County drainage study narrows flood list to 24 projects for state funding
A countywide drainage study has cut dozens of flood-problem areas to 24 priority projects, and six of them are being modeled now so Aransas County can compete for state construction money in 2028.
Jake Powell of Pape-Dawson Engineers LLC gave commissioners a status update Monday on the Aransas County Master Drainage Plan, funded under Community Development Block Grant-Mitigation contract 24-065-128-E986. Working with the local Stormwater Management Technical Committee, engineers scored 64 damage centers on the Live Oak and Lamar peninsulas. The scoring used a 100-point scale covering structural risk to homes and businesses, how long roads stay underwater in a 10-year storm, environmental impact, how many jurisdictions a fix would cross, and ties to economic development.
To meet the calendar of the Texas Water Development Board’s Region 13 Regional Flood Planning Group, six projects are in accelerated hydraulic modeling:
Magnolia Street and Austin Street pump upgrades
Mesquite, Chaparral and Broadway corridors (Live Oak 3 and 7)
Market Street and Liberty Street intersections
Holiday East drainage area
Those projects are aimed at Flood Management Project construction funding in the 2028 cycle. TWDB awards of that type generally require a local match of 10% to 20%.
Powell said the master plan, due by summer 2027, will hand county staff packaged cost-benefit analyses and projects that can be built in phases, so a grant opening does not have to wait on a new study. County Auditor Daryl Miller said the modeling now underway does not require any new county appropriation.
The plan is also the county’s vehicle for later regional flood-plan amendments. Projects that are not in the regional plan are generally not eligible for TWDB flood-project construction funds.
