UTB/TSC Part of Regional Natural Disaster Research Center 

The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College joins a consortium that is taking steps to better prepare for the next storm or hurricane.  

Gov. Rick Perry recently signed legislation to create the state's first research center - the Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disaster Center (SSPEED) - focusing on predicting and planning for disasters caused by hurricanes and tropical storms.

“This is the first attempt to get us all on the same page," said Phil Bedient, director of the Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Disaster Center, and engineering professor at Rice University in Houston, where the center will be housed. "It is all simply an outgrowth of [Hurricanes] Katrina and Rita disasters, which Texas researchers played a large role in.” 

SSPEED will organize universities, researchers, emergency managers and private and public entities to better address severe storm impacts from New Orleans and Baton Rouge to Houston, Galveston and Brownsville.

UTB/TSC joins other academic institutions as founding members of the SSPEED Center, including Louisiana State University, the University of Texas at Austin, University of Houston, and Texas A&M University-Galveston.

Dr. Jude A. Benavides, Assistant Professor of Hydrology and Water Resources, will be the center’s representative from UTB/TSC. 

Benavides said the university’s role in the center will be to study options for coastal flooding response, international border issues, education and outreach and serving as a center “test bed.” 

“We will be focusing on coastal flooding research developing hydrodynamic computer models that will link storm surge predictions with local runoff predictions,” Benavides said. “We know that storm surge will affect drainage patterns in the Brownsville area, but we don’t know how much. One of the primary goals of this center is to bring together the best of academia, governmental agencies, and the private sector, to fashion a well-researched, coordinated response to any severe storm impact."

Benavides said Brownsville will serve as the second official test bed for the center during the third and fourth year of research.

The center is set to become operational in 60 to 90 days and fully functional in about a year. The project is scheduled to run about 5 years.  

The SSPEED Center's partners will apply their expertise as follows:

•    Rice University - Flood prediction and warning; urban hydrologic models; Web integration of real-time data; regional forecast test bed; public policy and response.

•    University of Houston - Educational outreach for public and high schools; infrastructure risk assessment.

•    Louisiana State University - Storm surge model prediction; evacuation and transportation planning.

•    University of Texas-Austin - Disaster planning; storm surge modeling; remotely sensed data; evacuation and transportation systems.

•    Texas A&M and TAMU-Galveston - Coastal flood evacuation; storm surge impacts; community response, land planning in the coastal zone.

•    Texas Southern University - Transportation systems and evacuation planning.

•    University of Texas at Brownsville/ Texas Southmost College - Coastal flood response; regional forecast test bed; international border issues.

•    Houston-Galveston Area Council -- Evacuation planning and transportation management; lead governmental unit for operations and response. 

For more information contact Dr. Jude A. Benavides at 882-5938, or at jude.benavides@utb.edu.