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Bryan council directs staff to publish public-facing flood warning map with live data
Summary
At the workshop the mayor and council directed staff to publish a public-facing version of the city's flood early-warning map, developed with Torres Associates, showing real-time rain gauge and water-level data, color-coded roadway statuses and accessibility features; bilingual support and alert integration were discussed.
The mayor and the Bryan City Council directed staff at a workshop to publish a public-facing version of the city's flood early-warning system so residents can see live rain-gauge readings, water levels and roadway conditions online.
City staff described the system's origins and capabilities. Paul Casper, a city staff member, said the system began with a 2019 grant in which the Texas Water Development Board financed roughly 60% of initial costs and the city paid about 40%. Paul Casper told the council that staff recommends hosting the public map on a city domain (example: floodwatch.bryantx.gov) and coordinating with the communications department to make it available to residents.
Jacob Torres, the platform developer, walked council members through the map and its features. "It detects floods in real time, protects lives and property through faster warnings and response," Torres said, describing a public map that shows 20 or more gauge locations, color-coded statuses (green for no flooding, yellow for caution, orange for avoid if possible, red for 'turn around, don't drown') and live rainfall and radar layers. He also demonstrated how clicking a gauge brings up a time-series chart of water levels and recent rainfall.
Torres and staff emphasized accessibility and usability. The public-facing page has been developed to meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards (colorblind-friendly legend options and keyboard navigation), includes a first-run tutorial and an FAQ, and would not require a login. Staff said additional layers such as satellite imagery and FEMA flood-hazard maps can be toggled on for more context.
Council members asked about mobile compatibility, text/alert integration and the possibility of county adoption. Councilwoman Sharliff confirmed the map is mobile-friendly; Casper said mobile and tablet views were built alongside desktop. On alerting, staff described future integration goals with established notification systems (such as CodeRED) and discussed exploring existing utility text platforms to push notices to affected residents.
On power and resilience, Torres said hardware tests show the current solar-panel and battery configuration can sustain operations for about four to five days under overcast conditions before failing in continuous-run tests, a figure he compared to similar school-zone flasher installations.
Council members also suggested bilingual support; Torres said the platform can support multiple languages and staff indicated they would pursue a multilingual version if the site is hosted by the city. Casper noted county staff have viewed the system and that neighboring jurisdictions have expressed interest.
The council's direction was not a formal vote: members expressed support and asked staff to move forward with making the public-facing map available and to work with communications on hosting, bilingual features and potential alert integration. Staff said they would return with any required implementation steps at the regular meeting or in subsequent reports.
