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Water Damage Restoration in Dallas, TX
The Trinity River crested at 52.6 feet during the 1908 flood, still the city's highest recorded level; a $320 million relief tunnel is being bored to shield nearly 2,200 east-side properties. One call reaches vetted local water-damage pros, 24/7.
Active floods · Dallas
No active flood events near Dallas right now — see the live board.
Dallas County has recorded 28 federally declared disasters, four of them floods, the most recent stemming from the 2024 severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, and flooding. Rainfall here arrives in bursts rather than evenly: the area averages 36.2 inches a year, peaks in May at 4.78 inches, and has produced 8.11 inches in a single 24-hour period, a record set in September 2018. The city holds a FEMA Class 3 Community Rating System rating, one of twelve communities nationwide at that level.
Water-damage risk in Dallas
20
flood, hurricane & storm disasters declared in Dallas County (FEMA)
2024
most recent flood/storm declaration: Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding (FEMA)
0"
rain forecast for Dallas in the next 24 hours (NWS)
Sources: FEMA OpenFEMA — federally-declared disaster history (county FIPS 48113) · NOAA NCEI — 1991–2020 Climate Normals (station USW00003927)
Why Dallas homes flood
Flooding here is riverine and pluvial, not coastal. The Trinity River and its tributaries drain a low, flat basin, and the 1908 flood — which spread the river to 2 miles wide and left 4,000 people homeless — drove the response still standing today: levees approved in 1919 under the Kessler plan, roughly 30 feet high, extended in 1928 to shield nearly 10,500 acres.
Behind those embankments, floodplain geography is administrative as much as physical. The FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps in effect for Dallas County carry an effective date of March 21, 2019, and the county's floodplain administration reaches only unincorporated areas — incorporated cities administer their own. Property in a mapped 100-year zone (A, AE, AO, AH and related designations) carries a one percent annual chance of flooding under Texas Property Code Section 5.008, which also obliges sellers to disclose past water penetration from a natural flood event.
The city has taken part in FEMA's Community Rating System since 1991 and holds a Class 3 rating, one of only twelve nationwide, worth a 35 percent discount on National Flood Insurance Program policies. That rating reflects drainage investment, not immunity: 36.2 inches of annual rain arrives in bursts, and homes outside mapped zones take on water as well. A homeowner standing in it is working against the clock rather than the map — drying timelines, not flood zones, decide whether the loss stays structural or turns into mold. See the water damage restoration guide.
Flood repair permits & inspections
Two separate approvals can apply to flood repair here. A structure inside a mapped FP (floodplain) area needs the water utilities director's approval before any improvement begins — that office, not the building department, administers the floodplain regulations. Separately, a master permit from the building official covers the construction work itself, though minor repairs such as stopping a pipe leak without replacing valves or fixtures are exempt. A 50 percent test drives the outcome: restoration costing half the structure's value or more counts as substantial improvement, which is not permitted in an FP area. Cost documentation and an appraisal typically precede any application.
| Permit / inspection | When it applies |
|---|---|
| Improvements to a Structure in an FP Area — Substantial Damage Review (Dallas Development Code Sec. 51A-5.104(b)(2)) | The owner of a structure in a mapped FP area may not make any improvements without first obtaining approval from the director of water utilities. Approval requires that the cumulative value of all improvements over the previous five years stay under 50 percent of the structure's market or tax appraisal value, whichever is greater. No substantial improvements are permitted, and substantially damaged structures are considered substantial improvements. Improvement values are calculated per FEMA P-758. |
| Master Permit (Construction Codes) | A master permit from the building official is required before a structure or building service equipment is repaired, altered, replaced, improved, or removed. Outside historic, conservation, and planned development districts, no permit is required for stopping leaks in pipes, drains, or plumbing without replacing or rearranging valves, pipes, or fixtures; for single-family and duplex dwellings, nonstructural interior remodeling with no increase in floor area and no change to exterior doors or windows is also exempt. |
| Floodplain Alteration Permit or Fill Permit (Dallas Development Code Sec. 51A-5.105) | Required before a person deposits or stores fill, places a structure, excavates, or engages in any other development activity in an FP area, along with all other permits required by county, state, and federal agencies. Both are issued by the director of water utilities, who serves as floodplain administrator. An alteration permit may require hydrologic or hydraulic modeling — additions to existing structures are among the listed triggers. |
| Board of Adjustment Special Exception for Reconstruction (Dallas Development Code Sec. 51A-5.104(b)(4)) | Where a substantially damaged structure in an FP area cannot be rebuilt under the improvement rules, the board of adjustment may grant a special exception permitting reconstruction only if the structure is historical as defined by FEMA or the property is zoned for a functionally dependent use. No special exception may authorize reconstruction within a designated floodway if flood levels would rise during the base flood discharge, and reconstruction may not increase lot coverage. |
| DallasNow — Permit Applications and Inspection Scheduling | The Planning and Development Department launched this land management system in May 2025 as the route for building permit applications and inspections. Plan sets may be uploaded as multipage PDFs rather than individual sheets. The Inspections Interactive Voice Response system, relaunched in October 2025, lets contractors schedule inspections without computer access or login credentials. |
| Dallas County Floodplain Development Permit | Issued by the county only for development in floodplain within the unincorporated areas of the county; incorporated cities administer their own floodplains, so a property inside city limits is handled by the city floodplain administrator rather than the county. The FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps and Flood Insurance Study currently in effect for the county carry an effective date of March 21, 2019. |
Floodplain & drainage ordinances
- Construction Standards for Improvements in an FP Area (Dallas Development Code Sec. 51A-5.104(c))
- Repairs in a designated FP area must use flood-resistant materials: thermal insulation below the first floor cannot absorb water, plywood at or below the first floor must be exterior or marine grade, paints and finishes must be capable of surviving inundation, doors and wood trim must be sealed with waterproof paint, and electrical, heating, ventilation, plumbing, and air-conditioning equipment must be located at least three feet above the design flood elevation.
