Too much to tell...

happening in Arlington.  Packed council chambers, the Rush Creek Drill site vote, the issue of high density apartments, the list goes on.

We can't keep up, but Arlingtonvoice.com can.

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Another flood "study"...

This one in Arlington concerning Rush Creek Watershed.

Once it's completed FEMA and the Corp will get involved.  YOU know what that means.  Cha-ching.

Read about it in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  Then watch the Arlington flooding that happened Wednesday, though no one is sure the cause for the water main break.  Those living near the waste water plant have been flooded many times in the past several years.  Maybe they should study that, too.  Check it out on Fox 4 news.  What all runs downhill?

In September 2010, Tropical Storm Hermine sent several feet of floodwater raging through dozens of west Arlington homes and the Willows at Shady Valley condos. The city, saying that no amount of dredging would stop Rush Creek from flooding, bought 48 of the affected homes and the condominium complex as part of a $16 million program to address chronic flooding.

During Tuesday's City Council meeting, interim Public Works and Transportation Director Keith Melton outlined a planned Rush Creek watershed study that aims to identify its true 100-year flood plain, which hasn't been updated since the 1970s.

Many of the homes in the Shady Valley area were built before those flood maps were adopted. Over the years, development upstream has increased storm-water runoff flowing into the creek and through the downstream neighborhoods, causing millions of dollars in flood damage.

Arlington wants to determine how high Rush Creek storm water could rise once the watershed is fully developed. Rush Creek, which encompasses about one-third of the city, is the largest of the city's nine watersheds and has the most undeveloped land within it, Melton said.

The study, set to be presented to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers in 2013, will help the city identify possible drainage and storm-water-retention projects to protect structures, interim City Manager Bob Byrd said. The studies could help FEMA determine a new 100-year Rush Creek basin flood plain, which could affect homeowners' flood insurance premiums.

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Some Arlington homeowners said they were shocked and completely helpless when a water treatment plant mishap sent water rushing through their homes.

“I’m a realtor and was working at my computer and happened to look out the door and saw water coming 90 miles an hour down the hill,” said Carol Cash.

She said this is not the first time water from the plant has flooded their home. And her family has been trying to negotiate a settlement deal with the city.

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Rush Creek - One year later

Read about the flooded Arlington neighborhood in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Stagner lived at the corner of Woodland Park and Woodridge Drive for 41 years until last Sept. 8, when Tropical Storm Hermine sent several feet of floodwaters raging through her neighborhood. Stagner remembers worrying that she and her son and daughter would have to retreat to the attic for safety after the swiftly rising creek burst through her windows and began filling her home chest-deep with muddy brown water.

It will be Stagner's turn to be comforted this month when the wrecking crew comes for her former home. The city bought it and 48 other flood-damaged houses and The Willows at Shady Valley condominiums this year as part of a $16 million program to address chronic flooding along Rush Creek.

City officials have repeatedly said that no amount of dredging will stop the creek from flooding and that tearing down the homes and apartments to create green space to absorb storm-water runoff is the only practical solution.

"I feel very strongly there is nothing we can do to hold that back," Mayor Robert Cluck said. "We have to get people out of harm's way. We have accomplished that to a large extent."

So far, 17 homes have been razed, and 16 others are scheduled to be demolished by early October, city officials said. The 100-unit Willows condos, which the city bought for $4.5 million, are set to be torn down by the end of the year.

Once cleared, the land will be regraded, reseeded and maintained by the city. The new green space will be incorporated into existing parks.

The city issued bonds to pay for the flood-control project, which will be repaid over 20 years using storm-water fees paid by water utility customers.

"It's a very efficient way to make this whole thing work," Cluck said. "Had we not had that, I'm not sure where we would have gotten the money to do it."

"We lost everything but essentially the clothes off our backs," said Lowe, whose family spent three months living in a hotel before buying a new home in south Arlington. "It was very easy to sell [to the city]. We would not have gone through this again for anything."

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