Property acquisition is underway on a new stormwater detention basin and channel conveyance improvements along Little Cypress Creek.

The Little Cypress Creek Frontier Program is an organized effort to plan for regional drainage infrastructure ahead of future development. Development guidelines are more stringent than in other parts of the county due to the area being prone to flooding.

“The upper reaches of the watershed are mostly rural and undeveloped, but that is quickly changing with the completion of the Grand Parkway,” said Imelda Diaz, interim director of the Harris County Flood Control District’s engineering division, at a March 3 meeting.

The HCFCD is planning for a stormwater detention basin between Mueschke Road and Cypress Rosehill Road in Cypress. The basin will hold about 750 million gallons of water.

Because all funding has not been secured and all property has not been acquired, Diaz said the final footprint and timeline for the project have not been determined. Once these steps take place, the project will move into the design phase.


In addition to the basin, the HCFCD is also planning two rounds of channel conveyance improvements—the first from Telge Road to the confluence of Cypress Creek and the second from Cypress Rosehill Road to Telge Road. Diaz said this will result in a wider, deeper channel corridor between 330-700 feet wide.

“Little Cypress Creek is a small, narrow stream that needs to be expanded to get ahead of future development in the watershed,” she said.

Diaz said nine stormwater detention basins are planned for the watershed, some of which have already started construction. When completed, they will be able to store 7 billion gallons of stormwater combined. The Frontier Program should remove 3,200 structures from the 100-year flood plain.