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t m c » p u l s e | o c t o b e r 2 0 1 7 27 27 Jim Blackburn is co-director of the Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters Center at Rice University. Flooding and the Future of Houston Rice University's flood guru, Jim Blackburn, weighs in H urricane Harvey claimed 75 lives in Texas and dumped an unprecedented 51 inches of rain on Houston, leaving thousands displaced and billions of dollars in damages. First responders, neighbors, friends and strangers pulled together during some of Houston's darkest days to rescue people by boat and helicopter. Massive shelters at the George R. Brown Convention Center and NRG Park opened to welcome those who were displaced from the storm. "I think we handled the disaster part of it great," said Jim Blackburn, an environmental attorney, co-director of the Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters Center at Rice University (SSPEED) and director of Rice's undergraduate minor in energy and water sustainability. "The emergency response, the first responders, the Texas National Guard, the Coast Guard, federal, state, local, I think we all did as well as the volunteers—one of the finest moments I think I've seen in Houston." But given that most of Houston is just 50 feet above sea level, Blackburn believes better city planning is essential for the future. "Our planning is not nearly as good as our emergency response, so I think that's where our long-term work is," Blackburn said. "Thinking about how we approach flooding and living with flooding as opposed to controlling flooding, I think our philosophy is sort of backward here. No one is going to control a 40-inch rain, but we can manage it. We can live with it." According to Blackburn, "living with flooding" means understanding the severity of future storms, buying out large portions of the city that are prone to flooding, imposing regulations on new developments and creating better flood warning systems for the city. "As bad as Harvey was, it was not the worst case," he said. "We have to consider in the future that the sea level is going to be higher and that storms are going to be getting bigger. The oceans are getting hotter—the Gulf is getting hotter, and that is just a fact. These storms run off of the heat of the ocean and if the ocean E X P E R T S is getting hotter, the storm is getting bigger. Period." Blackburn noted several areas in Houston that have flooded multiple times since Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, including Cypress Creek, Brays Bayou, Friendswood, Clear Creek, Mary's Creek, Greens Bayou, Halls Bayou, Hunting Bayou and White Oak Bayou. To mitigate the losses of flooding, Blackburn sug- gests a massive buyout of areas that have flooded multiple times. (continued)