Taylor breaks ground on a project that will protect homes and businesses from flooding

Transcript

Dwayne Ariola - Mayor, City of Taylor

Old Taylor would build going north. The old Walmart came in, and that caused a lot of runoff, and maybe detention and retention requirements weren't as strict. So, all that runoff would come down different channels. And then, we built a new housing community just behind it and north of it, and then H-E-B built, and then a new middle school was built. All of those just slowly accumulate, and when they get here to this small creek, it was a flood. It was whitewater. This creek in 2015, during Memorial Day, it was just whitewaters.

These people right here, their homes were ruined several times, and their insurance companies were like, "So, you've got to do something. You're getting street flooding. It's coming down the street." The streets were rivers. Fifty homes and businesses are directly affected by this. So, it's just tremendous.

We're widening channels, putting new concrete channels underground, removing debris from all the channels so that your homes aren't threatened anymore, that your streets aren't rivers, your streets are what you drive on, and the water goes underneath through a tunnel, a channeling system.

Thank y'all so much for coming. In December of 2025, we received notice to proceed with construction of Donna Channel. It's gone through five mayors since 2006. So, it's my honor to be the mayor when we're actually breaking dirt.

Brian LaBorde - City Manager, City of Taylor

This could not have happened without our granting agencies. And, so first off, we would like to recognize representatives with the General Land Office (GLO). And then, second is the Texas Water Development Board. When the legislature created the Flood Infrastructure Fund (FIF), we were first in line to apply. You know, I do want to say that's one of the things that the city prides itself on is aggressiveness in granting opportunities to help offset the burden or the tax burden of our citizens. And so, the Texas Water Development Board, with the creation of the Flood Infrastructure Fund, was very important, integral in this project.

Sara Sopczynski - Flood Infrastructure Fund Coordinator, Texas Water Development Board

The City of Taylor received a commitment and closed on, it was approximately $5.9 million. Of that, $900,000, approximately, is in grant and the remaining is in a zero-interest loan. It's really unique for the FIF program because our loans that we offer have been zero percent interest loans. So, that has been, you know, beneficial to our customers. In addition to this project having TWDB funds, it's also supported by GLO funds. So, it's a great state partnership.

So, today was very exciting. It was the City of Taylor had their groundbreaking for the Donna Channel improvements. We had folks speak about the significance of this project and how it's going to protect lives and property. And that it's been, you know, years in the making. And it's really exciting that we're getting to this point that construction is about to start.

Dwayne Ariola - Mayor, City of Taylor

Yeah, they're extremely happy for, hopefully, not having to pay the high insurance rates because they live in a flood zone, because it'll be all underneath the ground and channeled away from their homes.