Improving existing structures, including the Addicks and Barker Reservoirs;
Improve existing flood control structures, including the Addicks and Barker Reservoirs.
Occurrences
Expediting the projects recommended following the Buffalo Bayou Resiliency Study;
Identifying additional detention areas;
Revising the floodplain maps;
Devising and installing a system for coastal surge protection;
Incentivizing public-private partnerships;
Ensuring federal projects are completed on time and on budget.
Evidence
The campaign issue page says, under Flooding, that Fletcher wants to improve existing structures, including the Addicks and Barker Reservoirs.
Fletcher announced $36,717,825.60 in FEMA funding to repair Addicks Reservoir channels damaged by Hurricane Harvey and restore them to pre-Harvey levels of conveyance.
Fletcher announced nearly $9.8 million in FEMA funding to restore channels flowing into Barker Reservoir to pre-Harvey capacity by removing sediment and repairing the drainage system.
The House passed H.R. 7776, the Water Resources Development Act, and Fletcher voted yea; her office later said the bill authorized technical assistance for removing sediment obstructing inflow channels to the Addicks and Barker Reservoirs.
USACE said the BBTRS was intended to identify and recommend actions to address changed flood risks around the Addicks and Barker reservoirs and evaluate structural and non-structural measures, including tunnels, spillway modifications, levees, channel modifications, and changes in operations.
The USACE Galveston District page says the Buffalo Bayou and Tributaries Resiliency Study now has both a Chief's Report and a Report of Findings, indicating the study process Fletcher advocated for reached completion in 2025.
Assessments
Fletcher materially supported and announced federal actions related to Addicks and Barker flood-control work during her time in Congress, including FEMA funding for Addicks and Barker channel repairs, support for WRDA authorization affecting reservoir inflow channels, and advancement of the USACE Buffalo Bayou and Tributaries Resiliency Study. These are concrete same-term steps toward the promised outcome. However, the evidence shows repairs, sediment removal, technical assistance, and planning/study completion rather than full implementation of broader improvements to the existing flood control structures themselves, so the promise is best credited as partially fulfilled rather than fully delivered.
Fletcher promised to improve existing flood control structures, specifically including Addicks and Barker Reservoirs. The evidence shows concrete same-term progress: FEMA funding was announced for repairs to Addicks channels and Barker watershed channels, WRDA language authorized technical assistance for sediment removal affecting the reservoirs, and USACE advanced the Buffalo Bayou and Tributaries Resiliency Study through later final-report stages. These are real repair, restoration, funding, and planning actions tied directly to the promised structures. However, the record does not show that broader reservoir improvements were fully constructed or completed, so the promise is best rated partial rather than delivered.