Mapping toxic flooding vulnerability for petrochemical sites and communities
Description
The toxic flooding vulnerability map is an interactive tool that ranks and visualizes how vulnerable petrochemical facilities and nearby communities in the Galveston Bay region are to toxic flooding. Built from more than 100 indicators across flood risk, chemical transport, facility hazards, ecosystem conditions, baseline health, and social and economic factors, it produces separate vulnerability scores for facilities and for community grid cells. Users—such as planners, engineers, policymakers, and Gulf Coast residents—can explore overall vulnerability, drill down to see which specific indicators drive risk in each location, identify high?priority facilities and neighborhoods, and use downloadable profiles and map layers to help target nature?based solutions that reduce both flooding and chemical exposure.
Questions this resource can help answer
Which petrochemical facilities in the Galveston Bay region are most vulnerable to toxic flooding?
Which nearby communities face the highest combined risk from flooding, chemical exposure, and social vulnerability?
Where do highly vulnerable facilities and highly vulnerable communities overlap?
In a given neighborhood, is vulnerability driven more by flood risk, existing health burdens, or social and economic conditions?
Which locations should be top priorities for nature?based solutions (e.g., wetlands, green buffers) to reduce toxic flooding risk?
How do vulnerability patterns differ across sub?regions (e.g., between different bayfront cities or industrial corridors)?
How do I use this resource?
To use the CreateNBS toxic flooding vulnerability map, open the map and zoom to the area you care about along the Galveston Bay region. Choose whether you want to view facility vulnerability or community vulnerability, then use the layer controls to turn on overall scores and/or specific indicator groups (e.g., flood risk, health, social vulnerability, ecosystems). Click on a facility or grid cell to see its vulnerability score, the indicators driving that score, and any available summary/profile information. You can compare nearby facilities or neighborhoods, switch between indicator groups to see what’s driving risk, and (where available) download data or screenshots to support reports, planning, or community discussions.
Pro tips
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Resource information
Technical specifications
The toxic flooding vulnerability map is built from a composite scoring system based on more than 100 indicators covering flood risk, chemical transport, facility hazards, ecosystem conditions, baseline health, and social and economic vulnerability. For petrochemical facilities, the team used public EPA and regulatory datasets plus high?resolution flood and chemical-transport modeling to score each site in three domains: flooding vulnerability, potential for off?site chemical transport during floods, and intrinsic facility hazards (chemicals handled, accident potential, regulatory compliance history). For communities, they overlaid ecosystem indicators (e.g., green space vs. pavement), modeled flood and chemical-transport metrics, health burden measures, and social/economic indicators, then combined them into tract/grid–level vulnerability scores. A coupled watershed–coastal modeling system physically links flooded facilities to down?gradient communities, and all scores are normalized so users can compare relative vulnerability and see which underlying indicators drive risk in each location.
