Flooding concerns persist for residents in Old East Dallas neighborhood

The Mill Creek Drainage Relief Tunnel project, a 5-mile drainage tunnel that sits 75 to 150 feet underground, was expected to be done by 2024.

Residents in a historic Old East Dallas neighborhood say the prospect of persistent rain keeps them on edge. Additionally, a major project meant to provide relief to the area has been delayed several years.

The forecast over the next few days has Delores Lopez and her family a bit nervous.

“I have an 8-year-old granddaughter. When it starts raining, she starts getting panicked,” said Lopez. “It’s been a very scary experience.”

For 27 years, she’s lived on Alcalde Street in the Old East Dallas historic Peak’s Addition neighborhood. Based on experience, the prospect of rain means hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst.

“It [the water] went all the way inside our house and moved all of our furniture around, and we lost our vehicles,” she said.

She shared photos taken in June showing her front yard submerged in water.

Long-awaited flood relief is taking years longer than expected. The Mill Creek Drainage Relief Tunnel project, a 5-mile drainage tunnel that sits 75 to 150 feet underground, was expected to be done by 2024.

Some residents in the Peak’s Addition neighborhood live near one of the intake shafts along Victor Street. In an email from the city, NBC 5 was told the project is roughly 87% complete, with full completion expected in 2029.

A memo sent to the city’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in January cited delayed parts for the tunnel boring machine, permitting changes affecting concrete production, and COVID-19 supply chain disruptions.

The statement from the City of Dallas reads in part:

The Mill Creek Drainage Tunnel Project is under construction and is approximately 87% complete. The excavation was completed in the summer of 2022. Currently, concrete lining is being installed in the tunnel and is approximately 64% complete. The lining consists of 15-inch non-reinforced concrete. Although originally scheduled to be completed in 2024, construction is now estimated to be substantially complete in 2028 and fully complete by early 2029. The delay is attributed to COVID-19 impacts to the schedule, material procurement delays, and Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) assembly and breakdown.

A few doors down from Lopez, Sarah Wilson is watching the forecast closely as well. She shared photos, also taken in June, showing high water.

“We didn’t know what was going to happen. We were getting everything out of our safe and trying to put everything on top of cupboards and trying to put our dogs in the highest points we possibly could and trying to understand what to do, and it was absolutely terrifying,” she said.

With this history and shared experience, the neighbors have made a commitment to look out for one another when it feels the forecast calls for rain. All of them, waiting to see what happens this time around.