The Texas Hill Country (a/k/a “Flash Flood Alley”) is the most flash-flood prone in America.  In July 1987, ten children were drowned near Comfort, Texas after a 10-foot wall of water swallowed their school bus. In 1998, there were more than 40 deaths across the Hill Country due to flash flooding.  In July 2002, 32-year-old Chris Lewis drowned after driving into deep water that had flooded a road south of Boerne.  In May 2015, 13 people drowned in Wimberley when the Blanco River surged 40-feet and swamped their homes. Hill Country cities such as Fair Oaks Ranch, Fredericksburg, New Braunfels, San Marcos and others have developed Master Drainage/Stormwater Plans to mitigate this risk (Incidentally, FOR and Fredericksburg are smaller population-wise than Boerne).  What is Boerne doing about stormwater?  Not much.  A stormwater utility was created by the City of Boerne in 2019 but they have yet to announce or start a project.

Where does this leave the people of Boerne?  It leaves them exposed to the following risks:

1) BOERNE DAMS: The Dam at Boerne Lake is a federally classified “high hazard” earthen dam with much development downstream of the dam in the potential breach inundation area.  Shoreline Park upstream will add more stress.

2) BOERNE DEVELOPMENT CODE: Subdivision Ordinance #2007-56, Article #6 (“Drainage & Flood Hazards”) is just 4 pages long.  Code enforcement is nonexistent in Boerne.  Incidentally, Ashton Woods (Blake Harrington) was responsible for clear cutting five acres of trees in 2020 that were subject to a Tree Protection Plan filed with the City in 2016.  It is unclear if he was fined or not.  He was caught lying to the Boerne P&Z Commission about this tree massacre at their January 2020 meeting.  You can watch the video here:

https://boernetx.new.swagit.com/videos/39303?Mode2=Video 

3) DETENTION PONDS: The Regent Park and Southglen subdivisions both have underbuilt detention ponds.  How many others around town are underbuilt?  Southglen has been cited 6x for BMP violations related to stormwater.  Cude Engineers (of San Antonio) was the site engineer responsible for the underbuilt detention ponds at Southglen.

4) FINANCIAL COST: The latest FEMA “Flood Insurance Rate Maps” will be released in 2019.  Historically, the primary flood zones (“Zone AE”) in Boerne were along Cibolo, Curry, Frederick and Menger Creeks.  However, Brown’s Creek is now being added due to high density development on both sides of the creek.

5) “HUNDRED YEAR FLOODS”: According to engineers, a 100-Year-Flood is a flood event that has a 1% probability of occurring in any given year.  Problem is, there have been 6 HYFs in Boerne in the past 50 years or 12% probability.

6) LOW WATER CROSSINGS: Boerne has about 25 LWCs.  They will become even more hazardous with more density.

7) STORM DRAINS: Storm drains are virtually nonexistent on public streets in Boerne.  Main Street has just 8 storm drains, two of which are very small.

8) STORMWATER CONTROL WAIVERS: At least 25 stormwater control waivers have been approved by the Boerne Planning & Zoning Commission since 2011.  The cumulative effect of these waivers is millions more gallons of runoff.

9) STORMWATER HOT SPOTS: There have been at least 50 TCEQ stormwater investigations in the Boerne area since 2011.  Boerne Lake, Cascade Caverns Road, Herff Road, Old San Antonio Road and River Road are just some areas of town that are prone to dangerous, uncontrolled stormwater runoff.

What remedies do stormwater victims have currently? You can contact the TCEQ Complaint Hotline at (888) 777-3186 (https://www.tceq.texas.gov/compliance/complaints) or you can discuss your legal options with one of the water law attorneys on this list online: https://bestlawfirms.usnews.com/water-law .