Galena Park mayor says city is short of cash needed for storm water upgrades

GALENA PARK, Texas (KTRK) -- Just six weeks on the job, the new mayor of Galena Park was rolled up his sleeves Tuesday night to help combat localized flooding. The mayor said the Manor subdivision near Galena Manor and Clinton Drive has been a problem area for years, but a lack of investment and deferred maintenance has let the problem fester.

Resident Judy Barns said that when she was a child, she remembers the flooding on her neighborhood street being fun.

"When we were younger, we would get out and think we were swimming in the yard, but that was before it was as polluted as it is now," Barns said.

Now, more than 70 years later, she recognizes it poses more of a problem.

"I'm looking out the window, and I see the water going higher and higher and higher," Barnes said.

The reason the water was rising Tuesday night, according to Galena Park Mayor Oscar Mireles, was outdated stormwater systems.

"They're telling me the storm drains have never been updated; it's not something they think about," Mireles said.

Mireles has been on the job for just six weeks. He blames the previous administration for deferring maintenance that could improve drainage here and in other parts of the community.

Mireles said debris from busy ship channel traffic washes into storm drains, which are narrow, outdated, and often become clogged underground.

But updating the drainage costs money, which the city doesn't have.

"We have 12 years of neglect that we are trying to get through, and we are trying to take things one at a time," Mireles said.

Mireles said he's been reaching out to the Houston Port Authority and Harris County Flood Control District, seeking grants or a helping hand, because while no homes flooded this time, he worries that won't always be the case.

It's a concern shared by Barnes.

"Something needs to be done with the drainage system," Barnes said.

Mireles said they have crews coming out that will put cameras down the drains to do a more comprehensive assessment of what's going wrong underground. He's hoping that will help them build a better plan to tackle the ongoing problem.