AUSTIN — Today Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush and NAME announce the Texas General Land Office (GLO) approved $3.8 million in flood mitigation projects to improve bridge and road infrastructure in the city of Beeville. These infrastructure projects will directly benefit thousands of residents in a majority low-to-moderate income (LMI) area.

“Since 2015, 140 Texas counties have been declared as disaster areas, and now Texas leads the nation in these declarations,” said Commissioner George P. Bush. “The GLO is proud to play a part in helping communities like Beeville to increase public safety, prevent property loss, and minimize hardship on Texans by supporting projects that will lower the impacts of future disasters.”

"We have many roadways that cross Poesta Creek and other waterways in Beeville, TX that are prone to flooding during extreme storm events. When flooded, these roadways prevent people from getting out, and prevent first responders from reaching those in need of help,” said Francisco Dominguez Jr., Mayor. “Now with this influx of $3.8 million from the Texas GLO, we can install new bridge structures, raise roadways and make other improvements that are going to better protect lives and property within our community."

In May 2020, Commissioner George P. Bush announced the kick-off of the application process for the first round of more than $2.3 billion in Community Development Block Grant Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to protect Texas communities hit by Hurricane Harvey and severe flooding in 2015 and 2016. During the first round, the GLO conducted three competitive application programs from the CDBG-MIT Action Plan. Those programs include:

• 2015 Floods State Mitigation Competition – GLO awarded $31,426,781 to four grantees.
• 2016 Floods State Mitigation Competition – GLO awarded 21 grantees with $135,462,438.
• Hurricane Harvey State Mitigation Competition Round 1 ($1 billion of $2,144,776,720 total).

Applications closed for the first round of funding October 28, 2020, and the GLO evaluated all 290 submitted applications in accordance with the HUD approved scoring criteria. Eligible applications with the highest scores were awarded funds. The second round of the competition will award the remaining $1,144,776,720 in mitigation funding to Hurricane Harvey eligible entities.

HUD defines mitigation as activities that increase resilience to disasters and reduce or eliminate the long-term risk of loss of life, injury, damage to and loss of property, and suffering and hardship, by lessening the impact of future disasters. HUD requires that at least 50% of total funds must be used for activities benefiting low- to moderate-income (LMI) persons. 

The State of Texas CDBG Mitigation Action Plan: Building Stronger for a Resilient Future outlines the use of funds, programs, eligible applicants, and eligibility criteria as required by HUD. The plan was sent to HUD on February 3, 2020, after an extraordinary public outreach effort including a 50-day public comment period and eight regional public hearings, far-surpassing HUD requirements. HUD approved the plan March 31, 2020. For more information, please visit recovery.texas.gov/mitigation.

Bee County Project Descriptions:  

City of Beeville: Low Water Crossings Replacement Project - $3,844,490

LMI Percentage: 55.28%

The City of Beeville mitigation project includes primarily bridge and roadway construction to remove and replace existing low water crossings in three areas of the city: Jackson Street at Poesta Creek, Tyler Street at Poesta Creek, and Tyler Street at Hensley Creek. These crossings were identified by the city of Beeville as having a high probability of flooding during extreme storm events including flash floods, hurricanes, and tropical storms. The improvements will improve the hydraulic capacity, roadway functional capacity, structural integrity, channel stability, and overall resilience of each problematic crossing to reduce the potential for loss of life and property damage during extreme storm events.

The improvements include the following activities:

• Remove low water crossings and undersized culverts
• Install new bridge structures to raise the roadway above the existing normal creek floodway.
• Realign roadway at bridge approaches to raise the roadway elevation to match bridge structures.
• Install temporary and permanent erosion control and streambank stabilization measures at these crossings.