KINGSVILLE, Texas — The Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush and County Judge Rudy Madridhave announced the Texas General Land Office (GLO) approved more than $46 million to address the drainage concerns for the area and other disaster mitigation infrastructure.
"For large portions of our county, the current drainage systems and infrastructure just aren't adequate to deal with heavier and heavier storm events," said Kleberg County Judge Rudy Madrid. “Unfortunately, this leaves Kleberg County and the City of Kingsville very vulnerable to natural disasters. This $46 million in funding from Commissioner George P. Bush and the GLO will be instrumental in upgrading our drainage systems to prevent flooding, and thereby help protect lives, safety, and property."
Commissioner George P. Bush began 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), in May 2020. The goal was to protect Texas communities hit by Hurricane Harvey and severe flooding in 2015 and 2016.
“Texas leads the nation in repetitive flooding that affects counties across our state,” said Commissioner Bush. “This first round of mitigation funding represents a historic investment in protecting coastal communities, minimizing environmental impacts of severe storms, reducing obstacles to a fast and safe evacuation of hazard areas, preserving public and private emergency response capability, and minimizing disruption to utilities. These large-scale drainage infrastructure improvements in Kleberg County will benefit residents – especially low-to-moderate-income families – for generations to come.”
The first $10M will be spent on the following problem areas in Kleberg County:
- Corral Street: Ditch grading, concrete ditch lining, culverts, pavement, driveway repair, outfall structures, and erosion controls of approximately 23,500 linear feet 2)
- Kenedy Street: Ditch grading, underground storm sewer, pavement/driveway repair, inlets, outfall structures, and erosion controls of approximately 12,100 linear feet 3)
- Johnston Street: Ditch grading, culverts, erosion control, and outfall structures of approximately 12,200 linear feet
The goal is to get water to flow out of the neighborhoods and into Santa Gertrudis Creek, San Fernando Creek, and ultimately to Baffin Bay. The remaining $36,311,929 will be spent on the following:
- Reinforce 9,000 feet of concrete pipe and 23,100 feet of culverts with 130 inlets added
- Install 65 junction boxes and 6,900 feet of curb and gutter to drain water from the road surface
- Surface repairs, including flex base with geogrid for soil stabilization and either a 4” hot mix asphalt or concrete pavement surface.
- Replace impacted sidewalks for pedestrian safety
- Install concrete headwalls at the ends of drainage pipes and culverts to prevent erosion
