A heavy rainfall that hit the Cy-Fair area April 18 resulted in the flooding of hundreds of homes. Cy-Fair ISD shut down classes for the week and parts of major thoroughfares—such as Barker Cypress, Skinner and Jarvis roads—were covered in water for days.

A historic rainfall event on Memorial Day 2015 produced 12 inches of rain in Houston over the course of 10 hours. Those numbers were topped during the April 18 storm when parts of northwest Harris County received 17.6 inches of rain—most of which fell during a 12-hour period—in a storm event that had a 1 in 500 chance of occurring in a given year in certain areas, according to the Harris County Flood Control District.

An HCFCD measurement gauge along Cypress Creek in Cypress recorded crest levels of 127.5 feet, several feet above the major flood risk threshold, which did not recede for several days. Although flooding took place across the Greater Houston area, the northwest suburbs of Harris County were considered ground zero, HCFCD’s media contact Kim Jackson said.

“A lot of damage was done to creeks and tributaries, which we have been repairing as fast as possible,” she said. “We also have been looking at our overall program, seeing if we need to add anything new or if there’s something on our radar that needs to be moved up.”

School district hit hard

A report released by CFISD April 22 indicated 57 district campuses and support facilities sustained water infiltration during the floods, which caused nearly $4 million in damages.[polldaddy poll=9423085]

The district’s insurance plan covered the damage with a $100,000 deductible, said Roy Sprague, assistant superintendent of facilities and construction. CFISD is looking to get the deductible reimbursed through the Federal Emergency Management Agency as well, he said.

Most buildings received minor water damage around windows and doors, but Cypress Falls and Cy-Fair high schools as well as Adam and Moore elementary schools were more heavily damaged.

The wooden floors in the gymnasium at Cy Falls had to be removed as well as the school’s auditorium stage, Sprague said. They will be replaced over the summer, he said. The artificial turf at Pridgeon Stadium, which was underwater for approximately 24 hours, is also due to be replaced. District officials are aiming to have the stadium ready for the first scheduled football game of the 2016 season, Sprague said.

CFISD canceled classes at all campuses April 18-22. Superintendent Mark Henry expressed gratitude to the CFISD staff members and volunteers who worked to bring facilities back to a normalized state.

“I cannot praise [them] enough for [their] unified efforts,” he said.

The Texas Education Agency waived three of the five missed calendar days. June 2 will serve as a makeup day for students, and June 3 will serve as a professional development day for staff, Henry said. Class of 2016 graduation ceremonies will be held as originally scheduled.

Jersey Village

Flooding has been a topic for years in Jersey Village, and recent heavy rainfall brought the discussion to the forefront of an April 25 City Council meeting. Close to 20 residents spoke during the public comment period.

“All available funds should be used to reduce the flood risk,” said Jim Pulliam, a Jersey Village resident who said he has been lobbying the council to focus on flood prevention for the past 18 years. “I agree the risk can’t be eliminated 100 percent, but it can be greatly reduced.”

Resident suggestions at the April 25 meeting ranged from deepening the White Oak Bayou to converting the Jersey Meadows Golf Course into park land with more detention capabilities.

During and after flood events, city officials are in constant communication with the Harris County Office of Emergency Management, City Manager Mike Castro said. City officials also met with Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle in late April to pass on resident concerns on flooding.

An estimated 187 homes flooded in Jersey Village. Mayor Justin Ray said  although the damage could have been worse, the City Council is taking resident feedback seriously.

Development effects

The gradual conversion of Cy-Fair’s wetland to concrete over the past decade may have had a significant effect on the rainwater absorption rates during the April storms, said Jennifer Lorenz, the former director of the Bayou Land Conservancy who stepped down in April. She described wetlands as the “sponges” of the Greater Houston area.

Lorenz said the Little Cypress Creek Preserve—located near Telge and Spring Cypress roads—was the most full she had ever seen following the April 18 rain storm, dating back to when she first joined the Bayou Land Conservancy in 2000. Homes in nearby neighborhoods—including Stablegate and The Reserve at Cypress Creek—experienced flooding as well.

Lorenz cited data on the top five Cypress Creek crest records measured in the Cypress area dating back to 1979. The crest hit 127.5 feet on April 19, which was the second-highest mark. It hit 127.6 feet in October 1994, but flooding was not nearly as bad then, she said, nor was flooding as severe during Hurricane Allison in 2001.

“When you develop the land and you put in concrete, you have an impervious surface with immediate runoff. When you have more impervious surface development upstream, this is going to affect people downstream,” Lorenz said.

Lorenz said she hopes the flooding event will serve as a catalyst for Harris County to re-examine its development regulations. Current mitigation requirements are not enough to keep up with all the wetland patches that are bulldozed each year, she said.

“We cannot keep allowing people to build in the floodways,” she said. “As long as that continues, we will continue to see worse flooding.”

Officials with the Harris County Flood Control said they are comfortable with the permitting standards in place, and the April flooding was less a cause of over-development and more related to the sheer amount of rain that fell.

“It could’ve been a lot worse,” Jackson said. “It’s always a very difficult situation when people’s homes are flooded, but the bayous and creeks did a really good job with how much rain fell.”

However, HCFCD is investigating methods of minimizing floods in Cy-Fair and takes feedback from residents seriously, Jackson said.

“Sometimes it takes a storm of this magnitude to get to the point where something needs to be done,” she said.