Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the State Flood Plan?
In 2019, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 8 directing the creation of the first-ever State Flood Plan for Texas. The preparation of this new flood plan is being led by the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) and follows a similar regional approach used for water supply planning in Texas for the past 20 years. As part of this effort, TWDB will establish a clearinghouse of information about state and federal flood planning, mitigation, and control programs that may serve as sources of funding for flood projects.
The TWDB has designated fifteen (15) flood planning regions within the state based on the corresponding river basins (click here to reference TWDB map). The overarching goal of regional flood planning, and the comprehensive state flood plan that will result from the plans created by these regions, is to protect against loss of life and property from flooding. The first State Flood Plan is due to the Legislature by September 1, 2024, and will be updated every five years thereafter.
What is the Texas General Land Offices Combined River Basin Flood Studies?
The Texas GLO is currently conducting the Combined River Basin Flood Studies across the counties that received a presidential disaster declaration due to the impact of Hurricane Harvey. This one-time study is focusing on the following goals in order to better prepare communities for future flood impacts associated with extreme weather events:
- Evaluates flood risk information;
- Develops cost-effective mitigation strategies; and,
- Identifies possible funding sources for future mitigation projects to support resiliency and growth.
This study complements and will work in conjunction with TWDB’s Regional Flood Planning Groups, including the sharing of flood data through the Texas Disaster Information System (TDIS), a critical tool used by the state to assist communities. Information collected for this regional flood plan will be shared with the GLO study consultant to avoid the duplication of data collection efforts. The target completion date for the Texas GLO Combined River Basin Flood Studies is Summer 2024.
What is the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB)?
The TWDB is a state agency formed in 1957 in response to Texas’ record-breaking drought. Based on the most recent legislative session, the agency’s main responsibilities include the following: assisting with regional water planning and preparing the state water plan every five years; assisting with regional flood planning and preparing the state flood plan every five years; collecting, analyzing, and distributing water-related and geographic data; and providing loan and grant money for Texas water, wastewater, and flood projects.
What is the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group?
The San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group (Region 6) includes all or part of 11 counties and extends from Galveston in the south to Huntsville in the north. Fifteen (15) voting members, appointed by the TWDB Executive Director, serve on the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group and represent the following interest categories: Agriculture, Industries, Counties, Electric Generating Utilities, Flood Districts, Industries, Municipalities, General Public, River Authorities, Small Businesses, Water Districts, Water Utilities, Environmental Interests, and Coastal Communities. The primary role of the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group is to develop a regional flood plan for the Region 6 San Jacinto Flood Planning Region that identifies flood risks, establishes flood mitigation and floodplain management goals, and recommends evaluations, strategies, and projects to reduce flood risks.
The San Jacinto Region is the second most populous flood planning region, despite being the second smallest region by area, and is subject to many sources of flooding, including:
- Fluvial or riverine flooding, where floodwater escapes channel banks.
- Pluvial flooding caused by water trying to reach a stream via overland flow paths.
- Urban flooding, where local drainage systems are overwhelmed or unable to drain.
- Coastal flooding, caused by storm surge and extreme tidal conditions.
- Flooding caused by dam or levee failure.
What are the goals of the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group?
The ultimate goal of conducting regional flood planning is to protect the public against loss of life and property damage from flooding events; the comprehensive state flood plan will be based on the flood plans created by each of the 15 regions. The San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group will develop a regional flood plan that meets TWDB requirements and also establishes a solid foundation for future TWDB flood planning cycles, based on flood-related characteristics in the San Jacinto Region.
The key tasks to be accomplished through the Regional Flood Plans include, but are not limited to the following:
- Gather and analyze data to create an accurate depiction of the region’s characteristics;
- Identify existing and future flood risks across the region;
- Evaluate current floodplain management practices by entities within the region (regulations to prevent future flood problems); and,
- Recommend flood mitigation strategies and projects to address existing and future flood issues in the region.
What are the responsibilities of the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group?
The San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group is responsible for developing a regional flood plan by January 2023. Based on the 15 regional flood plans, the TWDB will prepare and adopt the Texas’ first-ever state flood plan and present it to the Texas Legislature in September 2024.
More specifically, the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group is responsible for the following:
- Holding regular public meetings and adding additional voting or non-voting members if they are considered necessary.
- Choosing a planning group sponsor as its administrative agent.
- Selecting and directing the work of its technical consultant (to be procured by the planning group sponsor).
- Soliciting and considering public input and making all necessary decisions to develop and adopt its regional flood plan.
- Identifying specific flood risks and the need for assessing those risks as well as setting flood risk reduction goals. The three-step flood risk analysis comprises:
- Flood hazard analyses that determines location, magnitude, and frequency of flooding;
- Flood exposure analyses to identify who and what might be harmed within the region; and
- Vulnerability analyses to identify vulnerabilities of communities and critical facilities;
- Identifying and recommending flood management evaluations and strategies and flood mitigation projects to reduce flood risk in their regions.
