guidance. The flood mapping tools are available at the TBRPC SharePoint site . The tools require ArcGIS Pro software and the Spatial Analyst and 3D Analyst extensions. Please contact TBRPC if you do not have access to this software - technical assistance will be available to local governments whenever possible.
Above is a screen capture of the TBRIC Map Flood Elevations and Depths ArcGIS Pro tool user interface, which consumes a terrain raster and several types of flood data in vector and raster formats to produce a flood depth raster output. The TBRIC tool suite is available at the TBRPC SharePoint site .
Engagement
TBRIC's stakeholder engagement was robust lasting throughout the project's lifecycle. Project stakeholders met three times to drive the project forward according to their guidance and feedback. The TBRIC stakeholder engagement culminated in a final technical workshop, which included an overview of the resulting project data and a demonstration of the flood scenario tools.
TBRIC Final Workshop YouTube Video
Next Steps
- TBRPC will be using TBRIC project deliverables and outcomes to inform and support vulnerability assessments and other Resilient Florida funded projects in the Tampa Bay Region.
- TBRPC will align TBRIC's outcomes and data with other resiliency and vulnerability assessment focused projects whenever possible.
- TBRPC will use TBRIC data to compliment and accompany data and tools created by the Florida Division of Emergency Management's Regional Evacuation Studies , especially its storm surge data.
- TBRPC will use TBRIC data to compliment and accompany data and tools created by Advancing Mitigation Assessment and Planning Through Regional Collaboration (a statewide CDBG-MIT project), especially its rainfall data and tool.
- TBRPC will continue to confer with the Florida Flood Hub and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to ensure that our work aligns with the latest guidance and requirements.
- TBRPC will provide technical assistance to local governments in order to support TBRIC's deliverables and outcomes whenever possible.
Credits
TBRPC thanks the TBRIC project stakeholders and Subject Matter Experts for their time and expertise. TBRPC also thanks our project partners for making TBRIC a reality.
TBRIC Project Partners