When a Hard Rain Falls

Crystalbrook residents Weldon McIver and Ike Williams stand in a dry area of Walnet Creek, which is targeted for flood control improvements under Prop.3 photograph by Robert Bryce

Whenever it rains for more than a day or two, Weldon McIver worries that water will start backing up into his yard. A resident of the Crystalbrook subdivision near LBJ High School, McIver often has to cope with flooding problems on the street in front of his home. "The water just flows off the hill above here, and these storm sewers can't handle all the water," said McIver, standing in front of his two-story home on Crystalbrook Drive. "So the water just flows down the street and eventually flows over the land and into Walnut Creek." For hours after a heavy rain, the street in front of McIver's home on the edge of Northeast District Park sits under a foot or two of water. So far, McIver's home hasn't been flooded, but his home and 174 others in Crystalbrook lie within the flood plain of Walnut Creek. In 1981 and 1991, rains flooded many homes in the subdivision. A recent map produced by the City of Austin indicates that during times of extreme flooding, some homes in the area could be inundated with up to eight feet of water. To solve the flooding problems in the Crystalbrook subdivision, the city has proposed a $10 million bond package, Proposition 3, for the May 2 ballot which so far appears to have drawn little if any opposition. Over half of the bond money, $6 million, will be spent in the immediate vicinity of Crystalbrook. Part of that will be spent on storm sewer upgrades to prevent flooding on McIver's street and other streets in the area. The balance of the $6 million will be spent on either a large flood wall to surround the subdivision, or on flood channels within the Walnut Creek drainage. Either option would remove the Crystalbrook development from the creek's flood plain.

The other $4 million of the bond package will pay for a huge water detention basin on Walnut Creek just south of the Jourdan-Bachman Pioneer Farm. The detention pond will reduce downstream erosion problems while improving water quality in the creek. The plan calls for building a large dam on Walnut Creek just north of Sprinkle Road. Under flood conditions, the dam would create a small lake on Walnut Creek that could extend more than a mile upstream.

Proposition 3 consists of a $10 million flood control project to include a water quality control pond to alleviate flooding in the Crystalbrook subdivision.

The Crystalbrook subdivision was built in 1971 before studies of Walnut Creek revealed that much of it was in the floodplain. The city annexed the area in 1971. Since the floods of 1981 and 1991, area residents have been increasingly active in their efforts to get the city to address the flooding problem.

But one vocal proponent of the bond package, Ike Williams, claims that the vast majority of area residents do not want a flood wall built around their neighborhood. "We had a meeting recently of people from the neighborhood and about 40 people came. I think only two people were in favor of the flood wall," said Williams, a Crystalbrook resident since 1978 and vice president of the LBJ Neighborhood Association. Instead, he says, residents want the city to build a new channel for Walnut Creek that will divert water away from their neighborhood.

City officials also appear to be leaning toward the channelization option rather than the flood wall. Mike Heitz, the director of the Watershed Protection Utility (formerly known as the Drainage Utility) says that the channelization plan would allow floodwaters to bypass the section of Walnut Creek that runs closest to the Crystalbrook neighborhood. Under normal, non-flood conditions, the creek's baseflow would not be changed. That means that area residents would still be able to use Walnut Creek for fishing and other recreational activities.

So far, Prop. 3 appears to have significant support and almost no opposition. The Save Our Springs Alliance has come out in favor of it. And James Cooley, an editorial writer for the West Austin News who is known for his fiscally conservative stances on city-related issues, says Prop. 3 has health and safety aspects that need to be addressed. Cooley is questioning various aspects of the other two proposals on the ballot, but says, "It's hard to argue against it when people's homes are being flooded."

For Crystalbrook residents like Williams and McIver, Prop. 3 is part of a long-term plan to upgrade the infrastructure in the area. For instance, the neighborhood has long advocated expanding and widening Loyola Lane. "But we can't do that," says Williams, "until the flooding problem is fixed." And if Prop. 3 doesn't pass? "We'll try to get it on the September ballot," he said.