The Woodlands Township discusses flood mitigation with State officials

THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- Representatives from The Woodlands Township joined Montgomery County and other local officials at a meeting of the Hurricane Harvey Federal/State Housing Strike Team on Monday, February 5, 2018 in Conroe.

The meeting included the State of Texas, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Texas General Land Office (GLO) and others and provided an opportunity for local officials to strategize on a long term Hurricane Harvey disaster recovery action plan with state and federal agencies.

“It was clear that everyone – local, state and federal partners – is focused on protecting The Woodlands and our region from the devastation of future flooding,” said The Woodlands Township Chairman Gordy Bunch. “Long term recovery is a complicated, and unfortunately, long process. HUD and the GLO provided the practical next steps we as local leaders should take to ensure we have the best chance of securing the necessary funding to help our residents.”

The Woodlands Township Board led by Chairman Bunch and Drainage Task Force Chairman Bruce Rieser have been advocating diligently since recovery with local officials for a study of Montgomery County river and creek watersheds, including Spring Creek, that experienced historic waterflows during Hurricane Harvey. Last month, Chairman Bunch and Director Rieser, who both serve The Woodlands Township in a purely volunteer capacity, traveled to Washington, DC to meet with federal officials on the funding needed to complete the watershed study.

“Today’s meeting provided a good discussion on the need to study Spring Creek and the other area watersheds to identify projects to reduce flooding for Montgomery and Harris Counties,” said Chairman Bunch. “I am encouraged that the state is committed to working with us to ensure we get the funding necessary for our study.”

In late December, HUD announced the first round of federal funds appropriated by Congress for Hurricane Harvey recovery to be distributed to local entities through the Texas General Land Office (GLO). HUD is expected to allocate another $5 billion in disaster recovery funding to Texas in the coming weeks and Congress is currently working to pass legislation providing an additional $81 billion in disaster funding for states impacted by severe storms in 2017.