Medical
Facilities Prepare for 500-Year Storm
Flood control projects are under
construction to withstand future flooding catastrophes
In June 2001, Tropical Storm Allison bombarded Houston for
five days, dropping as much as 37 inches of rain. The torrential
rain instantaneously overflowed the city's bayous and backed
up storm sewers. The deluge hit the city's Texas Medical Center
particularly hard, flooding underground parking garages; the
underground tunnel system that connects many of the complex's
100-plus buildings and basements housing critical power supplies,
transformers, generators, switches and other electrical equipment.
The floodwaters quickly paralyzed the TMC, forcing the complex
to close and evacuate many facilities.
Categorized as the costliest tropical storm disaster to ever
occur in the United States, Allison left 22 dead and caused
almost $5 billion in damage in Harris County alone.
President Bush declared 28 counties in southeast Texas a federal
disaster area.
Nineteen more people lost their lives as Allison poured rains
from the Gulf of Mexico along the southern United States up
the East Coast and finally out to sea.
For many Texas Medical Center researchers, years of experiments
were wiped out, along with lab animals, computer data, lost
records and experiment samplings.
All five cardiac catheterization labs on the lower levels
of Memorial Herman Hospital were a total loss.
Published accounts estimated institution losses for the University
of Texas, Houston, and its clinical affiliates (St Luke's
Hospital, Memorial Hermann Hospital and the Texas Heart Institute)
at just under $750 million.
During the past two years, many precautions have been taken
to protect Memorial Hermann from flooding. "A redundant
system of concrete floodwalls, earthen berms, flood gates
and a high-capacity underground sump pump has been installed
to prevent flooding," said Marshall Heins, Memorial Hermann
vice president of Construction, Real Estate and Support Services.
Houston general contractor The Westfall Group Inc. is finalizing
the flood protection work at Memorial Hermann and has begun
similar flood-protection barriers at The Institute for Rehabilitation
and Research.
The combined contract value for both flood-protection projects
is approximately $5 million.
Tim Westfall, senior project manager for the contractor said
we have raised the flood protection level at these facilities
"to help prevent flooding from happening again."
The floodwalls and gates at Memorial Hermann should protect
it from a similar 500-year storm by estimating the water levels
and adding up to 2 ft. of additional wall.
"Some of it [flood protection] involves walls; some of
it involves creating new entrances into the hospital by raising
the stair elevations," explained Westfall. "It also
involved facility work, raising the electrical wiring up above
the flood-protection level."
The contractor also added earthen berms in the front of Memorial
Hermann that will serve as a layer of protection and offer
more aesthetic value than the 6-ft. to 8.5-ft., 12-in.-thick
concrete wall. In some places, Westfall crews excavated 30-ft.
and installed piers to reinforce the existing flood wall.
"The walls are not apparent to the eye," said Gary
Cykala, general superintendent for Westfall. "At the
front of the hospital, a good job was done to blend everything
and hiding it, [so] it's not displeasing."
Much of Memorial Herrmann's flooding occurred when water seeped
into a tunnel that ran under a road and connected to a medical
office building. The hospital subsequently abandoned the tunnels,
and Westfall installed 1-ft.-thick concrete tunnel plugs.
About 2,000 cu. yds. of concrete and 100 tons of rebar were
used on the Memorial Hermann project. Some of the concrete
had to be pumped as far as 400-ft. through hallways and elevator
shafts to reach its final location. A hole was created in
the first floor slab so concrete could be poured into the
lower, tunnel level.
Aluminum flood gates in the loading-dock area are 34 ft. wide
and 7 ft. tall. Each leaf of the double gates weighs about 3,500
lbs. The gate has a center mullion brace that bolts into the
concrete and inflatable gaskets on three sides. One man can
operate the gate.
In another area, a 20-ft. wide-steel flood gate that weighed
6,500 lbs. was installed.
Westfall also reworked storm-water piping and catch basins
to accommodate rain that falls within the floodwalls.
"[Crews] had to take out all of the manhole covers and
replace them with bolt-down manhole covers, so that in the
event the storm sewer fills up again, they couldn't blow the
lids off of them and just flood into the dock areas,"
said Eugene Moreno, superintendent on the project.
During the flood, the basement and a good portion of the first
floor at Memorial Hermann were under water for three to four
days. The hospital evacuated all patients.
During those initial 30 to 40 days after the flood, Westfall
crews worked 24 hours per day, seven days per week to get
the hospital ready to reopen. Westfall built a temporary,
35,000-sq.ft. pathology lab in 2.5 weeks.
Cykala said that in the first month after the flood, the focus
was to get the hospitals back up and ready. "Then they
sat back and researched what they needed to do to prevent
this [from happening] again," he added.
Texas Medical Center held off work on TIRR until work finished
at Memorial Hermann, because the rehabilitation facility is
on higher ground. The TIRR project will include 13 flood gates
and brick-veneer walls around the building. The project should
be complete within seven months.
"It's going to be a little more decorative," Westfall
said. "It's a more-wide open hospital, so everything
is much more exposed."
TIRR has existing concrete box culverts under the building.
Crews will install 40-ft.-deep piers on both sides of the
culvert to help support the weight of the wall. Sewer ejector
systems and pumps also will be installed.
All work will take place while the hospital continues to operate.
"Lives are being born, and lives are being saved,"
Cykala said. "It takes a tremendous amount of close, close
coordination not to disrupt the flow of an existing hospital
while you're trying to achieve your task."
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