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Resident urges council to reject Houston Engineering’s 100‑year flood standard, cites 2010 and 2016 storms
Summary
Resident Larry Muff told the New Richland City Council the county-funded flood-control study uses a 100‑year rainfall standard that he says understates local risk after 2010 and 2016 storms, and urged the city to require designs that address 200‑year events or to replace the consultant.
A New Richland resident told the city council on Nov. 12 that a county-funded flood-control study prepared by Houston Engineering is inadequate because it uses a 100‑year rainfall standard while the town has experienced 200‑year rainfall events in 2010 and 2016.
Larry Muff, who identified himself as a South Broadway resident and a former member of the Soil and Water Conservation District board, said the consultant told county officials the 100‑year design is triggered by roughly 7 inches of rain in 24 hours, while the 2010 and 2016 storms produced 11–12 inches in 12 hours. “I was shocked when they come back this time with another 100‑year flood event,” Muff said, arguing that models and default settings understate the on‑the‑ground high‑water marks he observed during past floods.
Muff said the study also understates land‑cost estimates used for routing and estimated the northern route land cost at $6,000 per acre — a figure he called unrealistic for farmland. He estimated prior study cost ranges “probably over $10 million” and suggested the combined studies to date have paid Houston Engineering more than $100,000 without producing a design that would protect against the town’s largest events.
Muff recommended replacing the consultant and urged the council to plan for a system that would handle a 200‑year rainfall event. He also urged councilmembers to inspect historic high‑water marks in person rather than relying solely on model outputs.
The council did not take formal action on the public comment. The administrator said Houston Engineering will provide an overview and host an open house for public questions, tentatively planned for mid‑December; no consultant response to Muff’s critique was recorded in the meeting transcript.
