Montgomery County commissioners are set to consider approving a debris-monitoring vendor Thursday, Aug. 20, for a $60.37 million flood mitigation program targeting Stewart Creek, Lake Creek and East County drainage systems that serve The Woodlands area.
The vote, scheduled for the 9:30 a.m. Commissioners Court session, would clear the way for crews to begin removing obstructions and repairing eroded streambanks across the San Jacinto River watershed. The meeting takes place at the Alan B. Sadler Commissioners Court Building, 501 N. Thompson St., Suite 402, in Conroe.
The Texas General Land Office announced the $60.37 million for Montgomery County in March 2025 after the county's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management filed an application in 2022, Community Impact reported. The money is split across three project areas: East County ($36.4 million), Stewart Creek ($15 million) and Lake Creek ($9 million).
The work will remove tributary barriers and vegetative obstructions from waterways and stabilize streambanks using structural and nature-based techniques to restore creeks to full channel capacity, according to the county's grant application.
Why it matters locally
Repeated flooding since 2015 has accelerated erosion along streambanks while flood-borne debris has choked drainageways, reducing channel capacity and pushing floodwaters beyond mapped floodplain boundaries. At Stewart Creek near Magnolia Drive, the eastern bank has failed due to erosion and sedimentation, threatening a residential neighborhood and the road itself. Hurricane Harvey in 2017 caused Stewart Creek to significantly exceed normal water levels at that location.
FEMA modeling estimates a 500-year flood event in the San Jacinto Basin could destroy 847 homes and commercial structures, cause $1.025 billion in property damage and displace 7,379 households in Montgomery County.
The county has weathered five federally declared flooding events since 2015, including Hurricane Harvey.
Project timeline
Commissioner Ritch Wheeler's Precinct 3 office, which represents The Woodlands, issued a required federal environmental review notice for the project on June 12. The county posted the debris-monitoring request for proposals on July 10 and issued a separate engineering services solicitation on Oct. 30, 2025, for geomorphic analysis and streambank stabilization design along roughly 1,000 linear feet of Stewart Creek near the West Fork San Jacinto River.
Thursday's vote would authorize the county to negotiate with the selected debris-monitoring vendor. No construction start date has been publicly announced.
County Judge Mark Keough presides over the five-member court, which also includes commissioners Robert C. Walker (Precinct 1), Charlie Riley (Precinct 2), Wheeler (Precinct 3) and Matt Gray (Precinct 4).
Also on Thursday's agenda: a $220,237 contract with EHRA Engineering for design services on Longstreet Road Phase 1 in Precinct 1, additional Precinct 2 road bond projects and a public hearing on amendments to the county's thoroughfare plan.
The meeting is open to the public at the Sadler building in Conroe.
