The city of Fort Worth is revisiting an old plan to save homes from flooding.
Even though millions of dollars have been spent on drainage it is not enough, and now buyouts are on the table.
The Arlington Heights neighborhood flooded most recently this past June. Water swamped streets and invaded homes all because the main drainage lines are not large enough.
"In this particular neighborhood the water is all trying to get to the Trinity River, which is several miles away," said Greg Simmons, assistant director of Transportation and Public Works with the city of Fort Worth.
Simmons is responsible for storm water in the city and Arlington Heights has long been a problem.
"The drainage system is not nearly big enough to convey the amount of water we get in heavy storms," said Simmons.
Installing pipes big enough to handle the water is not affordable, so the city is revisiting an idea it pitched before: buyouts.
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"It is certainly the right thing to do for some of the homes because they are habitually flooded," said Fort Worth City Councilman Dennis Shingleton.
He is a third-term councilman and has seen this idea come and go, but he has also seen the flooding intensify.
"It seems to have been exacerbated here over the last couple of years with these very sudden torrential storms – high volume over a short duration," Shingleton explained.
More than $6 million in drainage work has not completely fixed the problem, which is why the city is considering buying homes.
"In order to make the problem go away it may be anywhere from 25 to 40 [homes]," Simmons said.
And at an average price of $300,000, that would mean between $7.5 and $12 million from the city, not to mention the changes to an historic neighborhood, explained Shingleton.
"Little things have helped. There is no solution yet," he said.
Fort Worth plans to discuss the idea with the neighborhood in the next couple of weeks. The next step would be taking the idea to City Council and then the process of applying for federal grants to help pay for the project.
