Climate change impacts
Climate change has increased the frequency of heavy rains and the risk of flooding in the United States. In 2001, Houston suffered a historic over 500-year flooding event caused by Tropical Storm Allison. At the Texas Medical Center, the largest in the United States and which houses a variety of medical facilities, emergency generators, electrical switchgear, boilers and chiller units were damaged. In addition, at the Baylor College of Medicine, basement floors, which held 30,000 research animals, were submerged.
Adaptation activity
The Texas Medical Center decided that a full review of its infrastructure was required in anticipation of future floods, and key elements of its facilities were relocated to floors above projected flood levels. To initiate such hazard mitigation efforts, the medical center developed a long-term hazard mitigation plan (HMP) that included 42 sustainable precautions to counter potential effects of extreme weather events. A number of organizations worked together to devise and launch the overhaul in the wake of Tropical Storm Allison, and after consideration of stakeholders’ understanding of the process, timeframe, expected benefits etc..
The mitigation plan has four key stages: (1) setup of organizational structure (2) risk assessment; (3) formulation of strategy; (4) implementation and monitoring. Among these stages, (2) risk assessment is the most important part of the mitigation plan, and more than 100 hazards were identified. These hazards were divided into three categories; threats to physical structures, potential obstacles to the operation of facility, and risks of death or injury. The mitigation plan is implemented in order of highest priorities being attended to first, the progress is monitored and the data used to revise and update the plan as necessary.
Outputs / Expected benefits
The mitigation plan has enabled the medical center to implement a number of infrastructure improvements to increase disaster resilience (Fig.).
Fig. Elevated walkways that permit foot traffic between buildings above ground level
(Source: Zheng Fang et al., "Case Study of Flood Mitigation and Hazard Management at the Texas Medical Center in the Wake of Tropical Storm Allison in 2001")
