City Update April 2007

Record Storm Hits Highland Haven On March 26, 2007, four inches of rain fell over several hours on the city causing some local flooding, resulting in a few homes and garages being flooded. Four days later, with the ground already saturated, in mid afternoon of March 30, three and three quarters of an inch of rain fell in just 45 minutes. This rain was so fast and so heavy that it completely overwhelmed every drain in the city including new drains on Blackbird, Highland Drive and Crane. An estimated minimum 650,000 gallons of rain fell on the Redbird/Highland area quickly filling the drain ditch and culvert system on Redbird. Rainwater then essentially covered the area east of Redbird all the way to the canal east of Highland Drive. To put this volume of water into perspective, the new 18-inch culvert from Highland Drive to the canal will pass about 6,000 gallons per minute, which is quite sufficient for most heavy rains. But even if all of the Redbird watershed could have been routed to this culvert, which it could not have been, the culvert would have to pass nearly three times the capacity of the Highland Drive 18 inch culvert. The Redbird/Highland Drive situation was not unique however, but rather it was typical of the whole city. The rains also overwhelmed north Flamingo Circle/Lark, extreme south Highland Drive, Chaparral, west Bluebird Circle, Pheasant both north and south of Oriole, East Heron, Robin Road, Swan and Dove Roads. The Bobolink/Chaparral intersection was flooded. Twelve homes were reported as flooded to some extent and probably an equal number were not reported. Likewise probably twice that number of garages flooded. Flooded homes were located all over the city, on most streets, both waterfront and interior. The one common denominator of the flooded homes was that every one of them was built too close to the surface of the surrounding ground, most with just a couple of inches of freeboard from the land to the slab. Thus when a rain of several inches falls rapidly the inevitable happens and these houses flood repeatedly. Water immediately west of the County Road 125 low water bridge reached at least four feet and the bridge was impassable for several hours isolating the city resulting in EMS and fire protection concerns. A Storm Drainage Improvement Committee is being formed to study the problems and recommend corrective action. The committee will be asked to separate general area flooding problems from the more serious drainage problems that result in home flooding. Recommendations will be sought for both city and individual

homeowner corrective action. Actions will be prioritized to those that will provide the most help for the most homes at the lowest cost and also recommend how individual home owners should participate in the cost of corrective action. EMS and fire protection aspects will also be examined. The feasibility of obtaining a grant for an all weather bridge will also be explored. CITY UPDATE June 2007
Flooding Effect on Streets Since the abnormally high rainfall this spring and especially the ten-inch rainfall on June 26 & 27 our city streets have deteriorated markedly because of the failure of the road base. Earlier this spring 14 places were identified and planned for repair. On July third, following the flood, Aldermen Jim Embrey identified 77 street repair locations. This is more than a five-fold increase. Application has been made to FEMA for repair funds now available following the disaster declaration for Burnet County. If this request is not approved an emergency budget revision will probably be required to repair the streets. Precinct Commissioner Neve has said that the county will seal the streets as originally planned prior to the flood even though they are quite busy repairing flood damage. The county will not be able to participate in street repairs however. CITY UPDATE September 2007

CITY STREET SEALING City street sealing was performed on September 20 & 21. All city streets were sealed except for Cardinal, Quail, Bluebird Lane, Dove, half of West Heron, Crane, Swan, and Raven. 21of 29 streets were sealed. Those streets and cul de sacs not sealed this year will be sealed in 2008. The county, via Interlocal agreement, provided the labor and machinery. The sealant and stone were provided by the city. Many thanks to Precinct One Commissioner Bill Neve and Precinct One Foreman Glenn Whitworth and his men for a fine job. Their help is particularly noteworthy this year because of the many extraordinary demands on county resources caused by significant flood damage to county roads and low water crossings FEMA FLOOD DAMAGE AWARD FEMA has determined that the June flood and heavy rains did $8,441 damage to city streets. The city had estimated the damage from the very heavy rains to be considerably greater, but every little bit helps. The city will receive 75% of this amount from FEMA and the city will provide the remaining 25%. Thanks to Jim Embrey for his work in obtaining this funding from FEMA. Approximately two inches of paperwork and two submissions were required to document the damage for FEMA. Thanks also to Burnet County, especially Judge Klaeger, for their leadership in the days and weeks following the storm for coordinating with federal and state agencies. Though

Highland Haven sustained relatively minor damage, we should be confident that should a major disaster hit our city, the county is well prepared in emergency management.

CITY UPDATE November 2007 FEMA FUNDING The city received a check from FEMA for $6,584 to help repair roads damaged by the abnormally high rains this spring. This too was a lengthy and paperwork intensive grant request.