Construction crews are gearing up to break ground on a second, $9.5 million phase of the T.C. Jester Stormwater Detention Basin near Cypresswood Drive and T.C. Jester Boulevard, adding two more compartments designed to provide additional detention storage and mitigate flood risk in Spring-Klein. The expansion is expected to begin before the end of the year and wrap up by the second quarter of 2027, according to the Harris County Flood Control District.
The district, which oversees the project, announced the timeline in an email newsletter sent Thursday, as reported by Community Impact. Phase II will tack on roughly 210 acre-feet of additional stormwater storage, building toward a basin system expected to eventually hold about 1,200 acre-feet total, or roughly 400 million gallons — the equivalent of about 590 Olympic-sized swimming pools, according to My Neighborhood News.
Work on the basin's first compartment broke ground in August, per the same Community Impact report, and the broader T.C. Jester project is ultimately designed to include four separate compartments. The final compartment, sited west of T.C. Jester Boulevard, isn't expected to start construction until 2027.
How the Money Is Stacking Up
The newly announced second phase — covering Compartments 1A and 2 — carries an estimated $9.5 million price tag, funded through $9.9 million in federal dollars and $3.3 million from the flood control district itself, including $600,000 drawn from the county's voter-approved 2018 bond for flood mitigation projects countywide, per Community Impact's reporting.
That follows a separate construction contract for Compartment 1B, awarded at $18.6 million, which is set to draw up to $25.9 million through federal disaster recovery grant funding and another $12 million in state community-directed funding, the outlet reports. The western compartment is about 44 acres. Compartment 1B includes an overflow weir engineered to pull high water directly out of Cypress Creek during intense storms, according to My Neighborhood News. Northtex Construction LLC is the contractor for excavation and site clearing on Compartment 1B, the outlet notes.
A separate west compartment of the basin system is estimated to cost $10.9 million, with $16.5 million expected through federal flood mitigation grant funding and another $1 million from the 2018 bond, per Community Impact.
A Deadline Reprieve Buys Breathing Room
The timing lines up with a significant break from state regulators. Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham announced on September 28 that Harris County's disaster recovery and mitigation projects — together totaling more than $1.1 billion — could receive a one-year deadline extension, according to Community Impact's reporting. That matters because CDBG-DR funding, which includes the up-to-$25.9 million earmarked for Compartment 1B, had carried a spending deadline of February 2027, while CDBG-MIT funds slated for the west compartment were due by March 2028.
The CDBG-DR completion deadline could be extended to February 2028.
The district also saw a leadership shakeup. In June, Harris County Commissioners Court appointed Marcus Stuckett as the flood control district's new executive director following the resignation of Dr. Tina Petersen, who stepped down amid county scrutiny over the grant spending delays, according to Texas Scorecard. Stuckett is slated to provide an update on countywide flood projects during the Harris County Commissioners Court meeting on October 15, per Community Impact.
Why Cypress Creek Keeps Backing Up
The basin addresses a specific hydrological problem identified by the flood control district's own regional drainage study for the Cypress Creek watershed: flooding along the creek's tributaries is predominantly caused by stormwater from Cypress Creek itself backing up into those tributaries, rather than a simple lack of drainage capacity, the district's website states.
The Cypress Creek Implementation Program is a flood-mitigation effort in the watershed, according to Community Impact. The watershed spans 267 square miles across Harris and Waller counties, per My Neighborhood News.
The T.C. Jester basin is one of several projects moving forward in the watershed. Hoodline previously reported Texas was slated to receive more than $1.6 million from FEMA for a study of the Cypress Springs and Ella basins and Tributary E116-00-00.
