City of Orange official outlines community flood‑gauge program to Hardin County commissioners
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Summary
Marvin Benoit, building official and floodplain administrator for the City of Orange, presented a community‑run flood‑gauge program that uses QR‑coded signs, photo submissions and GIS assets to create a publicly viewable, time‑stamped record of local water levels; commissioners asked about costs and operational coverage but took no formal action.
Marvin Benoit, building official and floodplain administrator for the City of Orange, told the Hardin County Commissioners Court on Feb. 24 that a community flood‑gauge pilot placed 20 signs in flood‑prone neighborhoods that link by QR code to a GIS‑based software platform allowing residents and first responders to upload time‑stamped photos of water levels.
Benoit said the system combines local asset markers with FEMA flood maps so anyone can pull up an address and view where flood lines intersect structures. "We planted or replaced 20 flood gauges throughout the city," Benoit said. He described a submission form that records date and time and makes photos publicly viewable through the platform.
He outlined costs and sponsorship: "The software is $12,000 a year" and the signs "probably cost us about $250 each, but Lamar paid for that," Benoit said. He added that the City of Orange used the 4Runner software and GIS overlays and that Lamar University assisted with the science and technical work.
Benoit described the program’s objectives: community participation to increase situational awareness during storms, provide real‑time reporting on rising and receding water, and aggregate evidence of repetitive losses. "Community participation in sharing timely information can enhance public awareness and support informed decision making," he said.
Commissioners and other speakers raised operational questions: some described the system as potentially "more of a luxury than a necessity" for certain county areas and asked whether residents or county personnel would be available to take photos in more remote locations. County staff noted current reliance on river gauges for real‑time monitoring and discussed the possibility of regional GIS integration through organizations such as the Southeast Texas Regional Planning Commission.
Benoit said other local governments have not yet adopted this exact configuration with 4Runner; he said his team coordinated technical asset creation through the software vendor's GIS team because the city’s GIS support could not build the asset points in house. He also noted he used artificially generated images for presentation emphasis: "Now I did create those pictures with AI, so they're not real," he said, to clarify demonstration material.
The presentation ended with no formal motion or vote; commissioners thanked Benoit and asked staff to continue information sharing about potential regional use and cost implications. The item was informational only.