1 in 6 Texans live or work in known flood hazard areas

By MURRAY MONTGOMERY - Staff Writer - LavacaCountyToday.com

In accordance with a new law, a recently released report found that many Texans live or work in known flood plan hazard areas.

According to data gathered by (The Center Square), the Texas legislature passed the law in 2019 to implement a regional flood planning process after the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. A Category 4 hurricane, Harvey was the second most expensive natural disaster to impact the U.S. Harvey dumped more than 50 inches of rain in the Houston area nonstop for four days, causing more than $125 billion in damages.

The flood planning process is overseen by the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) and efforts to create this report included holding more than 550 public meetings, with more than 300 regional flood planning group voting members, consultants, and administrative sponsors within a 15 regional planning group system. 

They identified 15 regional flood plans, which were first presented to the TWDB in January 2023. The board then published its findings in the 2024 State Flood Plan report this month. The findings include “thousands of specific, actionable flood management evaluations, flood mitigation projects, and flood management strategies with identified costs and sponsors.”

Putting this flood plan together has been an extensive undertaking. Information gathered so far includes a massive amount of data and the TWDB is still seeking public input 5:00 p.m. on Monday, June 17, 2024. Follow this link to submit your input:  https://www.twdb.texas.gov/flood/planning/sfp/index.asp

Here is just a small sample of data gathered up to this point: The plan identified existing risk to lives and property from flooding and potential actions to mitigate those flood risks. Significant risk of flooding exists in all 15 planning regions, the report notes, although the extent and type of flood hazard varies due to several factors.

It identifies three aspects of flood risk: The flood hazard (the magnitude and extent of flooding), the potential exposure of people and property to that hazard (who and what might flood), and the vulnerability (degree to which communities or critical facilities may be affected) of the people and property exposed to that flood hazard.

The plan “confirms that the flood risk across Texas is significant and widespread. Almost one fourth of Texas’ land area (66,831 square miles) is in either the 1 percent (100-year) or 0.2 percent (500-year) annual chance flood hazard areas, with approximately 21 percent of the land area (56,053 square miles) within the 1 percent annual chance flood hazard areas.”

The total cost of recommended flood management strategies is more than $2.8 billion.

The TWDB is currently in the process of generating Texas's first state flood plan to be delivered to the Legislature by September 1, 2024. The state flood planning process will continue to recur in five-year cycles.