MEETING: Flood Early Warning System for San Jacinto County

THE WOODLANDS, TX - San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA) will make a presentation to San Jacinto County Commissioners Court on Wednesday, October 7 at 9am regarding Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) Flood Infrastructure Fund (FIF) grant approval to fund a Flood Early Warning System for San Jacinto County.

The Flood Infrastructure Fund (FIF) program was made possible by Senate Bill 7 sponsored by Senator Brandon Creighton. Passed by the Legislature and approved by Texas voters through a constitutional amendment last year, the FIF program provides financial assistance in the form of loans and grants for flood control, flood mitigation, and drainage projects.

As with most Texas river authorities, SJRA is not a taxing entity and its revenue comes from services it provides to customer groups, therefore regional and local partnerships as well as local-match funding are necessary for large-scale flood mitigation projects.

San Jacinto County Commissioners Court
Wednesday, October 7, 2020
9:00am
County Shelter
225 Live Oak
Coldspring, Texas 77331

According to FIF criteria, eligible projects must fall under one of four categories:
· Flood Protection Planning for Watersheds
· Planning, Acquisition, and Design, Construction/Rehabilitation
· Federal Award Matching Funds
· Measures Immediately Effective in Protecting Life and Property

TWDB is expected to review the full applications and make final selections for grant and loan funding later this year.

Flood Early Warning System for San Jacinto County would provide for installation of rain and river/stream stage gaging equipment at three locations identified as critical by San Jacinto County to provide early warning information to the county during storm events.

The identified gage locations are Winters Bayou at State Highway 150, East Fork San Jacinto River at FM 945, and Peach Creek at FM 3081. Rain and river/stream stage data obtained at the sites would be transmitted to SJRA’s ALERT2 network and displayed on SJRA’s Contrail system which can be viewed online via SJRA’s website, allowing San Jacinto County staff and residents to easily access and view the data at any time.