Monica  E  Guerra  Uribe                                                                                                                                                                                          GIS  in  Water  Resources  Project  Update                                                                                                                                                                                                                    26  October,  2017  

Flood risk in the Rio Grande Valley Colonias of Texas Introduction The Rio Grande Valley is an area located at the southernmost tip of Texas. Four counties, Starr, Hidalgo, Willacy and Cameron, make it. The population in this part of Texas has been growing fast. According to the Annual Estimates of the Resident Population of the United States Census Bureau the population has grown from 1,264,363 to 1,357,910 between 2010 and 2016.

These counties also have a vast Colonias population. The Colonias are non-incorporated areas that lack some of the most basic human needs. Such as potable water, sewer systems, health care providers, paved roads. The Rural Community Assistance Partnership has created a GIS map that contains the location of Colonias and classifies them into 5 Priorities in accordance to the level of basic necessities they lack. Almost all Priorities lack paved roads and sewer systems, to some extent. The lack of basic paved roads and sewer system is greatly exacerbated when flooding occurs. Inhibiting people to travel for food, water or medical attention.

This project will analyze the flood areas and the impact created by floods in the Rio Grande Valley Colonias. This will be accomplished by knowing where the flood risk areas and by determining how close they are to the Colonias and the typo of demographic the floods affect. What is a flood risk area? The Federal Emergency Management Agency has classified flood risk areas into geographic flood zones, depending on the different levels of flood risk. These zones are reflected into a neighborhood’s Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM). Each zone has information about the severity or type of flooding that occurs in the area.

As for now, I am still trying to find the flood risk areas dataset that will let me know where these areas are in the Rio Grande Valley. Rio Grande Valley land cover Information extracted from the Multi Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium for the Land Cover of 2011. For the final project I will get data from earlier years to make a comparison.

Colonias  Map  extracted  from  https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=a5b2efdea2a844029dbf45e19b014946  

https://www.mrlc.gov/nlcd11_data.php  

Monica  E  Guerra  Uribe                                                                                                                                                                                          GIS  in  Water  Resources  Project  Update                                                                                                                                                                                                                    26  October,  2017  

Rio Grande Valley Demographics I am in the process of finding information about the education level, the income average, and other characteristics to learn a little bit more about the population demographics. Rio Grande Valley Elevation Texas is a relatively flat state. The highest elevations are located on the western part of the state and where the Rio Grande Valley is the terrain is almost completely flat. Because of this water drainage and a functional sewer system are very important to let the water out when there is rainfall.

Data showed is from the National Elevation Dataset, that need to be extracted to my area of study only:

Annual precipitation in this area is of about 25 to 43 inches, where the most water comes in in the eastern corner of Cameron County. This data was extracted from the TWDB GIS Data website.

Rio Grande Valley Drainage Area Dr. Jude Benavides who is conducting a study in drainage in the RGV shared this data to me. It is not yet completed. So, I will need to find an alternative. Rio Grande Valley flood mitigation I am also in the process of finding information about emergency services that deal with flooding, such as fire stations, hospitals, etc.

RGV  Subwatershed.  By  Dr  Jude  Benavides