San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group

After the Hurricane Harvey flooding in the Greater Houston area and southeast Texas, the 2019 Texas Legislature created the first-ever regional and statewide flood planning process under the jurisdiction of the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB). The Region 6 San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group (SJRFPG) is one of fifteen similar groups formed by the TWDB. The San Jacinto Region incorporates all or part of eleven counties, extending from Huntsville to Galveston Island and west of Katy to Galveston Bay.

The SJRPFG is tasked with a unique flood planning effort, the centerpiece of which will be the flood plan for the San Jacinto River basin. This flood plan will be merged with similar plans from the other fourteen regions to form a statewide plan. The SJRFPG draft flood plan is due to the TWDB on August 1, 2022. After incorporation of comments, the regional flood plan for our area will be submitted to TWDB on January 10, 2023. The Texas Legislature will receive the state flood plan on September 1, 2024.

This talk provides background on the SJRFPG, its approaches to flood planning, and the outlook for flood potential in our area. Some examples of flood events, models and forecasts will also be discussed.