About Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR)

Background

In 2015 Hays County experienced historic flash floods and river flooding on two separate occasions within a six (6) month period of each other. The first event referred to as the "Memorial Day Floods" occurred overnight on May 23rd and early May 24th. Over Memorial Day weekend a thunderstorm cluster produced upwards of 12 inches of rain in less than 6 hours. The heavy rains lead to a rapid rise in the Blanco and San Marcos Rivers with peaks of 20 - 40 foot rise were recorded. Both of these rivers run through the San Marcos community. Numerous high-water rescues occurred throughout the late evening and morning hours along the banks of the Blanco River and eventually the San Marcos River. The resulting flash flooding caused tragic loss of life and extreme property damage.

A subsequent catastrophic flood event impacted San Marcos on October 30, 2015, referred to as the "All Saints Flood", where rising water from flash floods caused Interstate 35 in San Marcos, the major north-south transportation corridor of the region, to be closed. The regional impacts extended beyond San Marcos and within a 30-mile radius the damage resulted in the closure of the primary regional Austin- Bergstrom International Airport to the north while to the south heavy rains of up to 10 inches washed away RVs, boat, and trailers along the Guadalupe River in New Braunfels, Texas. These powerful floodwaters again impacted the Blanco and San Marcos Rivers, causing additional property damage and delaying recovery efforts from the previous flood. However, the community's heightened of awareness and imported reaction to alerts translated to no loss of life during the All Saints Flood.

Disaster Recovery in The City of San Marcos

The City of San Marcos received an award of $33.7 million through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery Program (CDBG-DR) to assist with recovery efforts following the significant flooding described above.

HUD regulations required that the City of San Marcos to develop an Action Plan to outline how the CDBG-DR funds would be utilized. For a detailed summary of the Action Plan including the public participation elements and related City Council review of the Plan click here.

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