How Levelynx is improving Texas flood monitoring with IoT

Challenge
Many counties across Texas’ Flash Flood Alley rely on manual monitoring, with teams visiting flood-prone sites to read gauges and relay updates by phone or radio, a slow process often outpaced by dangerous, fast-moving floodwaters. Technology alternatives typically cost upwards of $50,000 per unit, leaving counties unable to afford comprehensive coverage across hundreds of flood-prone locations.

Solution
Levelynx designed a remote flood monitoring solution, built on an open-architecture platform, using Digital Matter’s Barra Radar and Hawk Data Logger devices to deliver affordable, reliable, resilient Texas flood monitoring.  

Result
Multiple counties have chosen the Levelynx solution to monitor flood risk because of its:

• affordable, scalable coverage
• fast, simple installation
• reliable, resilient connectivity
• easy integration with other systems and data sources
• on-demand visibility
  
  

Solution Provider
Levelynx delivers next-generation, ultra-precise remote water-level monitoring and early warning solutions through an open architecture platform, helping communities detect rising waters sooner, respond faster, and reduce flood impact.

How Levelynx is improving Texas flood monitoring with IoT

Flash Flood Alley, a region of Central Texas widely regarded as the most flash flood-prone area in the United States, regularly experiences intense rainfall that transforms into fast-moving torrents within minutes. When rain overwhelms ground absorption and drainage systems, Texas flooding can devastate infrastructure, destroy assets, and claim lives with little or no warning.

In many communities, monitoring flood risk often requires teams to travel to known flood-prone locations, manually read gauges and observe conditions, and share updates by phone, text, and two-way radio. Manual approaches delay critical information sharing, limit situational awareness, and expose field teams to personal risk. Dangerously, it is often too slow to alert communities before floodwaters arrive.

First-generation technology-based monitoring offers an alternative to manual readings, but at high cost. Systems commonly priced above $50,000 per unit remain unaffordable for counties responsible for monitoring hundreds of low-water crossings, bridges, and headwaters. Even where government funding is available, counties can be reluctant to invest in expensive solutions that monitor one location and rely on legacy technology, such as single-carrier cellular connections without satellite failover, which can cause monitoring blackouts.

Thomas Remmert, a long-time resident of Flash Flood Alley, understands the uncertainty and powerlessness communities experience as floodwaters rise. He has lived through Texas flooding and the devastation left behind when waters recede; from widespread damage and loss of assets to, in the worst cases, loss of life.

As co-founder and CEO of Levelynx, Remmert, together with business partner Karl Faulhaber, set out to change that. Their mission is clear: build a reliable, affordable Texas flood monitoring solution that helps communities save lives and assets.

The Levelynx solution for affordable, reliable Texas flood monitoring

Drawing on decades of combined experience in telemetry, IoT, networking, and emergency readiness, Remmert and Faulhaber built an open-architecture remote flood monitoring solution connected with proven, flexible Digital Matter devices that are rapidly deployable wherever monitoring is needed.

Remmert says, “We’ve worked with Digital Matter for eight years. When our customers need 100 percent device response reliability in their operations, we recommend Digital Matter because its devices work every time. They’re so fast and easy to set up that we sell them online for customers to self-install. Open architecture is important to us because it gives customers the flexibility to use data from any source to meet their monitoring needs. We want to deliver reliable monitoring without locking organizations into vendor-specific infrastructure that can lead to costly upgrades and technology stagnation over time.”

At each monitoring location, the Digital Matter Barra Radar device measures water levels down to 2.5-millimetre increments using a high-accuracy Bluetooth sensor that validates readings from a hydrostatic pressure sensor. Powered by two user-replaceable AA batteries, the Barra Radar can operate for more than five years, supporting long-term always-on deployments with minimal maintenance. Its rugged IP68- and IK07-rated housing withstands dust, impact, and brief submersion, and operates in temperatures between -30°C to +60°C while remaining unaffected by debris, sediment, or weather.

The Barra Radar transmits water-level data via Bluetooth to the Digital Matter Hawk, a modular IoT data logger built around plug-in IO Cards that enable it to interface with a wide range of sensors. With LTE-M/NB-IoT connectivity and multiple power options, the Hawk provides flexibility for diverse flood monitoring deployments. Designed for rapid self-installation, it can be attached to a fixed structure, such as a utility pole, without specialist teams. Its two-way communication capability can also support local warning infrastructure, including lights and sirens.

The Hawk captures device data and transmits it via cellular networks to a centralized, cloud-based data management hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS). To maintain connectivity during network disruptions that often accompany natural disasters, the solution automatically fails over from a primary to two additional carriers.

The data populates a visual dashboard where users can monitor evolving flood conditions on demand with a traffic light color-coding system to help prioritize action. SMS and email alerts can be issued from the dashboard to enable fast action on the ground, while integrations with additional data sources, including weather forecasts and stream gauge updates from the U.S. Geological Survey, provide a broader view of evolving flood risk.

Timely warnings are critical during developing disasters, where it is common for severe weather to disrupt or congest communications infrastructure. Levelynx helps address this challenge with preconfigured alerts that integrate with established community early-warning services, such as WeatherCall.

Resilient remote monitoring with applications beyond Texas flood monitoring

Levelynx is already demonstrating the scalability and affordability of its approach, with 50–60 Digital Matter devices deployed in remotely managed Texas flood monitoring solutions. With entry-level systems starting at approximately USD $5,000, multiple counties have adopted the system to monitor low-water crossings and other flood-prone locations that would otherwise remain unmonitored.

By combining low cost, easy installation, minimal infrastructure requirements, and scalable coverage, Levelynx lets counties expand monitoring without the limitations of manual methods or the significant investment traditionally associated with technology-based flood monitoring systems.

Remmert says, “Many counties and businesses can’t believe that we can offer such resilient, reliable flood monitoring for an affordable price with minimal infrastructure and maintenance. They need to see it in action to believe it.”

The solution's potential extends far beyond Texas flood monitoring. Utility companies are already using Levelynx remote monitoring capabilities for wildfire detection and retaining-pond compliance. Remmert and his team are reviewing applications in other high-risk environments, including avalanche- and mudslide-prone regions.

Levelynx is also committed to ensuring that affordability does not prevent communities from accessing reliable monitoring technology. In support of the communities that inspired its founding vision, the company is voluntarily providing several systems to at-risk communities with no flood monitoring in place.

As Faulhaber says, “We want to make reliable, early-warning flood monitoring solutions accessible to the communities that need them most, not just those that can afford them. Early warning should never be a luxury.”