Last night, much of this work launching TotalFRM was buzzing around my head, and this contributed to a dream I had. In the dream, the USACE Kansas City District, where I worked for 21 years, decided to get a new office. The new location had a creek that they decided could be put underground. Vividly, I remember looking at the new office room where the flood risk management (FRM) team would be located. Located in the middle of one block of cubes was an area inlet for catching any pluvial rainfall or surcharge, above a 60″ RCP designed for the 1% AEP.

Obviously, this was a fantastical situation. But, the main part of the dream was the case for why the FRM team should philosophically reject the decision to be in THAT part of the office. Many of us were on CRTs. We couldn’t afford to worry about our desks and references possibly getting flooded, while out in the field. We were, in essence, a critical facility.

Why would you put our team in position with that flood risk?

Strangely, one of my NOAA NWS friends, Kris, was in the office team. He pointed at the surcharge possibility at the area inlet and said he’d help by removing the many books, pillows, and other things, cluttered around the inlet that would be certain clog factor problems. (Who still has books in their office? HA! And, pillows, LOL)

Typical management noted that, well, we didn’t have any other space. I remember dreaming that, well, I didn’t want to be a problem. I could wet floodproof or elevate some of my stuff. I distinctly remember talking with my supervisor about how any surcharge flow would go around my cube, and between others until it was out of that office area. Leadership wanted to argue about whether we (our FRM planning team) were or weren’t like critical infrastructure. Cities don’t put hospitals and fire stations in floodplains. (In this dream I was practically laughing to myself, knowing this was such a hypothetical situation!)

But, is it hypothetical? Local floodplain managers fight off developers all the time. City councils often have many developers on the decision team. What are we doing to help the flood risk managers?