The Montgomery County Highway Department wants residents to know, that we are setting up a series of pumps today. These pumps, brought in from outside our local area, are being used to remove water from the basins and increase stormwater capacity. We are hopeful this will allow residents back into their homes soon and will provide updates on road openings as they become available.

Montgomery County is committed to investing in the necessary upgrades to protect our residents and their property. Following the heavy rain in February, we engaged engineers to work on a long-term solution to manage stormwater and prevent this from happening again. We appreciate your patience as we address the challenges presented by the extreme April rain event.

Farmington Basin Flooding:
Before the April rain event, the ground was already saturated from rainfall in February. The injection wells were almost full (70-80% capacity) before the rain event began, and the Dunlop Basin was holding water from earlier storms, indicating it wasn’t draining well.

Due to saturation levels and basin conditions, ahead of the storm, we took steps to lower water levels and reduce flood risk. Highway crews placed a small pump to move water from Dunlop to Farmington, with the capacity to flow at a maximum throughput of 1500 gallons per minute and utilized a larger pump with a capacity of 3600 gallons per minute to speed up water flow from Farmington’s main basin to the one with an injection well.

However, despite those efforts, several factors led to the system becoming overwhelmed. The injection well in Farmington suddenly stopped draining, likely due to a blockage or the aquifer being too full to absorb more water. At the same time, a large basin north of International Blvd. crested and overflowed into the Dunlop basin, leading to the addition of an excessive volume of water flowing into the Farmington Basin, with no surface outlet directly connecting to the Red River, overwhelming an already taxed system.

Our early calculations estimate that this flow contributed more than 250,000 gallons per minute (equivalent to filling an Olympic-sized swimming pool every two to three minutes) to the Farmington basin over Dunlop Road. We are continuing to gather more data and will publish a full report on the rain flow and volume.

POC: Joshua Peltz
Email: Jpeltz@mcgtn.net