Flood control project in Cypress suspected to eliminate flood risk for thousands of homes
CYPRESS, Texas - A community of about 3,000 homes in Cypress has a long history of flooding.
Some much-needed relief is now on the way, thanks to the $2.5 billion bond program voters in Harris County passed in 2018.
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Harris County Flood Control District is now working with Longwood Golf Course, which will change its name to the Golf Club at Longwood this month, to ensure the course and thousands of homes will no longer flood.
In one of the structures near the clubhouse, Billy Sitton of Triumph Management Company, which purchased Longwood Golf Course, showed just how bad the water levels got with each hurricane over the years.
"You can go all the way back to Alison, which the water got up to 10 inches in the starter shack, to Harvey, where it was 31 inches high in the starters shack."
The markings on the door with the water measurements and hurricane name and date is a clear representation of the dire situation this area was in.
The Homeowners Association President described the flooding as a "nightmare" for residents.
"I took over on the board, and we had gone through three floods, 2015, 2016, and 2017," stated Lori Adam. "The first year, 37 homes flooded, in 16 (2016), 64 homes flooded, and then in Harvey, 107. Some of those same people flooded three times. You talk about the drama and the stress of trying to muck it out not once, not twice, but three times, so it was very dramatic for our neighborhood."
Adam is now hopeful as work on a man-made detention basin and the widening of Little Cypress Creek is officially underway.
"This is going to save hundreds of homes and raise them out of the flood plain."
To make this all possible, Longwood Golf Course is under construction going from a 27-hole course to an 18-hole course.
This will allow for about 60 acres to be used to construct a man-made detention basin that will filter excess water down Little Cypress Creek. The creek will also be significantly widened to reduce flooding.
"Not only will this result in 105 homes not flooding in Longwood, which is great, this will provide protection for over 3,000 homes that are downstream," said Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey. "So because Longwood and the Homeowners Association and Flood Control and the County worked with this neighborhood, we have created flood mitigation for over 3,000 homes."
The retention basin will remain empty and will fill with water and flow downstream when it rains. A community public park will be built amongst the retention basin.
"So we have a very nice green space in the middle of our neighborhood, and now we are going to have a creek that is going to run though our neighborhood that doesn’t flood us anymore, which is amazing," stated Adam.
Longwood Golf Course will re-open under the name of ‘The Golf Club at Longwood’ on December 26, 2023. All 18 reconstructed holes will be open to members only for the first few months.
Longwood will be semi-private and open for public play in the spring of 2024.
"You know we have always had a three-prong approach to this. We wanted to participate in the greater Houston Flood Control. We wanted to participate in a flood mitigation program for the Longwood Community and surrounding communities, and we wanted to protect our golf course, even if it was reduced from 27 to 18 holes. We have been consistent with that since day one," stated Sitton.
Work on the man-made detention basin and widening of Little Cypress Creek is just getting underway.
"It’s exciting when we finally see the culmination of more than 10 years of planning particularly when you consider Harris County Flood Control, we consider the County in general, and you consider Longwood Golf Club and the Utility District, so when a lot of different utilities can get together and identify specific needs and then do something about it, that’s exciting," said Commissioner Ramsey.