River Plantation’s reality From the cover
Two-minute impact
River Plantation flood zones
Key:
Waterways
CRIGHTON RD.
Zone AE/Floodway Regulatory floodway; river channel and adjacent land areas that must be reserved to discharge the base flood Zone AE 1% annual flood hazard aka 100-year flood plain; high flooding risk
The western and southern portions of River Plantation are within ood plains, per ood zone maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Being located in a 100-year ood plain means there’s a high risk of ooding, per FEMA. Calderon said her home ooded during the storms in late April-early May. “It started seeping in through the foundation,” Calderon said. “We stayed up until 3:30 in the morning trying to get water out of the house. We took every precaution. We sandbagged every single window, the door. We foamed the house.” Before this year—when it happened twice—the West Fork of the San Jacinto River had not reached the major ood stage since August 2017. Calderon said she believes the ooding is due to the management of the San Jacinto River. “All they need to do is manage the out ow of the river. … It’s a simple x,” Calderon said. Jason Millsaps, executive director of Montgomery County Emergency Management, said Lake Conroe dam releases increase downstream ooding, which can worsen ooding conditions when heavy rainfall saturates low-lying areas. Aubrey Spear, the general manager of the San Jacinto River Authority, said water releases from Lake Conroe are necessary to protect the dam, which also holds back “a signi cant amount of the peak ows” from rain events. “So the dam is actually lessening the natural ows from these rain events, which otherwise would not be mitigated at all,” Spear said. Jamie Goodman, president of the River Plantation Community Improvement Association, said when disaster strikes, una ected neighbors help residents rebuilding their homes.
O
Zone X/Shaded
Between the 100-year and 500-year flood plains; moderate flooding risk
P L A
STONE MOUNTAIN DR.
HOLLY SPRINGS DR.
WEST FORK SAN JACINTO RIVER
45
LITTLE CANEY CREEK
N
NOTE: THIS MAP IS AN ESTIMATION OF THE FLOOD ZONES AND MAY NOT REFLECT EXACT BOUNDARIES.
Flooding of San Jacinto River’s West Fork at I-45
Hurricane Harvey, 2017
January 2024
April-May 2024
90 0 100 110 120 130
126.88 ft.
120.98 ft.
118.37 ft.
Major ood stage
SOURCES: FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY, U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY COMMUNITY IMPACT
Conroe's rainfall accumulation
Typical
Record (2017)
2024
Zooming out
20 30 40 50 60 70 80
66.58 in.
In a typical year, Conroe accumulates around 36 inches of rain through Oct. 1, per the National Oce- anic and Atmospheric Administration. However, in 2024, Conroe has accumulated nearly 55 inches of rain through Oct. 1. “The weather’s outside of our control. … So there’s not a whole lot that we can really do … versus just making people aware that you’ve got to be ready for [bad weather] when it comes,” Lumbley said. “Because it’s going to be a ‘when.’ It’s not an ‘if.’”
54.74 in.
36.87 in.
0 10
January
February March April
May
June
July August September October
SOURCE: NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION/COMMUNITY IMPACT
NOTE: ACCUMULATION DATA IS AS OF THE FIRST OF EACH MONTH.
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