In recent years, the Gulf Coast region has been tremendously affected by the landfall of large hurricanes. In 2005, Category 3 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the coastal regions of Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, and in 2008, Hurricane Ike (a Category 2 storm) came ashore over Galveston and wreaked havoc in the Houston area, knocking out power to many customers in the greater Houston metro area for several weeks. With the Atlantic Hurricane season running from June 1 through November 30, August is the perfect time for the 6th annual Texas Hurricane Conference at the University of Houston. The focus of this year's conference is “Hurricanes, Major Disasters, Coastal Protection and Rapid Recovery in Texas and the Gulf Coast Region.”
The event is co-sponsored by the Texas Hurricane Center for Innovative Technology (THC-IT) and the Cullen College of Engineering’s departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Industrial Engineering. It will be held at the University of Houston Hilton on August 1 from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. with a reception following the program.
The conference will focus on current preparation plans for the Gulf Coast and Texas counties and cities in particular for both the 2014 hurricane season as well as other disasters. Speakers for the conference are from Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. Speakers will include Baytown Mayor Stephen DonCarlos as well as Jack Steele, Executive Director of the Houston Galveston Area Council; Fort Bend County Judge Robert Herbert; and Nim Kidd, Chief of the Texas Department of Emergency Management.
As a special feature of this conference, there will be four panel discussions on hurricane issues, other disasters, emergency management, coastal protection, debris management, preparedness and new technologies. Conference attendees will learn about the latest Gulf Coast-specific plans and procedures for hurricane and other major disaster preparation and be able to network with state, city and county emergency managers as well as engineers, suppliers, consultants, researchers, educators and scientists. Attendees can also earn up to five hours of professional development hours by attending the conference and will be issued a certificate of completion afterward.
For more information about the conference, including a full list of speakers and instructions on registration, click here.