Historic Texas Floods
Clue: This Central Texas event in 2015 caused devastating flash flooding along the Blanco River.
Answer: What was the Memorial Day Flood?
Clue: This type of flood happens quickly and with little warning.
Answer: What is a flash flood?
The name of the bottom of a channel.
What is a thalweg?
Following the drought of the 1950s, this state agency was established with the mission to help manage the state’s water resources.
What is TWDB.
To qualify for FMA funding, a property must be insured under this federal program.
Answer: What is the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)?
Clue: This 2017 event produced the costliest flood in Texas history.
Answer: What is Hurricane Harvey?
Clue: Concrete and asphalt increase flooding because water cannot pass through them. These surfaces are called what?
Answer: What are impervious surfaces?
Which are the three major types of flooding?
What is riverine, coastal and shallow.
This bill, passed in 2019, directed the creation of the first ever state flood plan in Texas.
What is: Senate Bill 8
Clue: This year marks when Congress created the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), now administered by FEMA.
Answer: What is 1968?
Clue: This man-made reservoir was built after severe flooding to help protect Austin.
Answer: What is Mansfield Dam and Lake Travis?
Clue: This low-pressure system over warm oceans fuels major flood-producing storms.
Answer: What is a tropical depression or hurricane system?
What must banks and lending institutions use to determine if flood insurance is required for a specific property?
What is a FIRM (Flood Insurance Rate Map).
Signed into law in September 2025, this senate bill directs the TWDB to identify flash-flood prone areas where outdoor warning sirens are warranted.
What is: Senate Bill 3
Clue: Communities that adopt higher standards in their floodplain management regulations can join this FEMA program, which rewards them with discounts on flood insurance premiums.
Answer: What is the Community Rating System (CRS)?
Clue: The May 1921 flood killed over 200 people and remains one of Texas’ deadliest disasters.
Answer: What is the San Antonio Flood of 1921?
Clue: This engineering structure stores excess water to reduce flooding downstream.
Answer: What is a reservoir (or dam)?
The best resource for determining the BFE for a property along a lake.
What is the Stillwater Elevation Table in the FIS (Flood Insurance Study).
This Act, passed in 1968, established the program that helps mitigate future loses caused by floodeing through community enforced building standards
What is: National Flood Insurance Act of 1968
Clue: Communities must have this approved plan to be eligible for FMA funding.
Answer: What is a Hazard Mitigation Plan?
Clue: This East Texas river set a historic flood record in 1994, affecting multiple towns.
Answer: What is the Trinity River?
Clue: This term describes the maximum amount of water soil can hold before producing runoff.
Answer: What is field capacity?
You are working with a FIRM panel and need to convert the stationing to miles. What should you do.
What is: convert the distances to miles by dividing the distances by 5,280 ft (FEMA Unit 4).
This program was formally created by the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994 to help reduce the long-term risk of flood damage to properties insured by the NFIP.
What is: FMA Program
Clue: This slogan, created in 2003 by a NWS meteorologist in Texas, warns people not to drive or walk into floodwaters.
Answer: What is “Turn Around, Don’t Drown”?