Post-Georges Disaster Mitigation Project: Terms of Reference

Development of Flood Hazard Maps for Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis

Purpose and Summary of Activities

One of the major objectives of the Post-Georges Disaster Mitigation (PGDM) project is the development of national goals, objectives and actions to reduce the vulnerability of Antigua/Barbuda and St. Kitts/Nevis to the effects of natural hazards. A prerequisite for developing appropriate hazard mitigation strategies is a solid understanding of the existing hazards and their effects. Under this contract, maps of flood hazards will be developed for the islands of Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis. The understanding of flood hazards gained through this contract will inform the development of national flood hazard vulnerability reduction policies and measures for both countries.

1. Undertake initial missions to Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis to meet with local resource people/agencies, to collect existing precipitation and flood history information and to carry out drainage cross-sections as required for flood hazard modeling work. In St. Kitts, special attention will be paid to the College Street and Wash ghauts, on Nevis to the Nisbett and Bath drainages and on Antigua and Barbuda to the flood effects of hurricane Lenny.
2. Using this information and appropriate computer models, the consultant will produce geographic information system (GIS) data layers of flood hazards in Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis. These GIS data will then be used to produce island-wide flood hazard maps for the four islands and to produce detailed flood hazard maps for the target drainages on St. Kitts and Nevis. Deliverables will include the GIS data layers and hardcopy and electronic copies of the flood hazard maps.
3. Produce a technical report and a non-technical executive summary of the flood hazard mapping work and results.
4. Undertake a final mission to Antigua/Barbuda and St. Kitts and Nevis to present and discuss the flood hazard study and maps.

Terms of Reference

1. The Independent Contractor (hereinafter referred to as "The Consultant") will be technically responsible to the Director of the Unit for Sustainable Development and Environment ("USDE") of the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States ("GS/OAS"), for fulfilling the obligations established by the following terms of reference of this contract.
2. One of the major objectives of the Post-Georges Disaster Mitigation (PGDM) project is the development of national goals, objectives and actions to reduce the vulnerability of Antigua/Barbuda and St. Kitts/Nevis to the effects of natural hazards. A prerequisite for developing appropriate hazard mitigation strategies is a solid understanding of the existing hazards and their effects. Under this contract, maps of flood hazards will be developed for the islands of Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis. The understanding of flood hazards gained through this contract will inform the development of national flood hazard vulnerability reduction policies and measures for both countries.
3. Under this contract, the consultant will:
1. Collect and analyze existing precipitation and, where available, stream flow records for Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis.
2. Visit both St. Kitts and Nevis to collect drainage cross sections for use in flood modeling. The consultant will subcontract with his own survey team to undertake this work. Where possible, the appropriate government agencies will be involved with this survey work. Detailed survey information is to be collected on College Street ghaut on St. Kitts and either Nisbett or Bath drainage on Nevis (selection to be made by Nevis Island Administration). If survey time permits, survey information is also to be collected for Wash ghaut on St. Kitts and both Nisbett and Bath drainages on Nevis.
3. Visit both Antigua and Barbuda to collect information on the locations and characteristics of past flood events and necessary topographic survey information.
4. Produce island-wide geographic information system (GIS) data layers depicting flood hazards in Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis. These data are to be in an Arc/Info- or ArcView-compatible format, georeferenced to the common mapping standard for each island, and accompanied by the appropriate GIS metadata.
5. Using the GIS data described above, produce island-wide flood hazard maps for Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis and more detailed flood hazard maps for the target ghauts in St. Kitts and Nevis. The island-wide maps will depict areas at high-, medium- and low-risk to flooding. All maps are to include a common set of reference features (e.g. roads, settlement areas), to be provided by the PGDM for this purpose, and will conform to the PGDM hazard map layout, as defined by GS/OAS.
6. Produce detailed flood hazard maps for all drainages for which detailed survey information was collected [see III.b. above].
7. Produce a technical report, by country, of the flood hazard assessment. This technical report should describe the structure and content of the hazard maps, the methodology employed in map preparation (including data collection analysis and final preparation), map use and limitations, metadata and information sources. Recommendations for future work should also be included.
8. Produce a non-technical summary of the flood hazard assessment. This summary should be suitable for distribution independent of the technical summary and should be approximately 2500 words long.
9. Visit Antigua/Barbuda and St. Kitts/Nevis to present and discuss the final maps and report.
4. The consultant shall submit the following documents to GS/OAS’ satisfaction:
1. A trip report, describing the initial missions to Antigua/Barbuda and St. Kitts/Nevis. This report will include a discussion of potential problems and concerns and a detailed workplan for completing the hazard maps. This report will be submitted to GS/OAS in electronic format, within two weeks of the completion of these missions.
2. Draft copies of all maps, as described in §III.e and III.f, for review by GS/OAS. These maps can be submitted in electronic format.
3. Final copies of the flood hazard GIS layers, as described in §III.d. Other significant GIS data layers developed as input to the flood hazard model or derived during the project should also be delivered.
4. Final copies of all maps, as described in §III.e and III.f. For each map, five copies are to be submitted in hardcopy format and one copy in electronic format (GIF or JPEG). These maps are to be submitted before 15 December 2000.
5. A technical report on the flood hazard assessment. [§III.g.]
6. A non-technical summary of the flood hazard assessment. [§III.h.]
7. A trip report describing the activities, discussions and outcomes of the final mission to Antigua/Barbuda and St. Kitts/Nevis [§III.i.]

Justification

Vincent Cooper is a Caribbean civil engineer with expertise in environmental and water resources engineering. He has significant experience with floodway, irrigation, groundwater and drainage studies and management in the Caribbean and is has facility with the hydrologic modeling and computer mapping tools that will be central to this contract. Vincent Cooper is currently at the civil engineering department of the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine campus.