Hundreds of Cy-Fair residents attended a town hall meeting Aug. 4 to hear from Harris County officials on how they are moving forward with flood mitigation following an exceptionally rainy spring season.
The meeting was hosted by the Cypress Coalition, a nonpartisan group formed to keep Cypress residents up to date on development and transportation matters. It included updates from two Harris County officials—Flood Coantrol District Director Mike Talbott and Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack—as well as an opportunity for residents to ask questions and provide feedback.
Radack began the town hall by emphasizing the extreme nature of the recent flood events.
“When 15 inches of rain fall, some things are going to flood,” he said.
Gauges along Spring Creek showed rainfall accumulation was in the 200-300 year range, Talbott said, meaning the rainfall amount can be counted on to occur once every 200-300 years. Meanwhile, gauges along Cypress Creek showed rain falling past the 500-year level, Talbott said.
“The natural overflow occurring along Cypress Creek was the most severe that anyone knows of,” he said.
Moisture levels in northwest Harris County were already high at the time of the flood because of the rainwater absorbed into the ground over the past few months, Talbott said. He said HCFCD mitigation projects and buyout efforts over the past decade made flooding less severe than it could have been.
Radack said the work required to prevent flooding during such extreme events would require more money than the HCFCD has at its disposal. He said an increase in taxes would be necessary.
“I will vote for a tax increase for the [HCFCD],” Radack said. “This was an incredible event. There’s a good chance it will never happen again. How much are you willing to pay? That’s what this is all about.”
However, many residents were not satisfied and pressed county officials on the need to do more. Most resident complaints urged officials to reduce the pace of development and enforce existing regulations in place to offset the negative effects of new development.
Residents also referenced specific projects where they said detention ponds are not holding enough water during floods. Others called for updating the construction requirements, including not allowing developers to build with clay, doubling detention pond requirements and tightening restrictions on what kinds of soil can be used.
Radack said the county is already enforcing flood mitigation requirements and encouraged residents to report violators to the county.