- Focusing both on reducing existing flood risks to life and property and on floodplain management in general to avoid increasing flood risk in the future by keeping future populations out of the way of flood flows.
Who is the planning group sponsor for the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group and what are their responsibilities?
Harris County serves as the sponsor for the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group. The planning group sponsor is responsible for the following:
- Preparing and submitting grant funding applications to the TWDB on behalf of the regional flood planning group.
- Entering and managing a contract with the TWDB for the management of the grant funds.
- Procuring and managing a contract with a technical consultant(s) selected by the regional flood planning group to support the development or revision of a regional flood plan.
- Serving as the regional flood planning group’s administrative agent by organizing planning group meetings, public notices, agendas, meeting presentations, handouts, and meeting minutes.
- Delivering the first regional flood plan, on behalf of the planning group, no later than January 10, 2023.
Will floodplain modeling be included in the Scope of Work by the technical consultant for the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group?
No, floodplain modeling is not included in the Scope of Work developed by TWDB for this first State Flood Plan for the San Jacinto Flood Planning Region. This regional plan will include recommendations for flood management evaluations (engineering studies), flood management strategies and flood mitigation projects based on the information collected from stakeholders across the flood planning region.
Will the State Flood Plan produce Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMS)?
No, the State Flood Plan will not produce new FIRMS. FIRMS are official maps approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that delineate special insurance-related flood hazard areas and risk zones within communities. Activities conducted to produce FIRMs follow a four-phase process according to FEMA’s guidelines and standards and typically take a minimum of five years to complete. However, modeling and other technical activities that will support development of the state flood plan will result in tools and preliminary maps that could be used by communities to support and complement FEMA’s existing process for producing updated FIRMs.
Why should I participate in the planning process?
The San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group is seeking participation and input from everyone knowledgeable of and affected by flooding issues in the San Jacinto Region. Visit the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group’s interactive web map to provide information.
This regional plan will serve as a roadmap for flood planning in the San Jacinto Region; its success depends on your involvement! The plan will assess flood risk in your community and potential mitigation strategies and measures. The plan will recommend studies, where needed, to evaluate flooding problems and identify potential solutions in greater detail. More importantly, proposed flood mitigation projects must be included in the Regional and State Flood Plans in order to be eligible for State financial assistance.
What is a flood management evaluation (FME)?
A flood management evaluation is a proposed study, with an associated cost, of a specific, flood-prone area that is needed in order to assess flood risk and/or determine whether there are potentially feasible flood management strategies or flood mitigation projects.
What is the difference between a flood management strategy and a flood mitigation project (FMP)?
A flood management strategy is a proposed plan to reduce flood risk or mitigate hazards to life or property that are caused by flood. A flood management strategy may or may not require infrastructure projects to be implemented.
A flood mitigation project is a proposed project, both structural and non-structural, that may be required to implement a flood management strategy. Flood mitigation projects have capital costs or other non-recurring costs and are designed to reduce flood risk and mitigate flood hazards to life or property. A single flood mitigation project may be associated with multiple flood management strategies or vice versa. As part of the flood planning process, regional flood planning groups will identify and recommend flood management strategies and flood mitigation projects.
What is the difference between a flood mitigation project and a water supply project that is in the State Flood Plan?
Flood mitigation projects tend to focus on avoiding or reducing the negative impacts from flood water during and shortly after high rainfall events. Water supply projects focus on providing reliable water supply throughout periods of extremely low rainfall. A potential project that would capture flood water and store it to be used later for water supply could be evaluated as part of water supply planning, as well as flood management.
How will the San Jacinto Regional Flood Plan be implemented?
Eventual implementation of adopted regional flood plan policies and projects will rely on local and regional entities and specific project sponsors in cooperation with participating entities, as necessary.
How are other flood planning activities considered in the state’s regional flood planning process?
Regional flood planning groups are expected to consider a wide variety of available, relevant information and tools when developing regional flood plans, including other regional and local flood planning studies. The planning groups will be expected to work cooperatively with other entities conducting flood planning activities in the region to avoid duplication of effort and to make the best and most efficient use of local, state, and federal resources. Additionally, no funds will be provided by the TWDB to regional flood planning groups for activities for which the TWDB determines existing information, data, or analyses are sufficient for the planning effort.
How are regional projects considered in the planning process?
The development of regional flood mitigation projects is a potentially feasible flood management strategy that must be considered in accordance with Texas Water Code §16.062(e). The decision whether to recommend a particular flood management strategy or flood mitigation project is the responsibility of the regional flood planning groups.
Are San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group Meetings open to the public?
All meetings of regional flood planning group and their committees or subcommittees are open to the public and subject to the Texas Open Meetings Act, Chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code. The minimum public notice for planning group meetings is 7 days in accordance with the TWDB’s regional flood planning rules, which require additional notice and public comment periods for some regional flood planning group activities.
Who should I contact for more information about the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group?
For more information about the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group, please submit an inquiry on our website here.
How can I learn about upcoming San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group meetings or other opportunities to participate in the planning process?
To be notified of upcoming meetings and other opportunities to participate, join our distribution list here.