Latest Contributions by DenverBird

Where do you work and what is your role?           My name is Scott and I am a retired petroleum geologist from Houston, TX.  I now live in San Antonio.  I had some exposure to ArcMap during my career but was not a primary user.  I always          enjoyed map-making and working on the computer, so it was natural for me to increase my skills and abilities in GIS after leaving the working world. What GIS success have you had this year and what product did you use?           In 2017 I attended training courses at Esri San Antonio and completed various tutorials.  I achieved the ArcMap Desktop Entry Specialist certification in September.  In 2018 I purchased the          ArcMap 10.6 Personal Use license.  I am familiar with ArcGIS Pro but primarily use ArcMap. What is your expertise (GIS related or not), and how can that help the community?          I became interested in flood hazard mapping after experiencing hurricane Harvey and started a website to educate the public regarding various aspects of flood and storm risk.           I utilize ArcMap and my familiarity with flood and storm risk elements to make individualized reports for property owners.  I also like to update and edit Open Street Map for my areas of interest          and then use it as a base in ArcMap when making various display maps. Latitude and longitude coordinates of my favorite location are: 30.393534, -86.495781 ... View more

Here is the second reply I received from FEMA: We are responding as a representative of the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to your email message sent to FEMAMapSpecialist@riskmapcds.com.   A-PLUS provides a loss history report for homes.  You may call (800)627-3487 to request a free copy of the A-PLUS property loss history report.  Consumers may also contact A-PLUS to request a loss history report by writing to: A-PLUS Consumer Inquiry Center 545 Washington Boulevard 22-6, Jersey City, NJ 07310. Under the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, C.L.U.E. reports can be accessed only by the owner, insurer, or lender for the property.  However, you can request that the current owner of the property order a C.L.U.E. report.   Alternatively, you can try contacting the Floodplain Administrator (FPA) for the community in question. They might have information related to your inquiry.  The FPA is typically located within the building or planning and zoning office of the municipal government.   You may also contact the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for further information on loss history and claims.  The NFIP can be reached directly at (866)395-7496.   We hope this information has addressed the concerns raised in your email.  If you need additional information or assistance, please reply to this message.  You may also contact the FEMA Map Information eXchange (FMIX) by telephone, toll-free, at (877)336-2627, option 1, or by chat at http://www.floodmaps.fema.gov/fhm/fmx_main.html. ... View more

Here is the response I received from FEMA regarding my inquiry: We are responding as a representative of the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to your email message sent to FEMAMapSpecialist@riskmapcds.com.   For the most updated flooding data for areas in Texas affected by the disaster, please review the Hurricane Incident Journal section of the Hurricane Harvey response at https://respond-harvey-geoplatform.opendata.arcgis.com/.   We hope this information has addressed the concerns raised in your email.  If you need additional information or assistance, please reply to this message.  You may also contact the FEMA Map Information eXchange (FMIX) by telephone, toll-free, at (877)336-2627, option 1, or by chat at http://www.floodmaps.fema.gov/fhm/fmx_main.html. I visited the links that they provided but did not find information at the level of detail that I need.  I have seen published articles where the number of insurance claims under NFIP is used to represent damage.  I will investigate further. ... View more

The interactive GIS tool at the link below is very informative regarding Harvey damage: http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=448283f327a142278479f545d8129792 In particular there is a layer called "City of Houston Damage Assessment" that contains counts of damaged structures city-wide as of 12 October.  However the area polygons they are using to accumulate the counts are very confusing.  I will investigate further to try to determine the basis for these polygons. ... View more

Julie, I am also working on creating maps for Hurricane Harvey flooding with emphasis on my area of residence (zips 77059, 77062, 77058, 77586).  I think I have found the same data set you have, which is the FEMA Harvey Damage Assessment Model. However I have not been able to find data on actual flooded structures and from checking various neighborhoods myself I found that the modeled assessment  is much different from actual structural flooding.  Looking at the FIRMs I note that many flooded residences are in Zone X-Minimal Risk. If possible please let me know if you have found useful information on actual flooding.  So far I searched/sent inquiries to FEMA, HCFCD, and Judge Ed Emmett without success.  If they provide me any useful information I will post it here. Thanks, Scott ... View more

I am looking for Harris County, TX ... View more

https://gis.fema.gov/arcgis/rest/services/FEMA/FEMA_Damage_Assessments/MapServer/0 I found the Building Level Damage Assessment Model for Harvey at the link above.  I also submitted an inquiry to FEMA via their online contact form. ... View more

Thanks. I did find that Harris County has an online portal for residents to report flood damage.  The results don't seem to be available to the public, however. I am looking at the damage assessment model for Harvey available at the link below: https://data.femadata.com/NationalDisasters/HurricaneHarvey/Data/DepthGrid/FEMA/ I think it would be worthwhile to evaluate the accuracy of the model by noting actual vs predicted flooded structures. I will contact FEMA to find out if they plan to "ground truth" this model. ... View more