Heavy rains and flooding Oct. 30-31 caused millions of dollars of damage throughout Central Texas and has displaced dozens of families. The damage has left many Hays County residents without occupiable homes, and many are asking what is being done to mitigate or prevent future damage. [polldaddy poll=9188914] Bill West, general manager of the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, said a study conducted by the GBRA and the Army Corps of Engineers is looking at how to prevent future damage. Long-term solutions could include creating an alternate route for the Blanco River during flooding events, West said. The river currently winds through Hays County, and its indirect path contributes to flooding during heavy rain events, he said. In the near term, the GBRA is collaborating with Blanco, Caldwell and Hays counties as well as the city of San Marcos to add river and rain gauges along the Blanco River. The new gauges will allow for better monitoring of water levels during flood situations and should provide more time for residents to be evacuated during an extreme weather event, West said. On Nov. 5, the Office of the Governor announced it was releasing $6 million to be put toward disaster prevention throughout the state. “There are a lot of people working on improving the situation,” West said. “Now that the governor’s office has recognized the need for additional funding, hopefully we can get some of that money.”
Mitigation
Buda Planning Director Chance Sparks said the initial estimates put the damage at about $4 million in the city of Buda. In all, 147 household units—including houses and apartments—reported some form of damage, he said. In 2014, Buda voters passed a $7 million bond proposition that will construct drainage improvements throughout flood-prone areas in the city. The drainage project is currently under design. In Kyle, initial estimates indicate that floods caused about $467,000 of damage to public infrastructure.
Dianne Wassenich, executive director of the San Marcos River Foundation, said the best thing Central Texas cities can do to prevent damage from future floods is to stop building in flood plains.
“We’ve got to stay away from creeks and tributaries,” Wassenich said. “We know what happens now. We can see what happens.”
West said there is a possibility the study with the Army Corps of Engineers could indicate small dams along the Blanco River as a viable option for controlling future flooding. But he said previous efforts to build large-scale dams near Wimberley essentially ended before they even began because of strong resistance from the community.
A large dam would also likely be cost-prohibitive, Wassenich said. It is much more likely municipalities will consider offering buyouts to homeowners who live in flood-prone areas.
“When you get down to the nitty-gritty and talk about dollars and cents and cost efficiency, which is your taxpayer money, buyouts win every time,” she said. “It’s done all over the country, because that’s what’s cost-effective.”
The city of San Marcos will likely take up discussion of buyouts soon, City Manager Jared Miller said. One of the determining factors will be whether the city receives federal assistance to complete buyouts.
Miller said the city may consider buyouts if federal assistance does not come through, but that would require more creativity.
“Any time you take millions of federal dollars out of the equation that makes it a lot more difficult,” he said.
The provision of federal funds for buyouts will depend largely on how much total damage was done throughout Texas from the storm system that caused the October floods.
