The T.C. Jester Detention Basin is expected to told 1,200 acre-feet of stormwater once it is completed. (Kennedy Thomason/Community Impact)
Construction on the second phase of a flood mitigation project in the Spring-Klein area is expected to begin soon, the Harris County Flood Control District announced in an email newsletter Oct. 8.
The overview
The T.C. Jester Stormwater Detention Basin, located at Cypresswood Drive and TC Jester Boulevard, broke ground on its first compartment in August. Once complete, the basin will hold an estimated 1,200 acre-feet of stormwater storage, according to the Harris County Flood Control District. This project is designed to mitigate flooding during heavy rain, per previous Community Impact reporting.
The second phase, which will create two additional compartments, is expected to add about 210 acre-feet of stormwater storage capacity, the equivalent of 210 football fields covered in one foot of water, per the newsletter. Construction is expected to start before the end of the year and be complete in the second quarter of 2027.
The HCFCD oversees this project, along with several other disaster recovery and flood mitigation projects countywide. The basin is “one of several upcoming” projects in the Cypress Creek watershed, the HCFCD website states.
“A regional drainage study for the Cypress Creek watershed found that flooding along tributaries of Cypress Creek is predominately due to stormwater from Cypress Creek backing up into tributaries, rather than a lack of sufficient stormwater conveyance capacity on the tributaries themselves,” the website states.
The T.C. Jester Stormwater Detention basin is designed to have four compartments, with the final one expected to begin construction in 2027. (Courtesy Harris County Flood Control District)(Courtesy Harris County Flood Control District)
In total, the basin is designed to have four compartments. The final compartment, located west of TC Jester Boulevard, is expected to begin construction in 2027.
By the numbers
Funding for each of the compartments comes from a mix of federal, state and county dollars.
The construction contract for compartment 1B, which officials broke ground on in August, was awarded for $18.6 million. The compartment will receive up to $25.9 million through federal disaster recovery grant funding and $12 million in state community-directed funding, per the HCFCD.
Phase II of the project, which will create compartments 1A and 2, is estimated to cost $9.5 million, according to the HCFCD. The compartments are funded through $9.9 million in federal funds and $3.3 million from HCFCD, which includes $600,000 from the county’s 2018 bond. Voters approved the bond to fund flood mitigation projects countywide, per the HCFCD.
The west compartment—the project’s final phase— is estimated to cost $10.9 million, per the HCFCD. It will receive $16.5 million in federal flood mitigation grant funding and $1 million through the 2018 bond.
Before you go
Development on the T.C. Jester Stormwater Detention Basin comes as the HCFCD is potentially facing a spending deadline for projects that have received federal funding.
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham announced Sept. 28 that disaster recovery and mitigation projects totaling more than $1.1 billion in Harris County could receive a one-year deadline extension. Previously, the funding allocated through the federal Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery and -Mitigation, or CDBG-DR and CDBG-MIT, had spending deadlines of February 2027 and March 2028, respectively.
Compartment 1B received up to $25.9 million in CDBG-DR funding. The west compartment is expected to receive up to $16.5 million in CDBG-MIT funding.
HCFCD Executive Director Marcus Stuckett is slated to provide an update on projects countywide during the Harris County Commissioners Court meeting on Oct. 15.
