MEMORIAL SECTION Tom Christensen Memorial Beloved CaDWR and USACE Co-worker, Mentor, Leader and Colleague. October 4, 1941 to September 17, 2021 “A Life Well Lived” Tom Christensen, retired senior engineer at the California Department of Water Resources Floodplain Management Branch and the US Army Corps of Engineers Floodplain Planning Section passed away unexpectedly on September 17, 2021, in Sacramento. Tom was 78 years old and remained very active in supporting his church, community, and family. Tom was born and raised in Portland, Oregon and graduated from Walla Walla University in Washington State with a degree in Civil Engineering. He worked for the US Army Corps of Engineers from 1964 through 2000, mostly at the Sacramento District, with a focus on Flood Risk Reduction, Flood Planning, and Floodplain Management projects. Tom retired from the USACE as chief of the Floodplain Planning Section. Tom then began working with California DWR, retiring in 2014 as a senior engineer in the Floodplain Management Branch. Tom’s USACE and DWR careers, which spanned a total of 50 years, had a special focus on Floodplain Management and mapping. At DWR, Tom was instrumental in formulating interagency agreements to advance floodplain mapping projects and activities within DWR, the USACE, FEMA, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the California Geologic Survey. The pinnacle of Tom’s career was the planning and execution of the DWR led Central Valley Floodplain Evaluation and Delineation Project and the Central Valley Hydrology Study that updated digital elevation models, hydrology, and hydraulic profiles for the major streams in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys. The CVFED and CVHS studies supported FEMA mapping, USACE planning and design studies, DWR-led mapping and hydrology, and local agency efforts to improve the urban level of flood protection in the Central Valley. Tom played a key role in managing supportive Engineering
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Contracts with our colleagues in the private sector to deliver the CVFED project “on-time and on-budget” to support the 2012 and 2017 Central Valley Flood Protection Plans. Tom’s accomplishments and impacts on California FPM are too numerous to mention and he will be remembered by his co-workers, colleagues and agency partners, as a high energy engineer who always acted as a mentor and leader and promoted the advancement of DWR’s and the USACE’s efforts to inform and educate local state, and federal agencies and the public regarding flood risks. Prepared by Tom’s friends and colleagues at the California Department of Water Resources who held him in great admiration for his work ethic.
