Flooding in Bellaire: what to know

Floods people remember

Tropical Storm Allison flooded about 1,400 Bellaire homes in June 2001; the city engineer's review after Harvey counted approximately 1,432. Then came Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

Harvey flooded about 2,000 homes in Bellaire. The counts vary with who did the counting and what they counted: the city engineer estimated about 1,936 homes with water damage to the main house and about 2,318 structures once garages are included, the mayor has spoken of nearly 2,000 homes affected, and the Houston Chronicle reported that slightly more than 2,300 of the city's approximately 6,500 homes sustained structural damage. By any of those numbers, it was a large share of the town.

The city's longer answer began that October, when it established a Flood Hazard Mitigation Task Force to review and keep updating its Flood Hazard Mitigation Plan.

Where the water goes

Almost all of it goes to one place. Cypress Ditch is the primary storm drainage channel for all of Bellaire and portions of Gulfton, according to the groundbreaking announcement on U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher's website, and it flows east into Brays Bayou.

The work that protects a house in Bellaire happens mostly out of sight, and it takes years.

Brays Bayou is the larger system. Its watershed covers about 127 square miles, according to the Harris County Flood Control District, and the bayou runs about 31 miles, draining much of southwest Houston. In 2022 the Harris County Flood Control District, the county agency that builds and runs the flood channels, finished Project Brays with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The $480 million effort took more than 30 years and added 21 miles of channel improvements and four stormwater detention basins covering more than 800 acres, holding about 3.5 billion gallons. The district says it reduced flooding risk for more than 15,000 structures in the watershed.

The Cypress Ditch program

Bellaire's own answer is the Cypress Ditch project, a regional flood mitigation effort of about $110 million meant to expand the channel's stormwater capacity by 60 percent between South Rice Avenue and Brays Bayou. It includes two detention basins: a south basin on the 13-acre Beechnut Tract and a north basin tied to the decommissioning of a wastewater treatment plant site.

The money comes from several places. Voters approved $40 million for drainage in the city's 2024 Bond Proposition A on November 5, 2024, the Texas Water Development Board, a state agency, awarded a $54 million grant, and the Harris County Flood Control District contributed $15 million. The Texas Water Development Board's own documents put the total cost nearer $113 million. The city is designing the work with the City of Houston, and the bond plan includes a land swap with Houston to obtain land for detention.

The city held a groundbreaking on May 12, 2026. Local reporting has given these targets: the south basin in the first quarter of 2027, the north basin in the third quarter of 2028, and the channel projects in the fourth quarter of 2029, if not sooner. Treat those dates as subject to change. Construction schedules on projects this size move, and the city's drainage page is the place to check. The work that protects a house in Bellaire happens mostly out of sight, and it takes years.

How to check your flood risk

Start with your address, not your street's reputation.

- FEMA flood maps: the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Flood Map Service Center is where the official flood maps are published. - Harris County Flood Education Mapping Tool: run by the Harris County Flood Control District at harriscountyfemt.org. Type an address and see mapped 100-year and 500-year floodplains, floodways, stormwater ponding areas and nearby channels. - Harris County Flood Warning System: harriscountyfws.org shows live rainfall and channel conditions, from No Flooding to Flooding Likely, plus gauge readings and inundation maps. Keep it open on a stormy night. - City permit portal: the city's public parcel search shows zoning and flood data by address, with no login. - City pages: Bellaire's Flood Risk Management page covers floodplain management, the flood insurance Community Rating System and mitigation.

Sign up for alerts

PrepareBellaire is the city's emergency notification system. It sends National Weather Service alerts for Bellaire, urgent and emergency notices from the city, and general city information, and you can register up to 10 contact methods, including cell phone, landline, text and email. Sign up on the city's Sign Up For page. The city's separate Notify Me service carries all city news and information, plus meeting agendas, by email or text. For the wider region, Ready Harris, run by the Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, has its own alerts.

Before storm season

- Buy flood insurance before you need it. According to FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program, most homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage, and a new flood policy goes into effect 30 days after purchase, with exceptions such as buying while making or renewing a mortgage. - Build a kit. Ready Harris publishes an Emergency Essentials checklist and a multilingual preparedness guide. - Know your zone. Ready Harris posts the hurricane evacuation zone and evacuation route maps. - Watch the forecast from the National Weather Service office for Houston and Galveston. - Never drive or walk into floodwater. The National Weather Service warns that six inches of fast-moving water can knock over an adult, 12 inches of rushing water can carry away most cars, and the road beneath may have collapsed. Never drive around the barriers blocking a flooded road. - Know who to reach: City Hall, the police non-emergency line after hours, and Public Works; their pages on this site carry the numbers.

