Brenham,  TX

Ardurra (fka GUNDA) was selected to provide general engineering consulting to the City of Brenham for major flood recovery. In May of 2016, over 19 inches of rain fell in the Brenham, Texas, area over a two-day period, with 16.62 inches falling on a single day. This major rain event caused severe damage to the public infrastructure including drainage channels, roadways, and roadway culverts. Additionally, erosion and scouring threatened the operations of the City wastewater treatment plant and the Lake Somerville water treatment raw water intake facility.

Soon after the storm, our staff, along with the City Engineer, conducted initial field investigations to address public safety and recommend mitigation actions. These initial investigations found infrastructure damage and failures at 28 locations. More detailed damage assessments were conducted at each location to fully understand the reason for each failure, determine damage limits, and also determine if any adjacent utilities were affected or would require any relocations to accommodate infrastructure repairs. We prepared a Technical Letter Report that documented observed erosion, failures, and associated damages at all 28 locations. This Letter Report provided conceptual repair/restoration options and a preliminary opinion of costs to make the necessary repairs. Repairs ranged in costs from a few thousand to several million dollars for individual location repairs. Location repairs were prioritized, with some smaller repairs being executed by the Brenham Maintenance Department while other locations required detailed engineering and/or extensive construction. Ardurra assisted in preparing documentation to receive Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) funding for many of the repairs.