2017 Silver Jackets Team of the Year: Indiana Silver Jackets

The Indiana Silver Jackets Team was selected as the 2017 Silver Jackets Team of the Year by its peers. The team has served the citizens of the State of Indiana for over 11 years, bringing together federal and state governmental representatives, academics, and non-profits, with a true spirit of partnership, teamwork, and camaraderie to collaboratively reduce flood risks within the state. The team has collaborated on many efforts, and multiple offshoot projects have been and continue to be developed. Data and other resources including over $20M in grants have been effectively leveraged to maximize impacts on flood risk management efforts throughout the state. Significant contributions by the team include:

• Led efforts examining fluvial erosion hazards, a flood risk that most federal and state agencies have no authority to address.
• Worked on the identification of areas susceptible to streambank erosion and continues its work with the state Department of Transportation to identify at risk infrastructure and find viable solutions to prevent future infrastructure damage.
• Worked with Indiana University-Purdue University of Indianapolis to use LiDAR data and GIS technology to identify non-levee embankments along streams.
• Led the way in development of Flood Inundation Map libraries throughout the state at over 40 sites and held workshops to help citizens and local governmental representatives understand how to use the maps and how to interpret the data.

The Indiana team embraces shared responsibility planning and demonstrates a passion to improve effectiveness and efficiency of government and private sector actions to reduce flood risk.