Plan Called for $3.2B in Flood Projects for Our Area

ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY

Last year, the Texas Water Development Board released the first comprehensive flood plan in state history.

The 265-page plan surveys existing flood infrastructure, and lays out $55 billion in recommended flood-prevention measures — $3.2 billion in the Upper Colorado River Region alone.

The plan patterned historic floodplains, estimating that 2.4 million Texans live in a 100-year floodplain, while 2.8 million other live in the 500-year floodplain.

The recommendations range from major projects like new dams and levees, and construction of low water crossings, down to individual storm drains and outreach programs.

San Angelo and its neighbors reside in the Upper Colorado survey region, which extends into Concho County.

While points south and west are within the Lower Colorado-Lavaca Region. Kerrville is located in the Guadalupe Region.

Though most recommendations would not have been implemented in time to prevent any of the devastating floods this summer, the flood plan comes into new focus now that people have seen the lives lost and millions in damages.

In the report, infrastructure improvements are listed as flood mitigation projects. Education and outreach, flood measurement, property acquisition and structural elevation, and numerous others are listed as flood management strategies.

What Recommendations Were Made for The Upper Colorado?

In the Upper Colorado Region, an estimated 123,400 people, and 39 critical facilities, reside in 100-year — and 500-year floodplains.

This includes 53,600 buildings and 35,500 homes.  

Nineteen flood mitigation projects were recommended at a cost of nearly $2 billion: 15 channels, two detention ponds, one change to infrastructure, and one new storm drain.

The Flood plan identified 139 flood-management strategies at $1.2 billion dollars, the second-highest spending recommendation in the state.

In the Lower Colorado-Lavaca floodplain, there are 252,400 people and 103 critical facilities, including 102,000 buildings, with 71,200 residences.

The Plan recommended six projects at $4 billion: 15 low water crossings, five new channels, three flood walls and levees, a new dam and detention pond, and one storm drain.

In the Guadalupe Region, the plan identified 117,100 people living in the floodplain, with 127 critical facilities, including 45,800 buildings: 32,100 of them residential.

This region lists recommended projects at more than $4 billion, with 12 low water crossings, 11 regional projects, six detention ponds, five infrastructure projects, five nature-based solutions, four channels, two storm drains, and one new dam.

In both the Lower Colorado-Lavaca and Guadalupe regions, 10 combined flood-management strategies were estimated to cost a combined $80 million.

Legislature Ignores Key Flood-Control Solutions in Special Session

For the Special Session of the Texas Legislature, 228 bills were introduced as of July 23; Five bills in the Senate, and four House bills, related directly to the summer floods.

In the Senate, two bills relate directly to early flood warning systems, two direct new regulations for the placement of youth camps within 1 percent flood risk areas, and one relates to a disaster recovery loan program for small businesses.

In the house, two bills memorialize flooding victims both in the July 4 floods and San Antonio flooding in June. One directs local authorities to better prepare their flood disaster plans, and another in a similar vein to the Senate bills order new regulations for youth camps and their locations in 1-percent floodplains.

Absent from these proceedings are many of the recommendations made in the 2024 Flood Risk Plan assembled by the Water Development Board. Specifically major infrastructure design standards recommended by all 15 regions statewide.

During the regular session this year, 10 house and 2 senate bills were introduced. One in the house ordered the development board to prepare another report by 2027 relating to the costs of drainage infrastructure.

On 100-year Floods

Flood risk is measured through elevation and historical data. Areas that have flooded before are documented and measured in probability.

Residing in a 1-percent flood zone means that the area will flood at great cost on average once every 100 years. Likewise, a 0.2 percent flood zone represents the one-in-500 year flood risk.

Make no mistake: this does not mean that if a flood happens at this scale, it will be another 100 years until we see the next one.

Climate change is likely to increase this annual risk.

Geography Leaves Concho Valley Naturally Vulnerable  

Geography and proximity to the coast will continue to make Texas one of the most flood prone states in the union.

Approximately one-fourth of Texas’ land area, 66,831 square miles, is in either the 100-year or 500-year annual floodplain.

From 1959 to 2019, 1069 deaths from flooding were recorded in Texas, the highest number among the states. Louisiana is next in line at 693, California at 339.

In the report, maps detail the rainfall required in 24 hours to cause a 100-year flood over different regions. The Concho valley lies from 7.41-9.25 inches required to trigger a 100-year flood. Quite a bit less than the 12 and 14 inch readings given north of town on July 4.

Recent Changes To FEMA Floodplains

Before flood control was assured by massive earthworks on the North and Middle Concho Rivers beginning after World War II, San Angelo typically experienced significant flooding roughly once every 10 or 11 years.

Since the 1992 FEMA maps were issued, many residents in many areas of Tom Green Co. Precinct 3 protested their property’s inclusion within the flood plain.

“I’ve got fire and storm insurance because the potential is there for me to need it. But if it floods out here, I’ll be looking for Noah to come by. Even the old-timers who live here say it has never flooded.”

Fire Marshal’s Office Investigator and School Board Candidate Don Vardeman in February 2001.

Protests, which began in earnest around 2001, successfully removed a large area between Navajo and Cauley roads alongside Farm-to-Market Road 2105 in 2017.

NWS data shows that this area received over 10 inches of rain during the July 4 floods. Water levels were still up to the front porches of many homes in the Fruitland Farm Road area on the morning of July 5.

Our natural disadvantage makes planning extremely difficult, though not impossible as shown by the report. The reality is that the solutions are in front of us, all they require is money, and the will of our betters in office.