None of this is dramatic. It is the ordinary housekeeping of a city that has flooded before and intends to be ready next time.

Sources

- City of Bellaire, Flood Risk Management: https://www.bellairetx.gov/1548/Flood-Risk-Management - City of Bellaire, Drainage Facilities and Improvement Projects: https://bellairetx.gov/1937/Drainage-Facilities-and-Improvement-Proj - City of Bellaire, Centennial History Walk map: https://www.bellairetx.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2161/Centennial-History-Walk-Map?bidId= - City of Bellaire, Sign Up For (PrepareBellaire): https://bellairetx.gov/1763/Sign-Up-For - City of Bellaire, Communication and Media: https://bellairetx.gov/1869/Communication-and-Media - City of Bellaire, Notify Me: https://www.bellairetx.gov/List.aspx - City of Bellaire, Development Services portal (parcel search): https://ci-bellaire-tx.smartgovcommunity.com/ - City of Bellaire, Public Works, Solid Waste: https://www.bellairetx.gov/641/Solid-Waste - City of Bellaire, home page (City Hall and after-hours numbers): https://www.bellairetx.gov/ - Houston Chronicle, Bellaire assesses Harvey damage: https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/bellaire/article/Bellaire-assess-Harvey-damage-2-300-homes-12209916.php - Community Impact, Bellaire to start Cypress Ditch project: https://communityimpact.com/houston/bellaire-meyerland-west-university/government/2025/09/12/bellaire-to-start-cypress-ditch-project-after-decades-of-fighting-floods/ - Community Impact, Bellaire moves forward with Phase 1 of Cypress Ditch project: https://communityimpact.com/houston/bellaire-meyerland-west-university/government/2026/02/17/bellaire-moves-forward-with-phase-1-of-cypress-ditch-project/ - Community Impact, Bellaire officially breaks ground on new regional flood mitigation project: https://communityimpact.com/houston/bellaire-meyerland-west-university/government/2026/05/12/bellaire-officially-breaks-ground-on-new-regional-flood-mitigation-project/ - U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, Bellaire officially breaks ground on new regional flood mitigation project: https://fletcher.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=7373 - Texas Water Development Board, January 2026 board item on the Cypress Ditch project: https://www.twdb.texas.gov/board/2026/01/Board/Brd09.pdf - City of Bellaire, City Engineer memorandum on Hurricane Harvey: https://bellairetx.gov/DocumentCenter/View/20446/City-Engineer-Memorandum-Presented-to-Council-10217?bidId= - Realty News Report, Bellaire after Harvey (reports the city's 1,936 figure): https://realtynewsreport.com/real-estate-post-harvey-bellaire-regains-footing-after-1936-houses-flooded/ - Harris County Flood Control District, Brays Bayou watershed: https://www.hcfcd.org/Activity/Projects/Brays-Bayou - Harris County Flood Control District, Project Brays complete: https://www.hcfcd.org/Community/Press-Room?post=30%2B+Year+Flood+Damage+Reduction+Effort+%E2%80%9CProject+Brays%E2%80%9D+Now+Complete++ - Wikipedia, Brays Bayou: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brays_Bayou - FEMA, Flood Maps: https://www.fema.gov/flood-maps - Harris County Flood Education Mapping Tool: https://www.harriscountyfemt.org/ - Harris County Flood Warning System: https://www.harriscountyfws.org/ - FEMA National Flood Insurance Program, FloodSmart: https://www.floodsmart.gov/ and https://www.floodsmart.gov/policy-terms - Ready Harris: https://www.readyharris.org/ - National Weather Service, Houston/Galveston: https://www.weather.gov/hgx/ - National Weather Service, Turn Around Don't Drown: https://www.weather.gov/safety/flood-turn-around-dont-drown

En español

Bellaire drena por Cypress Ditch hacia Brays Bayou y se ha inundado varias veces: la tormenta tropical Allison inundó alrededor de 1,400 casas en 2001 y el huracán Harvey inundó alrededor de 2,000 en 2017. La ciudad trabaja en el programa Cypress Ditch, de unos 110 millones de dólares, con dos estanques de detención; las fechas de terminación reportadas pueden cambiar. Para conocer el riesgo de su casa, busque su dirección en los mapas de FEMA, en la herramienta del condado harriscountyfemt.org y en el sistema de alerta harriscountyfws.org. Inscríbase en PrepareBellaire para recibir alertas del Servicio Meteorológico Nacional y avisos de emergencia de la ciudad. Compre un seguro contra inundaciones con tiempo: la mayoría de los seguros de vivienda no cubren inundaciones y la póliza empieza 30 días después de la compra. Nunca maneje por calles inundadas.