City Forum: Matt Hollon and Kevin Shunk
Flood management has become more and more challenging in an age of increasing storm intensities and rapidly changing rainfall patterns. Austin and Central Texas, already located in North America’s “Flash Flood Alley,” have experienced multiple federally declared flood disasters in the past twenty years and with little relief expected in the future. The 500- year (24-hour) storm, for example, has been recalculated from its historic 13.5 inches to a whopping 19.5 inches. And such intensities were recently seen in the July 4 holiday floods in northwest Travis County and Kerr County, with much loss of life and enormous property damage. And this is all taking place in communities with drainage infrastructure largely designed and built for a much gentler era—and often with fewer resources to respond. This talk will explore this changing reality and discuss our options moving forward, including: floodplain mapping, drainage infrastructure, flood warning systems, and community education.
Matt Hollon is a regulatory policy analyst in Austin’s Watershed Protection Department (WPD). He has a Masters in Community and Regional Planning (CRP) from UT- Austin and has worked in stormwater management in the public and private sectors since 1990. He served as WPD’s planning manager from 2005 to 2021 and as the municipal representative for the Lower Colorado/Lavaca River Regional Flood Planning Group from 2020 to 2025. He now focuses on policy initiatives, including potential changes to Austin’s Land Development Code to manage stormwater from larger-scaled redevelopment and right-size drainage requirements for small- scaled housing developments.
Kevin Shunk is the floodplain administrator for the City of Austin. He is a professional civil engineer and certified floodplain manager who has more than 32 years of engineering experience. After graduating from Texas A&M University he worked as a consulting engineer for twelve years and started working for local governments at the City of Alexandria, Virginia. He has been at the City of Austin for 20 years where he is the Division Manager of the Floodplain Office and Modeling Division, which is responsible for the City’s floodplain management program.