CORYELL COUNTY, Texas (KXXV) — Local and state leaders gathered for a second time to discuss progress on a historic flood mitigation effort in Coryell County as Texas continues to invest in flood prediction and early warning systems.
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The project, which began about 18 months ago, brings together researchers, government agencies and community leaders to better understand flooding risks and improve preparedness across the region.
"We’ve been at this project now for 18 out of 36 months. So we are halfway through the project. I am pleased to say, as far as deliverables go, we are ahead of schedule," said June Wolfe, a research scientist with the Blackland Research and Extension Center for Texas A&M AgriLife.
The meeting focused on new developments in the effort, which has been underway for nearly two years.
Project leaders pointed to recent flooding events as examples of why the work is needed.
"The June 2024 flood, Cowhouse went up 12 feet in three hours. That’s a problem," said Steve Manning, president of Natural Resources Solutions.
"There have been very different flooding events in Texas. We have hurricanes, we have slow moving storms. This produces different types of flooding," said Brittany Eck, communications director for disaster recovery at the Texas General Land Office.
"As we like to say, flooding doesn’t know jurisdictional boundaries," Eck added.
Leaders said the project combines data collected over the past 18 months, including the area's flooding history, the communities affected and how water moves across the landscape during major weather events.
"The most important issue going forward is water availability," Manning said.
The next phase of the project includes expanding flood modeling, adding more stream gauges and improving the ability to provide real-time information to communities during flooding events.
Leaders hope the effort can eventually serve as a model for other counties across Texas and potentially other states.
"The [Texas] legislature is very interested in learning about flood prediction, early warning systems, and flood modeling, so they know how to better spend funding in different areas," Eck said.