- Substantial Damage and Substantial Improvement Definitions (Dallas Development Code Sec. 51A-5.101(a)(42)-(43))
- Substantial damage means damage of any origin where restoring the structure to its before-damaged condition would cost 50 percent or more of the market value before the damage occurred. Substantial improvement measures against the greater of market or tax appraisal value and is triggered when the first alteration of any wall, ceiling, floor, or other structural part begins. Work done solely to meet health, sanitary, or safety code specifications identified in writing by the local code enforcement official is excluded.
- Compliance in Undesignated Floodplain Areas (Dallas Development Code Sec. 51A-5.103)
- Floodplain rules reach beyond mapped FP areas. Land within the design flood line of a creek or stream having a contributing drainage area of 100 acres or more must meet the article's FP requirements even if it was never formally designated. Alterations where the drainage area is smaller still follow the development code and city drainage standards, and any work that moves, encloses, or eliminates a natural stream channel triggers the filling engineering requirements regardless of drainage size.
- Freeboard in the 500-Year Frequency Flood Zone (Dallas Development Code Sec. 51A-5.104(d))
- Elevation rules extend past the mapped 100-year floodplain. All new construction located in a 500-year frequency flood zone must have its building pad site filled to an elevation of at least two feet above the 100-year flood elevation, and the lowest floor of any structure must be constructed at least three feet above that same elevation.
- Setback from Natural Channel Required (Dallas Development Code Sec. 51A-5.106)
- All development must be located behind the natural channel setback line, drawn at whichever is farther beyond the crest of the bank: a horizontal distance of 20 feet, or a plane rising from the channel toe at four to one where the channel holds clay or shale soil and three to one in all other cases. A structurally engineered retention system approved by the director may be substituted for the setback.
Local water-damage notes
- Dallas Floodway System — sumps and pump stations — The levee system includes sumps, pump stations and drainage for 51 square miles of watershed, and the residential and business districts it protects hold an estimated $13 billion in assets. The city operates 20 pump stations in total, three of them recent facilities using corrosion-resistant concrete volute pumps described as the largest of their type in the United States.
- Storm drainage, creeks and floodplain maintained by Water Utilities — Water Utilities maintains about 30 miles of levees and more than 1,800 miles of storm drainage pipe through regular inspection, cleaning, repair and emergency response. The system also covers roughly 700 miles of creeks and channels, 160 miles of which are city-owned, plus 39,000 acres of floodplain. During heavy rainfall, flood control staff work around the clock to clear blockages formed by debris, grass clippings and similar impediments.
- Rain-driven sanitary sewer overflows (inflow and infiltration) — Heavy rain pushes stormwater into the wastewater collection system through inflow and infiltration, producing sanitary sewer overflows. Following rainfall reported on August 22, 2022, the utility identified overflows across four major drainage basins and advised avoiding contact with affected waste material, soil or water. Private well owners within a half-mile of a spill site were told to use distilled or boiled water until wells were tested and disinfected. Crews monitor and clean up overflow locations under Texas Commission on Environmental Quality requirements.
- Cadillac Heights buyouts and Roland G. Parrish Park — After a May 1990 flood left severe damage in the Cadillac Heights neighborhood, the city bought and demolished scores of homes there instead of rebuilding in place, with pollution from nearby industry cited as an additional factor. The cleared land is becoming the 26-acre Roland G. Parrish Park at the southeast corner of Cedar Crest Boulevard and Morrell Road, funded with $8 million for final design and construction. A new levee backed by federal money is planned nearby along the Trinity River.
Cleanup & recovery services nearby
- Dallas County Home Chemical Collection Center — — free household-chemical drop-off at 11234 Plano Road for residents of 16 participating cities and unincorporated county areas, taking flood-soaked paint, pool and lawn chemicals, automotive fluids, batteries and fluorescent tubes; residents of non-participating cities pay a minimum $100 fee and proof of residency is required.
- Live Oak Dumpsters, LLC — — 10-, 15- and 20-yard open-top roll-off dumpsters delivered across the metroplex for tear-out debris, with seven-day delivery windows from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Dunk Junk Removal, Dallas — — locally owned hauler operating since June 2019 that removes ruined furniture, appliances, mattresses and construction debris such as drywall, carpet and roofing, recycling or donating 60 to 80 percent of what it collects.
- The Attic Self Storage — — family-owned since the 1970s with five metroplex locations, offering climate-controlled units at its Central Expressway and Walnut Hill sites for contents pulled out of a wet house, with access from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. year-round.
- Texas Tree Surgeons — — ISA Certified Arborists, half of them Board Certified Master Arborists, handling emergency storm work, tree removal and stump grinding across 32 North Texas cities.
By the numbers
- Deaths in the 1908 Trinity River flood — The 1908 flood also left 4,000 people homeless and remains the benchmark event for riverine flooding here.
- 11
- Rainfall preceding the 1908 flood, inches — Roughly 15 inches fell in a short span; damages equated to about $65 million in today's dollars.
- 15 in