The Neches Regional Flood Planning Group is providing the public with the opportunity to comment on the Draft Neches Regional Flood Plan. The 60-day comment period ends Oct. 9. The draft plan is available on the group’s website at nechesfloodplanning.org/.
The public can also view the plan in person through Oct. 9 at the Lower Neches Valley Authority, 7850 Eastex Freeway in Beaumont and the Port Arthur Public Library, 4615 9th Avenue in Port Arthur.
Additional opportunity for public comment will include a public meeting on Friday, Sept. 9 at 2 p.m. at the Lamar University CICE Building, Room 113, 5091 Rolfe Christopher Dr., Beaumont.
Oral and written comments will be recorded at the public meeting. Written comments can also be submitted via: U.S. mail to Scott Hall, Region 5 Chair, Lower Neches Valley Authority, 7850 Eastex Freeway, Beaumont, Texas 77708 or by email to NechesRFPG@freese.com.
The Neches Regional Flood Planning Group has approved the Draft Neches Regional Flood Plan covering all or parts of the 24 counties in the Neches River Basin.
In the wake of historic flood in Texas, the 2019 Texas Legislature passed legislation to create Texas' first-ever regional and state flood planning process.
The Legislature created a state flood planning framework and charged the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) with creating flood planning regions based on river basins and with administering the ongoing work of flood planning.
The Neches Regional Flood Plan is part of the statewide flood-planning effort led by the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB). The TWDB will approve the Final Neches Flood Planning Region by December 2023 and will prepare the statewide flood plan by September 2024.
While the Neches Regional Flood Planning Group is responsible for developing the Draft Plan, implementation of the specific recommendations and flood mitigation actions included in the plan will require action by local communities throughout Region 5.
The Region 5 Neches Flood Planning Region is administered by the Lower Neches Valley Authority (LNVA) and led by a committee of volunteer members appointed by the TWDB.
Each of the 15 members represents a special interest category, including agriculture, the public, small business, industry, environmental, electric generating utility, water utility, flood districts, water districts, municipalities,
counties, and river authorities. For more information, visit nechesfloodplanning.org/.