Fort Worth’s flood problems are a billion-dollar fix. The city is spending $136 million

The city of Fort Worth is increasing the amount of money it spends on flood control.

The city’s stormwater management department is proposing spending $136 million over five years to fix old storm drains, control erosion and produce new flood maps.

It is an $8 million increase over the five-year plan the city put out last year with most of that money going to projects that keep floodwaters off roads.

The city estimated in 2020 it would cost $1 billion to fix 300 of Fort Worth’s most flood-prone areas. In 2020, the city added 35 cents to the stormwater fee to fix 80 of the worst spots.

The city is also producing more detailed flood maps, which could be used to guide future zoning decisions and help homeowners better protect themselves against flood risk.

The city has released initial maps that indicate areas where flash flooding is the worst. Those include the Cultural District, Meadowbrook in east Fort Worth, and the intersection of Cleburne Road and West Berry Street.

Areas like the intersection of North Riverside Drive and North Loop 820 were listed as potentially having high flood risk, but stormwater program manager Jennifer Dyke said more data is needed to define those flood zones with the same accuracy as FEMA.

A City Council report estimated the extra data could be collected by this fall.

About $10 million is being dedicated to flood channel restoration, according to the city’s capital plan.

It’s not clear where that money will be spent, but the plan says it could be spent to fix drainage channels worn down by erosion.