Hurricane Harvey: NWS Houston−Galveston's Marine Decision Support Services

Hurricane Harvey made landfall near Rockport, TX on August 25th, 2017, as a Category four hurricane. After landfall, Harvey lingered across southeast Texas for 4 days, resulting in unprecedented rainfall and catastrophic flooding. Record river/bayou flooding caused several hazardous oil and chemical releases, as well as hazardous marine conditions along the Upper Texas Coast and within Galveston Bay. Area ports and waterways were shut down for days to weeks due to the significant flows into the bay from the record inland flooding. Economic impacts were felt across the country as southeast Texas is home to some of the largest ports in the nation, including the world's second largest petrochemical complex. It is estimated that the five ports within the National Weather Service (NWS) Houston-Galveston’s area of responsibility contribute $1.9 billion of daily economic impact to the nation.

This presentation explores NWS Houston-Galveston’s Harvey marine Decision Support Services (DSS) which supported the preparation, response, and recovery missions of our core marine partners, including: the United States Coast Guard, Port Coordination Team, Navigation Restoration Team, the United States Geological Society, and area Pilots. These public/private partnership groups successfully interacted throughout the event to safely secure and then re-open ports and waterways in an efficient manner to allow commerce to resume. This was the first event in which NWS Houston-Galveston dedicated a person solely to provide marine DSS, which allowed for expanded support and ultimately better partner decisions. This presentation will provide details concerning what lessons were learned during Harvey, including what proved to be the most effective briefing tools and preferred briefing methodologies to present critical forecast and real-time weather and water information.