Hurricane Harvey Hit Four Years Ago This Week

This Saturday marks four years since the Colorado River crested at more than 54 feet in La Grange. Floodwaters began inundating the town the day before. The disaster caused millions of dollars in damages and left hundreds homeless locally.

Looking back, La Grange City Manager Shawn Raborn said the City has largely recovered from the storm, although some projects remain underway.

“From an infrastructure perspective, the City has recovered from the storm,” Raborn said. “We continue to work on long term drainage improvements and system reliability with Harvey-related funding opportunities.”

Among those include three active grant projects. The storm paved the way for a nearly $1 million community development block grant for water infrastructure. That money is being spent on a project to build a new water line from Well Station D at Kruschel Park to Well Station B at the top of the hill on the north side of town. The City remained under a boil water notice for a week after the 2017 flood over concerns about contamination. Raborn said the project will improve water system reliability.

The City also received a $1.8 million economic development grant that was tied to Hurricane Harvey Recovery. The City is using that money to extend a sewer line toward Plum along SH 71.

In addition, the City received a grant from Texas Parks and Wildlife to build a new park at the Hope Hill neighborhood. The neighborhood was built for local victims of the flood.

“Following the winter storm this year, we continue to make improvements,” Raborn said. “We learn from all these events.”

The biggest pot of Hurricane Harvey money, $8.9 million, is being shared by the City and Fayette County for buyouts of flooded homes. So far, no buyouts have taken place. Raborn said only a few qualified homeowners in the City have pursued buyouts.

None of the buyout money has been distributed yet, but Raborn said there is “some light at the end of the tunnel” for those who waited. The County, on the other hand, forbade owners whose homes were flooded along Country Club Drive from rebuilding after the flood. Those homeowners continue waiting for light at the end of the tunnel.

The greatest lingering effect from the flood may be the City’s population. Raborn said initial figures from the 2020 Census show the City losing 250 residents from the 2010 population.

Most of those were on the south side of town, where floodwaters destroyed hundreds of homes in the neighborhoods near the river.

In other ways, though, the flood led to new development.

“Out of all the destruction came some rebirth – the KC Hall was rebuilt, a new building for Bluebonnet Trails and a new building for AMEN Food Pantry and Second Chance. The landscape of the whole area has changed,” Raborn said.

“I wasn’t the judge at the time, but gosh, the amount of damage was pretty amazing,” said County Judge Joe Weber, who was elected in November 2018.

“Our ordinances, permitting, how the county issues or doesn’t issue permits in flood zones – we’ve got a lot better handle on that now, which will help in the future with flooding,” he added.

Weber said the County has forged relationships with state agencies such as Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM). He said the County is also working on an update to its emergency management plan.

“We’re working closely with people at the state level to be ready for the next one,” Weber said.

Weber called the empty flooded houses along Country Club Drive as his “biggest disappointment.

“Here we are four years later, we still have homes here that can’t get tore down, the whole bureaucratic process, it’s disappointing we haven’t got that done yet,” Weber said.

Weber said the County is awaiting an “environmental study” from the Texas General Land Office (GLO), the state agency charged with distributing Hurricane Harvey buyout funds.

If or when Fayette County receives those funds, the money would be used to turn the flooded homes into greenspace. It remains uncertain when the GLO will deem the vacant, flooded homes a greater environmental hazard than the proposed greenspace.