The San Jacinto River Basin includes 28 watersheds and all or parts of 11 counties. We’ve experienced more than $12 billion in flood damages since 1975. And yet, incredibly, no one is in charge of drainage.

According to the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group, we also have 92 municipalities and 6.4 million people in the river basin.

We also have 1092 political subdivisions with flood-related authority. Yet no one is in charge of drainage.

We Work in Silos to Solve a Common Problem

That’s right. No one person is in charge of drainage. Instead, thousands of individuals working in their own little silos are scattered across more than 5,000 square miles. Unfortunately, stormwater doesn’t respect all those jurisdictional boundaries.

The San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group (reporting to the Texas Water Development Board) highlighted a “critical need for interagency coordination.” But there is none.

When No One is in Charge of Drainage, We All Suffer

Ironically, Texans won independence at the battle of San Jacinto. And we’ve been fighting to maintain it ever since.

We are so fiercely independent, we deny our interdependence. Even when it means destroying our own property and lives. It’s time to take a look in the mirror, folks.

Many ways exist to rank flood-prone areas and Texas ranks high on most of them.

• Texas ranks #2 in states with the most flood damage.
• National Flood Insurance Plan (NFIP) payouts? Texas ranks #2 after Louisiana between 1978-2021.
• Most hurricanes? Out of the 300 hurricanes that made landfall in the US since 1851, Texas ranks #2 after Florida with 66 hitting the Lone Star state – 22% of the U.S. total.
• Percentage of state’s total population living in floodplains? Texas ties for 10th according to a 2017 study. But a 2023 TWDB study shows that 20% of Texans now live in floodplains; that would tie us for 3rd if nothing else changed.
• Most disaster declarations? Texas ranks #2 when considering all types.
• Flood deaths? Texas ranks #1. Two hundred people died between 2010 and 2022. Over a longer period of time, 1959-2014, the state had over 850 flood deaths.
• More Texans live in floodplains (one in five) than the entire populations of 30 other states.
• 42% of all Texans living in floodplains live in the San Jacinto watershed.
• The number of floodplain dwellers in the San Jacinto watershed alone exceeds the population of 15 states and the District of Columbia.

And still, NO ONE is in charge of flood control.

Flood control is one area where Texans have room for improvement. But to improve we’ll need to work together.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/30/2024

2466 Days since Hurricane Harvey