City of Harlingen issued the following announcement on Dec. 18.
The Texas Water Development Board has awarded the City of Harlingen $5,613,300 to conduct a regional flood planning study that will focus on the areas that drain into the Arroyo Colorado. The allocation is part of a $44,693,945 awarded from the Flood Infrastructure Fund (FIF) for watershed flood protection planning studies throughout the state. The FIF was created to provide funding for drainage, flood mitigation, and flood control projects by the 86th Texas Legislature and approved by voters through a constitutional amendment in 2019.
The overall cost of the study is $6.2 million. It will focus on two Hydrologic Unit Code-10 (HUC) watersheds as delineated by the U.S. Geological Survey. This area includes approximately 297 square miles of land, 49 centerline miles of the Arroyo Colorado, and more than 740 additional centerline miles of existing drainage channels, ditches, irrigation canals, and other appurtenances. The span of the area to be studied includes the Cities of Harlingen, San Benito, La Feria, Combes, Mercedes, Primera, Progresso, Rio Hondo, Santa Rosa, Rangerville, Palm Valley, and portions of both Cameron and Hidalgo Counties. Additionally, there are three drainage districts and one irrigation district within that area.
Mayor Chris Boswell says this study will help the entire Rio Grande Valley which has experienced five federally declared flood events including FEMA Disaster Declarations in the past five years. “In addition to the nearly $20 million dollars of drainage projects we have completed and are underway, this regional study will point the way forward for a coordinated drainage plan. I commend City Manager Dan Serna and his team for spearheading this regional effort.”
As a regional effort, Harlingen plans to partner with the entities within the study area to produce the hydraulic flood studies that will identify mitigation projects necessary to address flooding. Mayor Boswell says storm water management needs to be done as a regional approach and this flood study will provide the tool to leverage local funds and petition state and federal funds to construct drainage improvement projects that will have the most beneficial impact on the region
The City hopes to get the study started in March of 2021 with a completion date of September 2022.
Original source can be found here.
Source: City of Harlingen
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