On September 24 in Commissioner’s Court, commissioners approved funding for a new flood dashboard to be implemented in Fort Bend County.

The new flood dashboard will pull data and information together into a user-friendly format to analyze real-time flood data for effective decision-making during an emergency. This is especially important when an emergency flooding event is taking place, Fort Bend County Precinct 4 Commissioner Dexter McCoy said.

“This is a major improvement for our Drainage District that could ultimately mean saving lives when every moment counts,” said McCoy. “I am proud of this investment to improve our county’s emergency management efforts.”

The new dashboard also has the potential to leverage artificial intelligence for predictive modeling and to speed up analysis.

“This will help us look at forecasting,” said Russ Poppe, First Assistant Engineer at Fort Bend County Drainage District.

This data-driven approach will help the drainage district make quicker and more accurate decisions during an emergency situation, while giving insight into how to better predict when and where flooding may happen.