DALLAS — When rain falls in Dallas, it ends up in the Trinity River.
How fast it gets there depends on the city's infrastructure of pipes, tunnels, storm drains and pumps -- all monitored from a central command center in an unassuming building along the levee near the Sylvan Avenue bridge.
The Dallas Water Utility's Stormwater Operations Center is staffed 24/7 every day of the year -- but it's busiest on the rainiest days, of course.
"On the days the roads of North Texas start to look more like canals, the inside of the command center has "a lot of alarms going off," supervisor George Duke said.
He and the team track the rain falling -- and the city's response on computer monitors with updates from rain and flood gauges stationed across the city.
As the rain falls, operators sometimes only have minutes to activate the massive pump stations along the Trinity River in time for the deluge.
"We can try to get ahead of everything to make sure we stay ahead as much as possible," Duke said.
But not everything always goes according to plan. Trash and debris -- sometimes as big as logs and even couches -- can clog the pumps.
"If something goes wrong at one of those stations, it'll alarm on that window," Duke said, pointing to a monitor at his workstation. "Then we can determine what the issue is."
They can dispatch crews to fix any physical issues -- but rely on longer-term updates to the city's drainage infrastructure to improve city-wide storm performance.
"When you look at the whole system, you're looking at about 18 hundred miles of pipe, 700 miles of creek," explained DWU director Sara Standifer. "All of that is going to make it to the Trinity."
But when the water is high -- and roads are blocked -- the department still needs drivers and pedestrians to exercise caution.
"The water can just rise so quickly and it's extremely dangerous," Duke said.
He urged people to heed warnings and avoid driving or walking through flooded roads and sidewalks.