Consultants urge Polk County to map projects for 2028 regional flood plan to secure state mitigation funding

Cheryl Raya of Trailer and Associates gave a briefing to the Polk County Commissioners Court on participation in the 2028 regional flood plan. She said regional flood planning groups—created in 2020 and organized around major watersheds—feed information into a statewide flood plan that the Texas Water Development Board consolidates; projects must be listed in the regional and state plans to be eligible for Flood Infrastructure Fund and other funding opportunities.

Raya outlined the types of eligible work (flood mitigation evaluations/studies, mitigation projects, and mitigation strategies such as alerting systems and low‑water crossing signage) and emphasized that billions in funding are being distributed across two rounds of applications. She explained the outreach tools available to local officials, including a web map and a short survey accessible via QR code, and asked county staff and commissioners to identify and pin problem locations and potential projects so those items appear in the regional plan.

Commissioners and staff discussed coordination with cities, water districts and volunteer fire departments and agreed that emergency management should serve as the consolidation point for submissions. Raya said some communities lacked representation in previous cycles because of staff turnover or confusion about the program and urged broad participation to increase eligibility for small and large projects alike. She offered consultant assistance for county staff during the pinning and submission process.

The court did not take immediate action beyond receiving the presentation; commissioners directed staff to coordinate submission of project pins and to work with Raya/consultants as needed to ensure Polk County projects are documented for the 2028 plan.