As a master-planned community, The Woodlands was designed with a comprehensive drainage plan, including storm water drains, ditches, green spaces and retention ponds - all meant to keep water from seeping into homes. But in April and May, about 25 Woodlands homes took on water, many for the first time, as well as a church and The Woodlands High School. The flood waters got too close for comfort for dozens of other Woodlands residents, some of whom appealed to Township leaders to do something to improve community drainage during major storm events.
"The water is right at my front door," said George Michie, a resident of Panther Creek. "We have a reoccurring street flooding problem and it's getting worse with each major storm … We have not flooded yet, so we're very thankful for that, and we feel for the people who have had their homes flooded. We're just trying to be proactive so that we don't have that situation."
Improved systems
The drainage systems in The Woodlands are maintained by the San Jacinto River Authority and 10 different municipal utility districts, which are governmental taxing entities each responsible for its own chunk of land.
Kent Maggert, a director of MUD 36 in the Village of Grogan's Mill, said that one of the most effective ways to improve drainage and decrease the chances of flooding in neighborhoods is to lobby the MUD directors to implement drainage ditch maintenance. He explained that, when drainage ditches are allowed to grow tall grass and weeds, the debris can obstruct the water flow and reduce the effectiveness of the drainage. Maggert said that MUD 36 mows and weeds its ditches six times a year and has spent about $400,000 in the past seven-to-eight years on ditch maintenance.
"I think we survived pretty good … to my knowledge we had nobody in MUD 36 (that flooded)," Maggert said. "You need to go to your MUD directors and get in their faces and tell them that you need something done."
On the countywide level, the San Jacinto River Authority has applied for Flood Protection Planning Program grants from the Texas Water Development Board, said Jace Houston, general manager of the SJRA. There are two grants that the SJRA hopes to use to improve flood preparedness in the area. One would help fund flood protection planning studies, which would update maps, rain runoff models, streamflow models, floodplain information and identify potential mitigation strategies. The other would help the SJRA improve its flood early warning systems.
Future development
In addition to concern about the state of current drainage systems within The Woodlands Township, some residents are worried that developments going up in the areas near the township might create flooding issues in the future.
As construction on Del Webb - The Woodlands, a 190-acre, age-restricted community that is just outside of The Woodlands' boundaries, proceeds, some residents in Alden Bridge say that the new development has caused excess water to flow into their neighborhood easements.
"Our review of the proposed Del Webb development plans also raised several questions and concerns about future flood risk and the potential drainage cost impacts to The Woodlands," said David Harlan, an Alden Bridge resident.
Representatives from Del Webb, however, say that the development was designed by a licensed engineer and includes county-approved plans that keep runoff from exceeding what it would be without the development.
"The region has experienced record-breaking rains and flooding events," said Tim Early, vice president of land development for the developer. "These events are very unfortunate, but have not been created or perpetuated by our land development and construction activities."
Early said that the Del Webb developer will continue to work with The Woodlands Township to address the concerns of neighboring residents.
Facilitate discussion
While The Woodlands Township has little authority over drainage issues, the board of directors voted at its June 22 meeting to create a task force and invite representatives from The Woodlands Joint Powers Agency, the SJRA, the area MUDs, the Montgomery and Harris counties engineering departments, The Woodlands Development Company and other local organizations. The task force will serve as a meeting ground to facilitate discussion and encourage improvement of drainage issues in the community.
"Generally, task forces come into play, make progress on a problem and go away," said Township board member Mike Bass. "What I think this task force needs to deal with is what do we need to do long term because a lot of these problems are going to be with us long term. They're not just going to go away or we'll see new problems in terms of all the growth projected in Montgomery County."
———
©2016 the Houston Chronicle
Visit the Houston Chronicle at www.chron.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
