BEAUMONT, Texas — The Jefferson County Drainage District 6 is within weeks of completing a new detention basin near I-10 in Beaumont.
Drainage District 6 Chief Operations Officer, Doug Canant says that the flood control project, funded by FEMA and the state of Texas, has taken 2 years and $4.3M to complete.
Tuesday night, the public got their first look at the new project, along dozens of others still in construction, at a showcase in the Beaumont Event Centre.
The new channel stretches two miles from the Amelia area to a detention basin off I-10 connected to the Hillebrandt Bayou.
Canant says it will help keep the county prepared for even the harshest of flooding.
"The purpose of the project is to detain water before it heads downstream. It's about 12 foot deep and a 30 foot bottom. In this linear detention basin, as we call it, we have a capacity to store 176 acre feet of water, which is enough water to flood 176 acres, one foot deep," said Canant.
The water in the basin will empty into a detention pond at the end of its two mile length before finally reaching the Hillebrandt Bayou.
"It's about 15 acres, 10 foot deep. So it's another 150 acre feet. It's just one of many drainage projects that the drainage district is trying to undertake just to improve drainage everywhere we can," said Canant.
The Amelia Detention Basin is just one of 35 other projects presented by the DD6 Tuesday at the Beaumont Event Centre.
There they discussed an ongoing regional flood study with the public, and where they are on improving drainage region-wide.
"We have our consulting engineers that have been working on a regional flood study that includes Pine Island Bayou, Taylor's Bayou, and Hillebrandt. 'What are some comprehensive ideas for major projects to help those three bayous in the future?'" said Canant.
Many residents have the same question on their mind.
"We did not flood in Harvey, but we did in a melt, and we were just very concerned about what's going on and what's going to happen," said Beaumont resident Arthur Klauss.
Klauss says that, he for one, is happy to hear and see the DD6's plans for the future.
"I think they're doing a decent job. I really do," said Klauss.
Canant says that the Amelia Area Diversion Project is set to be 100% completed within the coming weeks.
For more information on this DD6 project, along with numerous others, you can follow this link to their website.