Bellaire to start Cypress Ditch Project after decades of ghting oods From the cover
The details
Channel changes
Current channel
A wider ditch with steeper banks will slow down the speed of ood waters and reduce the height of the water in the ditch.
City Engineer Beth Jones said Cypress Ditch serves as the primary storm drainage channel for all of Bellaire and portions of Gulfton. Jones said the drainage project will expand the ditch’s overall stormwater capacity by making the side slopes steeper and reconstructing the lined portion of the channel—the physical depression or bed through which the body of water is situated— between South Rice Avenue and Brays Bayou. The city will also improve the natural channel section between Chimney Rock Road and South Rice Avenue, increasing the amount of water that can ow out to Brays Bayou. The project will also include the construction of two stormwater detention ponds, with the south detention pond located on the 13-acre Beechnut Tract, which the city acquired from Houston through a land swap deal in July. The north detention pond is located by the city’s Southwest Wastewater Treatment Plant, Jones said. The two detention ponds will help slow down water ow as it travels toward Brays Bayou. According to the Harris County Flood Control District’s website, stormwater detention is a way to store damaging oodwaters temporarily until the channels can safely carry the water away.
CYPRESS DITCH
Future channel
The Cypress Ditch project will decrease ood risk to Bellaire by:
Increasing channel capacity by 60%
Improving channel crossings, or the physical depression or bed through which the body of water is situated Increasing outfall capacity, or the amount of flood and rainwater the ditch can contain Facilitating future neighborhood drainage improvements
Cypress Ditch begins about 50 feet east of Chimney Rock Road and ows eastward to Brays Bayou.
KEVIN VU COMMUNITY IMPACT
SOURCE: CITY OF BELLAIRE COMMUNITY IMPACT
Why now?
Notable quote
city officials began brainstorming how to fight back against future flooding, leading to the creation of the Flood Hazard Mitigation Task Force to help develop and brainstorm ideas. “I think that was the biggest challenge,” Pappas said. “What does Bellaire do to bring [the Texas Department of Transportation], Harris County Flood Control District, the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the surrounding cities to actually impact something that we desperately needed?”
Bellaire resident Elaine Schroller said she first moved to the city with her husband in 1988, living nearly 600 feet away from Cypress Ditch in a World War II-era bunga- low that she loved. However, Tropical Storm Allison left two feet of water inside her home, causing her and her husband to decide to tear the house down and build a new two-story home. Sixteen years later, Hurricane Harvey hit, and her home flooded again, leading her to spend $20,000 to remodel the property.
Mayor Gus Pappas said the project has been years in the making after the city was devastated by multiple flooding incidents in the past two decades. “I started living here in 1998, and within three years we had [Tropical Storm] Allison in 2001,” Pap- pas said. “There were houses that were affected, and they were flooded. Because we’re so close to Brays Bayou, when it backs up, it backs up right into us.” Right after Hurricane Harvey in 2017, which Pappas said affected nearly 2,000 Bellaire homes,
Bellaire currently has about 6,000 homes, with 95% located in the 30- year flood plain, which is an area at risk of being flooded during a 30-year period, according to the nonprofit First Street.
Flooding impact on Bellaire homes, 2001-2017
“I really appreciate the efforts of Bellaire City Council to push this through and work with the surrounding areas. I really appreciate the efforts of all of the people and entities … to work together to get this thing done.”
May 25, 2015 Memorial Day Flood
June 4, 2001 Tropical Storm Allison
April 15, 2016 2016 Tax Day Flood
Aug. 25, 2017 Hurricane Harvey
33% of homes impacted
65% of homes impacted
25% of homes impacted
33% of homes impacted
ELAINE SCHROLLER, BELLAIRE RESIDENT
SOURCES: CITY OF BELLAIRE, FIRST STREET/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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