In the wake of Hurricane Harvey’s devastation in August 2017, which claimed over 80 lives and obliterated entire neighborhoods along the Texas coast, the state’s response to flood management has come under scrutiny.
Sixteen months after the storm, Texas legislators in Austin recognized the critical need for a comprehensive strategy to tackle flood risks, leading to a long-term plan aimed at enhancing disaster preparedness.
Senator Charles Perry, a Republican from Lubbock, emphasized the importance of proactive planning, stating, “If we get our planning right on the front end and prevent more damage on the front end, then we have less on the back end.”
As a result, local officials and volunteers collaborated over the following years to assess vulnerabilities, culminating in 2024 with Texas’ inaugural state flood plan.
This plan unveiled nearly $55 billion worth of proposed projects and provided 15 key recommendations, including nine legislative suggestions intended to bolster flood management efforts—particularly for rural areas like Kerr County, which suffered a deadly flash flood over the Fourth of July weekend.
Despite such findings, Texas lawmakers largely disregarded these recommendations during their recent legislative session, which adjourned on June 2. The focus shifted toward contentious topics such as school vouchers and a substantial $51 billion allocation for property tax cuts, overshadowing the pressing need for flood mitigation.
This legislative session saw the state prioritize water and drought issues over necessary flood management strategies. Lawmakers earmarked over $1.6 billion in new funding for water infrastructure projects, with only a fraction designated for flood mitigation.
Furthermore, a proposed bill would allow voters to decide in November about approving $1 billion annually over the next 20 years, focusing more on water and wastewater initiatives rather than flood prevention measures.
Experts warned that such an approach could result in decades of delays in addressing existing flood mitigation needs, even without considering future flooding incidents.
Though the proposed recommendations might not have been promptly enacted, a detailed analysis by ProPublica and the Texas Tribune reveals a pattern of legislative inaction regarding vital flood preparedness measures.
This inaction often amplifies the challenges faced by rural and economically disadvantaged communities that struggle to fund essential flood protection projects and are frequently unable to access grants needed for data collection.
In recent years, legislators turned down at least three proposals aimed at establishing emergency alert systems, which are crucial for rural communities lacking reliable internet and cellular service.
A 2019 state report underscored flood prevention needs exceeding $30 billion, yet lawmakers have allocated a mere $1.4 billion since then.
Key recommendations from the 2024 flood plan intended to assist counties like Kerr, known as “Flash Flood Alley,” have also been ignored.
While spokespersons for Governor Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dustin Burrows defended the state’s approach to flood mitigation, highlighting various investments in infrastructure and flood control measures, critics argue that these efforts fall short.
Legislative leaders announced the formation of new committees to address disaster preparedness and flooding during an upcoming special session, which Abbott called to address a range of emergency management needs.
Representative Ana-María Rodríguez Ramos, a Democrat from Richardson, criticized her colleagues for neglecting flood mitigation needs for decades, insisting that the necessary strategies have been long established yet continuously overlooked.
She remarked, “The manual was there, and we ignored it, and we’ve continued to ignore these recommendations,” calling the recent actions by the legislature performative.
One of the unfunded recommendations from the 2024 flood plan would have granted counties the authority to impose drainage fees, enabling financing for local flood projects. Yet, only around 150 of the 1,450 cities and counties in Texas have adopted such fees.
Kerr County, with a population of 53,000, has encountered difficulties in rallying support for tax increases needed to fund much-needed flood projects.
Just a week after the devastating flooding, residents protested when county officials discussed a potential property tax raise to cover the costs of recovery.
The difficulty in raising such fees is a major barrier for local governments in securing funding for flood prevention, noted Robert R. Puente, a former state representative and current head of the San Antonio Water System.
Puente highlighted a prevailing philosophy among Texas leadership, stating, “There’s this mentality that we will not permit any tax increases and we will not empower local governments to raise taxes or fees.”
Another recommendation from the flood plan focused on creating a technical assistance program for under-resourced rural counties to manage flood-prone areas effectively. This initiative could have provided much-needed support for local officials attempting to gather mapping data to identify flooding risks accurately.
However, insufficient data compromises the state’s overall understanding of flood risks. The Texas Water Development Board’s plan revealed roughly 600 infrastructure projects requiring completion, but acknowledged that inadequate mapping may necessitate an additional 3,100 assessments to further clarify project needs.
In the Guadalupe River region, which encompasses Kerr County, 65% of areas lack sufficient flood mapping. Kerrville, the county seat, is highlighted as having significant flood risks, yet only three out of 19 identified needs made it onto the state’s comprehensive project list.
Requests for installing backup generators and repairing dangerously shallow low-water crossings were included in this limited list, while more than a dozen other local flood priorities, including a call for an early warning system, are pending further evaluation.
Counties like Gonzales, with around 20,000 residents, are experiencing similar struggles to secure funding. Emergency management director and fire marshal Jimmy Harless emphasized their urgent need for a siren system and additional gauges to monitor potentially dangerous river levels, but expressed frustration with the complexities of the state grant application process.
“It is extremely frustrating for me to know that there’s money there and there’s people that care, but our state agency has become so bureaucratic that it’s just not feasible for us,” Harless stated.
Experts are sounding alarms regarding the state’s priorities, arguing that too much attention has been devoted to post-disaster recovery rather than on preventive measures.
Jim Blackburn, a Rice University professor specializing in flooding issues, asserted that Texas has not adequately prepared for the intensifying frequency of storms exacerbated by climate change.
He remarked, “The state has been very negligent about kind of preparing us for, frankly, the worst storms of the future that we are seeing today.”
Acknowledging the recent flooding, Abbott mentioned that state committees would investigate improvements for addressing flood preparedness, but faced by inquiries concerning accountability, he deflected, labeling criticism as merely “the word choice of losers.”
Usman Mahmood, a policy analyst at Bayou City Waterkeeper, emphasized that a special session should have been convened prior to the calamity.
“The worst part pretty much already happened, which is the flooding and the loss of life,” Mahmood observed, noting the reactive nature of the response to the flooding disaster.
As the special session commences, the spotlight remains on whether Texas lawmakers will address the legislative gaps and take meaningful action toward enhancing the state’s flood resilience to prevent future tragedies.
image source from：propublica
