The city hired Dannenbaum Engineering as a consultant in September to help develop a long-term flood protection study. The study was spurred by several flood events within the city over the past few years, most notably the Tax Day flood, when more than 200 Jersey Village homes flooded on April 18.
"We’re going to take an aggressive stance and we’re going to attack the flood issue head on to the best of our capabilities," Mayor Justin Ray said. "The City of Jersey Village will lead the attack in the Gulf Coast region.”
Dannenbaum, which is partnering with Crouch Environmental, laid out their plan to kick the meeting off.
Chris Sallese, Dannenbaum's coastal programs coordinator, said the study will be split into three phases: data collection, technical assessment and narrowing down the final recommendation, which will be proposed to residents, city council members and staff. Possible solutions can be structural—such as channel and system improvements—or nonstructural—such as city ordinances that limit what can be built in the floodplain.
Sallese emphasized the importance of collecting public feedback. Written comments are being accepted at [email protected] through Nov. 16.
"We’re here to listen," Sallese said. "We have formed no opinions thus far on this study.”
The majority of the meeting was dedicated to collecting citizen comments. Here is what Jersey Village residents identified as the top priorities for flood mitigation at the Oct. 18 meeting:
Widen the White Oak Bayou
The White Oak Bayou travels through Jersey Village via two east-west channels and one main north-south channel that travels through the center of the city near Elwood Drive and Wall Street. Several residents brought up the fact that the bayou is wider outside of the city and narrows down inside of the city.
"Continued flooding is due to the fact that the channel through the village is too small," resident Ken Magee said. "It needs to be widened and deepened desperately. The problem with the [Harris County Flood Control District] widening it is they can only widen to the extent that they have right of way. It is going to fall on our shoulders to acquire that right of way. I expect the engineering study to look at this and come up with a plan."
Reassess the effectiveness of the White Oak Bayou bypass
In 2009, HCFCD took on a project to construct a bypass for the White Oak Bayou meant to channel storm water away from the city. Residents would like the flood study to examine the effectiveness of the bypass and see if anything can be done to help it divert more water.
"The water coming down White Oak Bayou moves quicker, but the water that goes into the bypass goes very slow," said resident Mike Mauriello, who serves on a citizen-lead committee that began studying flooding after the Tax Day flood. "What that means is the bypass is full and it doesn’t have enough slope to really move that water."
Study the effect of future development planned in and around the city
Resident Michael Brown, who has lived in the city for 23 years and has experienced flooding in his house four times, said development seems to have changed the nature of flooding on his street. He said the Tax Day flood was notably different than the previous three floods.
"Dannenbaum needs to look at what the future impacts look like due to [Hwy.] 290 construction and the development of [Jersey Village Crossing]," he said. "Every drop of water that falls on concrete built in that development area is going to have to run past my house."
Other suggestions brought up by residents included reassessing the Elwood Weir—a barrier across White Oak Bayou near Wall Street—clearing sediment from the bayou on a more regular basis and improving drainage and storm water storage capabilities on the streets the flood most frequently.
