MEET THE BOARD - Patricia Wood Patricia Wood, Senior Civil Engineer, Los Angeles County Public Works Patricia Wood is one of the Floodplain Management Association’s newest Directors-at-Large, elected in September 2021. She is a Senior Civil Engineer with Los Angeles County Public Works, the largest local public works agency in the nation which serves 10 million people. (That’s about one in four Californians!) Pat is a native of the Los Angeles area and a graduate of Santa Clara University. Pat joined Public Works in 1985 with the desire to help and be of service to her fellow Los Angeles County residents. Her work has been in the field of flood protection. From her days growing up in Los Angeles County, she became fascinated with the big storm drains that were constructed in her neighborhood, and the usually-dry channels she saw every day on her way to school that would all of a sudden be filled with fast-moving flows during storms that occasionally moved in, protecting the homes that were right next to the flows. During one storm, she was travelling along a street that quickly flooded, causing the car (actually, a big Irish green dune buggy) she and her dad were in to start floating down the street! It’s thus a natural fit for Pat to be the floodplain manager for Los Angeles County’s unincorporated areas, home to over one million residents.
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During the course of her career, she has managed sediment removal projects at Public Works’ reservoirs, acquired state and federal regulatory permits under the Los Angeles region’s challenging regulatory climate, and overseen post-fire debris mitigation outreach and projects in the aftermath of the numerous wildfires that occur in the area. Pat is also engaged in analyzing proposed state and federal legislation and environmental regulations. She also works with flood management committees of the National Association of Flood and Stormwater Managers (NAFSMA) and the County Engineers Association of California (CEAC). Pat is a history buff, and so has had a keen interest in acquiring institutional knowledge about the history of how, and especially why, Los Angeles County’s extensive and complex system of flood and stormwater management facilities came to be. What Pat really likes about her job in floodplain management is the opportunity it provides for her to talk directly to the residents she serves, and help them better understand their flood risks and what measures they can take to lessen flood risk. Pat finds the Floodplain Management Association to be an excellent source of education, information, and contacts with other professionals who share her passion about floodplain management and making communities flood resilient!
