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.

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.

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."

Pipelines and Flooding

If you missed Brett Shipp's report on WFAA last night, you missed a lot.

We can only find a link to the written story, ask WFAA.com where you can see the video.

Brett showed completely exposed pipelines in Rush Creek, surrounded by debris.  When the water rises - fast moving debris.  What happens when a pipeline is punctured?

Brett also interviewed Mary Kelleher, the Fort Worth resident who has experienced flooding problems since the pipeline went in on the landfill next to her property.

In every instance Brett Shipp brought to light, every pipeline company claimed, it is safe. 

WHO do YOU believe?

Read the article here.

Arlington Flooding Victims have something to say

Read it in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Letters to the Editor.

We want our leaders to focus on the residents.

Clear the debris

I read in Friday's paper that Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck said "there is no way we can control flooding on Rush Creek. It's like a bathtub." (See: "Arlington may use bonds to buy up flooded homes")

Really, mayor? Our home, which was built in the '70s and had never before flooded, flooded Sept. 8. I'm not an engineer, but if my bathtub were full of debris and the water had nowhere to go because the area surrounding it was also full of debris, I would realize I let it get into that condition and do the responsible thing -- clean up the debris!

Arlington's priority has been the Cowboys Stadium area in order to give a picture of a progressive city to the rest of the country. We want our leaders to focus on the residents.

I challenge the city leaders to take a walk on the trail that parallels Rush Creek. They would understand the homeowners' frustration over a situation that indeed is fixable.

Our home is in an area that never should have flooded. We want to stay! Is your home next?

-- Janice Elaine Graber, Arlington

Arlington Flood help?

Read the latest flood pattern in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

With federal disaster assistance uncertain, the Arlington City Council is considering issuing bonds to buy and demolish dozens of homes in the Rush Creek flood plain to "get people out of harm's way," Mayor Robert Cluck said Thursday.

"I think that area gets so inundated that we should clear it and do something else with it," Cluck told members of the League of Women Voters during its annual State of the City luncheon.

"There is no way we can control flooding on Rush Creek. It's like a bathtub."

As Tropical Storm Hermine passed through the area Sept. 8, at least 129 homes and 68 units at the Willows at Shady Valley condominiums in west Arlington were damaged by floodwaters. Most affected homes are along Rush Creek near Pioneer Parkway and Green Oaks Boulevard.

At least 11 homes were so heavily damaged that they will likely be demolished, Cluck said.

Arlington officials have said they expect to learn this month whether President Barack Obama will declare Tarrant County and 12 other Texas counties federal disaster areas. The declaration would allow the city and flood victims to apply for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers.

The city will also apply for FEMA grant money to buy out homes that have flooded at least twice, known as severe repetitive losses, funding that is not contingent on a federal disaster declaration, Public Works Director Bob Lowry said.

In the meantime, city leaders are considering their alternatives to pay for buyouts.

Arlington, which has been collecting appraisals on affected properties, would need $13 million to $18 million to buy and tear down structures in the Rush Creek flood plain, Cluck said. Most of the flood victims who attended public meetings since the storm have told city leaders that they want to be bought out.

"Those people want their homes gone. They have been through three or four floods. They are tired of it," Cluck said.

Some have questioned why the city allowed homes and town houses to be built in a flood plain. Arlington officials say the area wasn't flood-prone when much of the construction took place. But the flood plain has expanded as development has spread.


Four years ago, after the last big flood along Rush Creek, the city spent $2 million from FEMA to buy and demolish six houses.

More Arlington Flood Information

From THE PEOPLE in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  Good questions.  Any politicians want to answer?  City Staff?  Anyone??

Arlington flooding

Having family that has been flooded out of their home three times, rebuilt twice and now faces the onerous permit issue created by the city of Arlington, they are in financial limbo. The federal flood insurance only pays to repair the home from flood damage. It doesn't pay unless you rebuild. Further, it doesn't pay to raise it two feet above the mean 100-year flood elevation.

A simple solution would be to pay insurance proceeds directly to homeowners with the proviso that the home be removed and the land deeded to the city. Insurance proceeds from contents and flood insurance policies would put money in people's pockets and allow them to move elsewhere.

