CHINA, Texas — The mayor of China wants the Army Corp of Engineers to take a closer look at a Drainage District 6 retention pond project. Mayor William "Butch" Sanders said they didn't have a problem with flooding until after the dam along Green Pond Gully was built not far from Highway 365 and Interstate 10.
The dam is a part of a project DD6 built as a retention pond in Gilbert Woods. It's built in a channel that flows all the way from Nome, out to Hillebrandt Bayou.
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Tuesday, Sanders called a meeting at City Hall, inviting the Corp of Engineers to hear their concerns.
"There's millions of dollars worth of streets and roads that are destroyed because of this, there's millions of homes that just got rebuilt that just got ruined again," Sanders said.
During Imelda, Sanders said they had 60 people in City Hall because they had water running through their homes. Before the dam was built, that didn't happen. He's requesting a hydrologist take a closer look at the dam.
Cecil Slack has been a resident of the China area for 55 years. He came to the meeting after hearing that the Corp would be there to listen. For about 25 years now, Slack has been a rice farmer. He's had problems with flooding since the Dam was constructed in Green Pond Gully.
"It can destroy our whole crop, or 60 percent in just one whack, so we're trying to get some relief and either get the dam modified to let the water flow to where the channel ditch will carry to capacity, or take it completely out," Slack said.
Because China is flat, Slack said any small object in the ditch is enough to create extra flooding. He said it doesn't take a catastrophic storm like Imelda or Harvey to cause major flooding. Before the dam was built, he rarely had problems, but now his crops are in the area prone to flooding. It's causing some concerns for his financial stability.
"It's probably 10 times worse with this dam in place," Slack explained.
Mike Douget is a developer, farmer and rancher in Nome. He's been in the area for roughly 50 years, and has seen the change firsthand since the dam was built. During Harvey and Imelda, the majority of his 3600 acre ranch went under water, but his real concern is with his sub-divisions, Diamond D on Highway 90, and Pine Island Estates on Pine Island Road.
"The water just seems to stop, you know, it won't flow like it used to when China ditch was just a little ditch," Douget explained.
Douget believes the dam is restricting water flow. After taking a look at it, he said it cuts back about 25 percent of the water flow they used to have with China ditch.
"Now it's four times the size, and we're having problems," Douget said.
Beaumont councilman Mike Getz also attended the meeting. He said lots of people in Beaumont flooded during Imelda who hadn't before. The flood plane that affects China, also affects the west end of Beaumont.
"All of this water is being moved out to Hillebrandt Bayou, or that's where it's supposed to go, but during Imelda it all got bottled up," Getz explained.
Getz isn't sure what the problem is, but he'd like the Corp to take a closer look as well. He said the dam likely impacts China and Nome more than Beaumont, but he's been told it likely impacts the West end of Beaumont as well.
Getz said he has questions he'd like answered, and hopes to invite the Corp to come talk to the City of Beaumont, too. Officials in China and Nome are asking to look at it from a regional standpoint to see what can be done to get water out of Jefferson County.
"We all need to sit down and try to get these answers," Getz said.
Getz also wanted to clear up what different entities play each roll.
"A lot of people thought the city of Beaumont was responsible for, in some way, the flooding, the reality is DD6 has the responsibility of moving water out of the city of Beaumont," Getz said.
Three representatives with the Army Corp of engineers came to the meeting to hear their concerns. They said before they can do anything, taxing entities from the city and county need to send a letter of intent to their headquarters, formally asking them to look into it. They assured they will do the best they can to do as much as they can to help out.