WCID110 District Flood Control Planning
Houston, TX and Harris County are no strangers to severe weather events and flooding. It is an all-too-common event in our area and can be caused by severe weather rolling in quickly from the west or the Gulf to annual tropical storms or hurricanes.
WCID110 has seen its share of flood-level events over the years and the WCID110 Board is working harder than ever to create lasting solutions to help mitigate these events. While there is a limit to what we as a District can accomplish on our own, the WCID110 Board continues to engage with local entities, like Harris County Flood Control and Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey, on creating strategic plans for mitigating flood water.
Below is information about WCID110 efforts for flood control in the district. You can also check out the Regional Drainage Project page for information specifically about our partnership with Harris County Flood Control for future detention basins along Cypress Creek.
To see an enlarged PDF of the history of flooding in Harris County, click on the image above and to download a PDF.
To visit the HCFC Watershed website, click on the image above.
District Flood Control Updates
Photos from Jan. 27, 2023
I-45 Bridge and Cypress Creek prior to clean out project.
Photos from Jan. 27, 2023
Photos from Jan. 27, 2023
Cypress Creek Bridge Clean Out Photos
Before and After Photos from 2022 and 2023
Cypress Creek Water Flow from 5/10/23
after three days of solid rain.
Cypress Creek Water Flow from 5/14/23
Significant Rain Event on Mother's Day
WCID110 Detention Ponds
Senate Bill 1250
WCID110 became the first water district in the State of Texas to pursue a state law, specifically for our District, allows the Board to implement a program to require and issue an annual written certificate of compliance to the owner or operator of a stormwater detention facility within the boundaries of the district to ensure that each stormwater detention facility is operating to abate flooding as designed and approved by the applicable regulatory authority.
Senate Bill 1250 was sponsored in the Texas Senate by Senator Paul Bettencourt and in the Texas House by Representative Valoree Swanson. The bill analysis can be viewed using this link.
The program was initiated in September 2023 for the first annual compliance certifications. In its first year the District certified 29 of the 31 privately owned detention ponds by the deadlines created. This bill allows the District the benefit of properly functioning detention ponds, capable of holding between 2,500-3,000 acre-feet of water, throughout the District for no additional cost to the District or increase in taxes for our residents!
WCID110 District Detention Ponds
WCID110 prides itself on utilizing all resources in our efforts to mitigate flooding within the District. Through SB1250, we have started our certification program for privately owned detention ponds that, until this bill, were not certified or inspected on an annual basis.
To view WCID110 detention ponds within the District, click on the image above.
The private detention pond certification requires all property owners to submit an application and payment for an annual inspection. This process starts in October of each year. Once the application and payment is received, District engineering consultants schedule an inspection. Once the inspection is completed, the detention pond is either certified for the coming year or is failed and a list of repairs is provided to the property owner. If the pond fails, the property has to submit a new application and new payment for a reinspection.
Again, this program costs the District no money and provides between 2,500-3,000 acre-feet of detention that already exists!
Detention Pond holding water when it is not supposed to.
Detention Pond holding water when it is not supposed to.
This pond was in good shape, but the erosion around this outfall was cause for the inspection to be failed. It has since been repaired and pond is back to functionality.
Detention Pond holding water when it is not supposed to.
Frequently Asked Questions About Flooding In WCID110
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Was the I-45 feeder bridge project just a beautification project?
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No.
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There was significant clean out underneath the feeder bridge from the banks of the creek, the newly designed bridge no longer has columns in the middle of the creek, thus eliminating obstructions from the creek water flow.
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New rip-rap was added along the banks under the bridge to better protect the bridge columns from debris and water erosion around the foundations.
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After the new bridge was opened, we had to high-water events and videos were taken of the flow under the bridge. There was less backup in the creek from the old bridge which had support columns in the middle of the creek.
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Why wasn’t the I-45 bridge taken back to original design?
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Unfortunately, WCID110 is not the responsible party for bridge construction. TXDoT completed the project to the specifications they had and going back to the original design plans was not possible with the changes to the creek flow patterns.
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There was a study on Seals Gully…why did the project never take place?
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HCFC determined that the project would not have made any significant difference in the District’s mitigation efforts.
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It would not have been cost effective for the amount of money the project would have cost vs. the benefits what we would have received, therefore the majority of the project was cancelled.
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Part of this plan did involve moving power poles from the immediate creek area to new locations along Enchanted Stream. That part of the project was completed in Fall 2023.
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Additional Flood Control Resources
Harris County Flood Education Mapping Tool
The purpose of the Harris County Flood Control District's Flood Education Mapping Tool is to provide information about the boundaries of mapped floodplains in Harris County relative to residences, businesses and other structures. Floodplains are officially delineated on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM or floodplain map) for Harris County. While the floodplains shown on the Flood Education Mapping Tool are the floodplains delineated on the FIRM, the Flood Education Mapping Tool is not the effective FIRM.
The Flood Education Mapping Tool was initially developed as a mapping tool for the Tropical Storm Allison Recovery Project (TSARP), which was launched shortly after Tropical Storm Allison struck Harris County in June 2001. Its purpose was to serve as a tool for Harris County residents to learn the location of their properties in relation to mapped 1 percent (100-year), 0.2 percent (500-year) and coastal floodplains. The Flood Education Mapping Tool includes regularly-updated floodplain information from the FIRM for Harris County, interactive legend options, a simple map display and easy map navigation.
To use the education map, click on the image of Harris County above and you be redirected to the Flood Mapping Tool website.