Who's behind this

Greetings. I'm Jacob Beatty, a professional engineer in Birmingham, Alabama, and a nerd for all things water, maps, and technology. I've spent more than a decade in hydrology and hydraulics, from FEMA floodplain mapping and bridge-scour studies to dam-breach modeling and stormwater planning across six states. I started with 1D HEC-RAS models and became an early adopter of 2D modeling, always working toward the same answer: where does the water actually go when it rains?

Rain-on-mesh modeling changed what I could do with that answer. Instead of stopping at a map of the problem, I could test alternatives, measure which projects reduce flooding, and build the benefit-cost case behind them. That connects the engineering to the decisions communities actually face: what to fix first, what a project will accomplish, and how to compete for the funding to build it.

A technically correct flood model doesn't accomplish much sitting on an engineer's hard drive. I built this practice to keep the model close to the people who need it. I work with cities and counties planning for known flooding, developers and buyers evaluating sites, and teams investigating why a place flooded. I grew up on Alabama's rivers and still spend most weekends around them; when I'm not playing in a river, I'm modeling one. I've watched too many neighborhoods flood in spots no map ever warned them about, and the work I find most satisfying is showing a community the risk its existing map missed, a practical way to reduce it, and a path toward getting the work funded.