The amount of money being doled out by the federally backed flood insurance program grows with every flood. It seems prudent to make one final payout and be done with it.

Here's my two cents' worth after living in Arlington since 1954:

There are about nine weather stations in south Arlington providing accurate reports of rainfall every hour. They reported about 1 inch rain Sept. 7. At 9:30 a.m. Sept. 8, the rain increased rapidly to 2.5 to 3 inches an hour and continued for several hours, all of it heading for Rush Creek.

A station off Sublett Road reported a total of 11.33 inches; the average was 8.76.

Why didn't the city emergency management folks have knowledge of this (I did) and sound our tornado/flood sirens?

Next, we are all paying a hefty stormwater fee. Why can't Director of Public Works Bob Lowry's crew use these funds now to clean up Rush Creek so it will drain decently, instead of waiting for approval by the Corps of Engineers? Rush Creek is badly overgrown with trees and brush in south Arlington and probably a lot of other places too.

-- Howard Livingston, Arlington

Jeers: To area news stations for their lack of coverage of the recent flooding. Two of my family members live in a condominium association that flooded so badly that it took ladders to save them from the rushing water. Apparently the unrealistic happenings of soap operas superseded actual human lives.

Cheers: To the Euless Fire Department, public works and city officials who were quick to respond to the victims of flooding in Trailwood, bringing pumps, helping hands and encouragement. Thank you also for taking the time to make safety checks in those homes. To live here really is FabEuless!

-- Audrey Morrison, Euless

Storm's Coming

And Arlington still needs help.

Read the Letter to the Editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  Thanks to those orgainizations that step up to the plate and really do help people when they find themselves homeless within a matter of minutes.  Maybe FEMA should get some pointers from the Red Cross, Salvation Army, and area churches. 

After the flood

Thanks to the Chisholm Trail Chapter of the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the city of Arlington employees, elected officials and church volunteers who came to our aid after the Sept. 8 Arlington floods.

As affected residents, we are still dazed as well as homeless, facing many life-changing decisions about our future. We are grateful to the above-named people in their continued support while making decisions regarding our nearly destroyed homes. May God bless each and every one of you as well as the former residents of our condominium family.

-- Tom Clayton, Arlington

Also, check out the story on NBCDFW.com.

Two weeks after flood waters from Tropical Storm Hermine devastated their neighborhood, residents along Rush Creek in west Arlington say they feel forgotten and need help.

Nearby, a complex of apartments and condos is all but abandoned. There's no power, and residents such as Diane Wade have moved out -- often with only the clothes on their backs.

In the same neighborhood, at least 60 homes were damaged and dozens of apartments destroyed.

WHO's paying attention?

Gas drillers blaming city for rejecting its drilling plans.  WHY would they be rejected?  Maybe because they weren't what they were cracked up to be?

Read about it in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Chesapeake says it will invoke a contract provision that will give the company another year to resolve permit issues without additional compensation for mineral rights, the residents said.

Residents also say Chesapeake is ignoring a verbal commitment to drill in a less-populated area north of the highway. That promise was made by another gas company that drew up the leases three years ago and sold them to Chesapeake, residents said. They said they weren't aware that Rush Creek was the target site until Chesapeake told them in April.

"If they had gone to the site that was originally promised, they wouldn't have this problem right now," said Cathy Meachum, chairwoman of United Neighbors, a coalition of a dozen neighborhoods and 1,100-plus homes that signed leases but opposed the new site. "The concerns that are there now will still be there in a year."

Chesapeake officials did not return several phone calls and an e-mail seeking comment on their drilling plans.

"They waited until the 11th hour knowing this lease was going to expire this fall, thinking they could ramrod this thing through and nobody would have anything to stop them with," said Bill Campbell, a member of United Neighbors' leadership committee. "I guess they thought this was in the bag."

"That's part of the problem," Cluck said. "If they drill one well, they don't have to drill again for several years."

Chesapeake told residents after the council vote that it would send them letters invoking " force majeure" -- French for "major force." Historically, this provision is a legal defense inserted into contracts because of major, unforeseen events such as acts of God, war, riots and labor disputes.