The weekend flash flooding that led to three deaths once again threw a spotlight on the backlog of stormwater projects in the city.
While the death of a mother and child who drowned in high water in a culvert at Loop 820 and Wilbarger Street occurred at a place that had no known history of flooding, officials said other areas in the historic city center were known to have problems with high water. Officials say preliminary data indicates Saturday’s downpour was a 50- to 100-year flood in that spot.
Officials said the other drowning death on South Cravens Road occurred in an area where water topping the road had been known to occur but nothing to the extent of the flooding seen on Saturday.
All told, the Fort Worth Fire Department responded to 380 incidents in a 24-hour period between Friday and Saturday with 40 of those calls being high-water rescues.
Flooding was also seen in other Fort Worth neighborhoods such as Linwood, West 7th , Arlington Heights and the Magnolia area. That was no surprise to city officials.
Greg Simmons, manager of the stormwater management program, said Monday that it would cost “tens of millions dollars” to deal with the city’s aging drainage system in the heart of the city.