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SAN MARCOS, Texas – Nicholas Pinter, one of the country’s leading experts on flood plains, still can't believe the magnitude of the events of last month. In what was the wettest May the state of Texas has ever recorded, the worst floods in the state since 2011 left thousands of buildings damaged or destroyed and at least 23 people dead.
“This is where some of the worst flooding occurred,” said Pinter, standing along the Blanco River, just upstream from San Marcos. “Mother Nature is not forgiving when you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Nestled between Austin and San Antonio, San Marcos is the fastest-growing midsize city in the country and home to Texas State University, which set a record for student enrollment last year. It's just one of many cities and towns in Texas that has increasingly allowed developers to build squarely in harm’s way.
“Here we are in the state [that's] maybe the most pro-development, anti-regulation sentiment of any in the country," said Pinter, who's also a geology professor at Southern Illinois University. "We’re in the community that prides itself in being one of the fastest growing in the whole country. And this is where all this damage is occurring this year. I think maybe that’s not a coincidence.”
Almost every year, the state of Texas leads the nation in flood-related deaths and property damage. Three years ago, developers proposed building an off-campus housing complex just steps from the San Marcos River to help accommodate the growing student population at Texas State.
Dianne Wassenich, program director for the San Marcos River Foundation, has lived in the community for 30 years. She said she didn’t think there was any “earthly way” the state would rezone a riverbank for a large apartment complex.
“A great deal of San Marcos is in the flood plain…and you are allowed to build in the 100-year flood plain, and I think that’s pretty dangerous,” she said. “We’ve had quite a few 100-year floods lately. I don’t know if it’s climate change or what, but there’s something going on.”
Residents lined up to urge San Marcos city officials to reject the housing proposal. But in January 2013, city commissioners voted 5 to 2 in favor of a zoning change that would allow the off-campus housing project to move forward. It was a decision that Mayor Daniel Guerrero explained to reporters by saying: “I didn’t want the city to go into litigation.”
Pinter was quick to point out that mankind can’t stop the rain, but can stop disasters like this if state officials stop allowing building in areas prone to flooding. In 1968, the federal government created the National Flood Insurance Program to reduce the impact of flooding by providing affordable insurance. By bailing people out through insurance, as opposed to direct federal outlays, Pinter say it was supposed to encourage communities to adopt and enforce flood plain management regulations.
Dianne Wassenich
San Marcos River Foundation
But it hasn't stopped development, says Pinter. And today, the National Flood Insurance Program is $24 billion in debt.
“Lots of people are asking themselves, ‘How did we get into this situation?’” Pinter said. “A lot of it is this deference to private property rights.”
One person who tried to warn residents about the dangers of developing buildings near a riverbank was Stephen Ramirez, a local activist and a board member with the San Marcos River Foundation. Two years ago, he tried to alert the city to the threat of flooding on the flood plains. As the floodwaters began to inundate San Marcos a couple weeks ago, he used a drone to document the damage.
“Sadly, it was just, ‘We saw this coming. I told you so,’” he said.
It remains to be seen whether the tragic death and destruction of last month’s floods will be enough to cure “flood amnesia." Pressure for development from individual landowners and developers tends to cause people to forget the lessons learned during the last flood, said Pinter.
“Flooding is an avoidable disaster,” he said. “We’re failing to realize, through all these repeated flood events, [to] just back off a little bit.”
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