An ongoing flood recovery study in Jersey Village has yielded several proposals to decrease damage caused by future heavy rainfalls.

The city brought in Dannenbaum Engineering Corporation in September to conduct the $650,000 study, which is expected to wrap up in June. Dannenbaum’s team of civil engineers, hydrologists and environmental scientists entered the final phase of the study in April, which involves analyzing the proposed solutions for what the city can realistically implement.

Final recommendations will take both costs and available land into account, Dannenbaum Division Manager Alejandro Flores said.

“We cannot eliminate floods completely, but there are things that can be done to reduce their impact,” he said.

Jersey Village has been repeatedly hit by flooding along White Oak Bayou, including when 238 structures within the city flooded during the Tax Day floods last April.

Leading up to the final phase, Dannenbaum’s team conducted an assessment of flood-prone structures in the city and created a drainage plan to offset flooding effects of future development. The resulting strategies range from channel improvements along White Oak Bayou, street drainage improvements and detention improvements at Jersey Meadow Golf Course.

Dannenbaum also recommended several nonstructural measures, including mandatory home buyouts for homes in the flood plain.

“Each proposal has its own merits, and each one is being studied independently,” Flores said. “After we determine the benefits and costs of each one, we will put them together into the most optimal combination.”

Cost estimates for proposals have not been determined as of press time.

Resident concerns

Dannenbaum associate Maegan Nunley said the team has worked with both city officials and local residents throughout the process, and Jersey Village Mayor Justin Ray expressed confidence that Dannenbaum understands the challenges facing the city.

Nunley said every suggestion provided by residents has been considered, and several citizen ideas have turned into top areas of analysis.

“Looking at the [White Oak Bayou] bypass was the citizens’ idea,” she said. “The golf course was something we heard a lot about at both public meetings, although citizens are more divided on that.”

Many resident concerns centered on improving water flow through White Oak Bayou. Of the 238 structures that flooded during the Tax Day floods, at least 210 of them were determined to have been caused by bayou overflow, according to Dannenbaum’s analysis.

“Whether it’s making the bayou wider or deeper, straightening out some of the kinks, making the walls more vertical, we need to do whatever we can to increase the capacity,” said Fred Ziehe, a Jersey Village resident who has studied flooding as a part of a citizen-led flood committee.

Flores pointed to a flood damage reduction effort by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that has been underway in the White Oak Bayou watershed since 1998. Remaining projects—which have stalled due to lack of funding—include channel improvements from the Jersey Village bypass channel to FM 1960.

“If a local entity like Jersey Village decides to help finance [these projects], they could move forward with the help of federal funding that could become available,” Flores said.

The Army Corps study involved creating the Jersey Village bypass in 2009, which was built to divert floodwater from upstream around the city. Ziehe said the citizen committee is especially interested in what the Dannenbaum team’s analysis of the bypass turns up.

“It appears to be sloped back toward the main [White Oak Bayou] channel and not toward the Beltway where it should be,” he said. “If [water] is being pushed back into the main bayou system, it’s going to come out of the bank faster.”

Another area of resident concern involves a tract of land south of Hwy. 290 that city officials have designated for high-end residential and retail development. Known as Jersey Crossing, the area was studied by Dannenbaum to determine the detention needed to ensure flooding does not get worse as development progresses.

“We are making sure [development] is not going to increase flooding within the city and downstream,” Nunley said.

Ziehe also expressed concern about the study being limited to city limits, arguing much of the flooding can be tied to water coming from upstream of White Oak Bayou.

“We always look at what’s happening upstream to try to figure out if we’re going to have a problem,” he said.

Flores said he does not think it is accurate to attribute flooding to upstream development because Harris County regulations that have been in place since 1984 have required developers to make sure whatever they build does not cause flooding downstream.

A final plan will be recommended to city officials at a public meeting in June.