Heavy rain turned the Joachim Creek in De Soto into a river early this afternoon.
City Manager Todd Melkus said just after noon when the creek hit about 8.5 feet, first responders began knocking on doors, alerting residents of rising waters.
He said the first responders went to 30 to 40 homes, mostly on East Second and East Third streets, and he only knew for sure that one resident evacuated voluntarily
“I’m sure a number of other people did leave,” he said, adding others opted to stay home.
Melkus said he decides when to begin voluntary evacuations of residences on the east side of town along the creek, and once the creek reaches 10 feet, he typically asks first responders to start evacuating residences unless the rain is coming to a stop.
He said 10 feet is when the creek starts to get out of its banks.
When evacuations occur, residents can go to the First Baptist Church, 2000 Grace Way.
“The First Baptist Church opens their doors,” he said.
Today was the first evacuation exercise for De Soto Fire Chief Tony Ochoa since he took the position a year ago.
He said there were no water rescues or flooding-related injuries.
“We didn’t have to put a boat in,” he said.
Ochoa said a lot of people who live in along the creek were not home when first responders made their rounds.
He believes many of the people were at work and it would have been a different situation if the rain had arrived in the evening.
Melkus and representatives from the De Soto Fire Department, De Soto Rural Fire Protection District, Valle Ambulance District and De Soto Police Department were working out of the command center at the city’s fire department that morning, but by 2:45 p.m., the water had receded below the emergency level and they were able to shut down the command center.
Melkus said he thinks the creek rose above 10 feet this afternoon.
“De Soto Rural had to evacuate their engine house on (East Miller Street),” Ochoa said. “They pulled everything out and moved to our engine house.”
He said firefighters were dispatched to a house in the 1600 block of Rock Road at about 12:30 p.m. when it was pouring rain because of a possible lightning strike and because a tree fell, pulling the power lines from the house. The home sustained minor damage.
Ochoa said De Soto Public Works Department personnel assisted with the voluntary evacuation notification.
Melkus said it has been at least a couple of years since emergency responders had to go door-to-door to advise people about a voluntary evacuation.
“It has got to 10 foot a few times, but due to the weather, we knew it was going down, so we didn’t have to evacuate anyone,” he said.
The De Soto floodplain affects 354 homes, 109 commercial properties, an electrical substation, the De Soto Rural Fire Protection District and the De Soto Public Library, officials have reported.
According to the city’s flood resiliency and mitigation plan adopted last year, De Soto has seen an average of one flood event a year since 2017.
At 10 feet, the De Soto Rural Fire Station 1, 201 East Miller St., is no longer accessible. At 11 feet, crossing Joachim Creek along West Miller Road becomes very challenging, as is getting to and helping those in need on the east side of the town.
In the past six years, the city has completed multiple studies and plans to better understand and address flooding hazards along Joachim Creek, including the Upper Joachim Creek Floodplain Management Plan (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers); Joachim Creek Flood Study (U.S. Geological Survey); and the De Soto Emergency Action and Evacuation Plan.
The city has acquired at least 19 properties in the floodway for flood mitigation, and those properties will be part of a natural area to aid flood mitigation and may include a walking trail, Melkus said.
Residents or building owners who have experienced flooding may fill out a buyout interest survey at buy-in.org/sign-up.
In January, the city learned it was awarded $647,460.25 through a federal 75-25 Hazard Mitigation grant to buy four flood-prone properties as part of its flood mitigation efforts.
In the initial grant agreement between the city and State Emergency Management Agency, De Soto agreed to provide $154,286.75 toward the acquisition and demolition of structures on the four properties “and deed restrict them into open space for perpetuity.”
On May 20, the De Soto City Council voted unanimously to adjust the funding the state and city will provide for those four flood buyouts after appraisals came in higher than anticipated.
“The appraisals came in $262,860 higher than we applied for, but the state has agreed to cover 75 percent of the increased cost ($197,146), but that still leaves the city with the remaining 25 percent, which equates to $65,714 of additional cost,” Melkus said.
He said the city needed to amend the resolution to show FEMA that the state and the city are willing to kick in more money.