Fort Worth is helping homeowners better prepare for flooding issues.
After heavy flooding outside FEMA designated floodplains, Fort Worth’s Stormwater Management Division started flooding other flood-prone areas across the city.
On Monday, officials will present the potentially property-saving information to communities.
“There are a lot of people who call the city home and they have flooded and had no idea they were in flood risk because they were not in the FEMA floodplain,” Stormwater Management Senior Planner Jennifer Dyke said. “It’s a common misconception is that FEMA maps all floodplains and they don’t.”
Dyke said the flooding is in areas of lower elevation with inadequate drainage infrastructure and older areas of the city where the drainage system is undersized.
“It was built a long time ago so it is older [and] based on older criteria and then during intense rain events and storm drains fill up from the rain,” Dyke said. “The storm water starts to flow over the surface of the ground flooding people’s property, structures [and] roads.”
The team will present all the areas to the community, but found issues in areas including Near Southside and the West 7th Street area.
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The team will now draft a policy to get the information to residents.
“We don’t have enough program resources to mitigate and reduce all the flooding so this policy will really help us come up with a standardized way to identify and map these areas of flood risks,” Dyke said. “So [residents] can make informed decisions. They can know if they should buy flood insurance or take care of drainage on their property.”
Dyke said the information could be vital for those who are affected – some who are currently unaware of the dangers.
“They will suddenly know they can go get flood insurance before they are flooded and they get a lower rate because they are not in a FEMA floodplain,” Dyke explained.
To hear about the draft recommendations for a local floodplain policy and to share feedback:
Dec. 3, 6:30 p.m., University of North Texas Health Science Center, EAD Building, 3500 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fifth Floor, Room 506.
Dec. 6, 6:30 p.m., Diamond Hill Community Center, 1701 N.E. 36th Street.
