MIDLAND, Texas — While the rain has held off this week, flooding continues to impact homeowners across Midland county.
Aside from mother nature, we are learning development is also to blame.
More people are moving to the area and it has changed the landscape quite literally.
Half a years’ worth of rainfall in one week has caused the county problems it has never encountered before.
Is this flood damage a result of growing pains? The Midland county judge, Terry Johnson, thinks so.
While the county is in control of giving builders and developers certain permits, it can not control almost out-growing itself.
Now it is a matter of quickly learning from this storm and changing the drainage infrastructure before the next big rainstorm.
“We’ve got to figure out what to do," Johnson said. "The commissioners are in meeting after meeting, we have our special projects coordinator working, we are looking to companies that can pump water out."
Johnson says it is a matter of finding land they can pump the excess water to.
"We’re trying to figure out where we can stage this water where it won’t damage other property owners," he said. "So we’re doing all we can as fast as we can.”
But to some homeowners, the county is not moving fast enough.
The judge understands their frustration, his business off of I-20 flooded.
“I built a yard out on I-20 on 10 acres and I ended up on the lowest spot," Johnson said. "So I really resonate with everybody here.”
The culprit behind the flooding?
What was once a flood plain is now developed housing homes and businesses.
The water was never rerouted. The results? Flooded property.
"You add the people we’ve seen this decade and we are going to be pushing 190,000 people in the city and county," Johnson said. "You add that many rooftops, that many roads, that many kalachi yards, sidewalks, driveways, all the things it takes to accommodate that many people...the water has to go somewhere...it can’t just soak in.”
The judge says the county engineer is going to have to tell them what to do.
But take a look around the county and you do not need any official to tell you that the flood plain map is outdated.
Leaders are in the process of updating the map.
Not great timing—but the flooding is providing engineers pivotal information.
“What we’ll be able to do is show developers who are requesting septic, driveway permits, what little we can control when they are asking for those things," Johnson said. "We can show them areas where the trouble is going to be and we can look at doing something different, or at least accommodate when we get a tremendous amount of rainfall as we’ve just seen.”
Here is what the county plans to do with the flooded areas this week: crews will pump the water out.
Right now, leaders are evaluating where to pump it to.
The county is also spraying for mosquitoes because all this standing water is creating a bug haven.