[Politics] Draft of new flood plan for the San Antonio region identifies $1B in needed projects

[Amaterasu イタチ]

 

From the deadly flood of 1921 that killed more than 200 people and devastated the West Side of San Antonio to the record-setting flood of 1998 that caused 31 deaths and an estimated $750 million in property damage, San Antonio has seen more than its share of deadly floods — and will likely see more as a result of climate change.

Nor is San Antonio alone. In 2017, Hurricane Harvey caused $125 billion in damage to Houston and surrounding communities, in part due to the catastrophic flooding that followed the Category 4 hurricane’s landfall.

In that storm’s wake, the Texas Legislature approved $1.8 billion to assist in the region’s recovery and better prepare the entire state for future storms. The new legislation called for a statewide flood plan, to be overseen by the Texas Water Development Board. A new “resilience fund” would help pay for flood control projects identified in the plan.
In August, the San Antonio River Authority submitted a draft flood plan to the water board for Region 12, which surrounds the San Antonio River Basin, beginning in Bandera County and extending down to the Texas coastline.

Now, state and local officials are seeking public feedback on the plan, which they will present on Thursday.

Compiling regional data
The regional plan was put together by representatives from the City of San Antonio, Bexar County, the river authority, local utilities and other area water experts. At 672 pages long, the plan offers a comprehensive look at existing flood infrastructure in the area.
It also includes flood risk analyses and recommends specific flood management actions, including roughly $1 billion in needed flood control projects within the region, which includes parts of 16 counties, 49 cities, four river authorities and at least 41 other entities with flood-related authority. More than 2.2 million people live in the 4,422 square mile region, the majority within the San Antonio metropolitan area.
Because of the area’s long history of flooding, several local flood plans already exist. San Antonio, Bexar County and the San Antonio Water System each have plans in place, and have handled local flood mitigation efforts for decades.

Pulling them all together, said Kendall Hayes, government affairs coordinator for the river authority, allows the state to better understand “what existing flood mitigation efforts are out there and what projects need to be done.”

 

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