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Water Damage Restoration in Medina County, TX
Medina County's Hill Country terrain turns high-intensity rain into severe flash floods — July 2026's flood emergency in flood-prone D'Hanis triggered multiple water rescues across the county. The site provides 24/7 connection to vetted local water-damage restoration pros.
Recent floods · Medina County
- Flood Warning — Medina, TX Jul 2026
- Flood Warning — Medina, TX Jul 2026
- Flash Flood Warning — Medina, TX Jul 2026
Water damage in the county is driven chiefly by flash flooding: the river and its Edwards Plateau tributaries can rise fast, as during the July 2002 flood of record that pushed Medina Lake Dam to its greatest loading and prompted a precautionary evacuation of Castroville. The county has logged 3 federally declared flood disasters and averages 30.3 inches of rain a year, and NWS Austin/San Antonio issued flash flood and flood warnings across the area on July 15, 2026.
Water-damage risk in Medina County
12
flood, hurricane & storm disasters declared in Medina County (FEMA)
2021
most recent flood/storm declaration: Severe Winter Storm (FEMA)
0.13"
rain forecast for Medina County in the next 24 hours (NWS)
Sources: FEMA OpenFEMA — federally-declared disaster history (county FIPS 48325) · NOAA NCEI — 1991–2020 Climate Normals (HONDO, TX US)
Recent events in Medina County
- Flood Warning — Medina, TX Jul 16, 2026
- Flood Warning — Medina, TX Jul 16, 2026
- Flash Flood Warning — Medina, TX Jul 16, 2026
- Flash Flood Warning — Medina, TX Jul 16, 2026
- Flash Flood Warning — Medina, TX Jul 15, 2026
- Flash Flood Warning — Medina, TX Jul 15, 2026
Live from the DisasterStatus event tracker — Medina County is named in each event's affected area.
Why Medina County homes flood
The Medina River is the county's defining drainage, rising in the Edwards Plateau and running southeast past Castroville — the town Henri Castro laid out in 1844 on a bend of the river. About 13 miles upstream of Castroville, a dam impounds a reservoir in a box canyon; the concrete structure was completed in the early 1910s and is operated by a multi-county water control and improvement district. When heavy rain falls on the upper watershed, that water funnels down toward Castroville and the low ground along the river and its tributaries.
The county's flood record is severe. The August 2, 1978 event, widely called a 500-year flood, dropped close to 50 inches on the watershed in 24 hours and killed 22 people. In July 2002 the flood of record loaded both dams, and Castroville was evacuated as a precaution. FEMA's record for the county includes 18 federally declared disasters across all hazard types — three of them flood events — and NWS Austin/San Antonio issued Flash Flood and Flood Warnings across the area as recently as July 2026.
For a homeowner near the river or one of its creeks, that history means floodwater can arrive fast and stand for days. Quick extraction and drying limit how far the damage spreads — the water damage restoration guide covers what to expect.
Flood repair permits & inspections
Flood-related repair work in the unincorporated area falls under the Environmental Health Department, whose department head is the designated Floodplain Administrator. Any man-made change inside a mapped special flood hazard area needs a Floodplain Development Permit before work begins, and the application form lists REPAIR alongside new construction, additions and fill as a development type. The administrator decides whether a job is a substantial improvement: repairs costing 50 percent or more of the structure's pre-damage market value pull the whole building up to current elevation standards instead of allowing like-for-like replacement. Permits run one year, inspections occur at preliminary, during-construction and final stages, and property inside incorporated cities is permitted by the city instead.
| Permit / inspection | When it applies |
|---|---|
| Floodplain Development Permit | Required before any development in a mapped special flood hazard area, where development means any man-made change to real estate including buildings, fill, grading, paving or excavation. The application's type-of-development list explicitly includes REPAIR, ADDITION and FILL, so post-flood reconstruction is covered. No work may start until the permit is completed and an Authorization to Construct number has been issued, and the permit is valid one year from issue and must be renewed if work is not finished in that time. |
| Substantial damage determination (50 percent rule) | The county's Flood Damage Prevention Court Order defines substantial damage as damage of any origin where the cost of restoring the structure to its before-damaged condition equals or exceeds 50 percent of the structure's market value before the damage occurred. Structures that have incurred substantial damage count as substantial improvements regardless of the actual repair work performed, which triggers full compliance with current elevation standards. |
| Preliminary and Final Foundation Elevation Certificate | A Preliminary Elevation Certificate taken from the construction drawings or the building under construction must be furnished before an authorization to construct an on-site sewage facility is issued. A Final Foundation Elevation Certificate is required within 10 business days of completion of the foundation, or the License to Operate will not be issued. The permit application also asks for structural improvement cost, existing structure value and the appraisal year, which are the inputs the administrator uses to run the substantial-improvement test. |
| Lowest-floor elevation standard for rebuilt structures | Where base flood elevation data exists, new construction and substantial improvement of any residential structure must have the lowest floor, including basement, elevated at least 18 inches above the base flood elevation, certified to the Floodplain Administrator by a registered professional engineer, architect or land surveyor. A manufactured home in an existing park that has incurred substantial damage from a flood must be rebuilt on a permanent foundation with its lowest floor at the same 18 inches above base flood elevation and anchored against flotation, collapse and lateral movement. |
| Floodplain compliance inspections | The permit records inspections at four stages: preliminary, complaint, during construction and final, with space to log violations and a re-inspection date. Applicants consent in writing to reasonable inspections by the Floodplain Administrator or a representative to verify compliance. The final inspection checklist requires that the elevation certificate has been received and that the permit application and work are in compliance before the file is closed. Development may not be used or occupied until a permit number or an on-site sewage facility License to Operate has been issued. |
| City-issued floodplain permits inside incorporated cities | The county order applies to areas of special flood hazard within the jurisdiction of the Commissioners Court, which leaves incorporated cities to administer their own regulations. Devine, for example, issues its own numbered floodplain development permit and will issue a development permit exemption certificate for proposed work that is not within the FEMA-mapped 100-year floodplain. Its provisions bar occupancy until required inspections are approved or a Certificate of Compliance is issued, and require an elevation certificate, if required, within 10 business days of foundation completion. |
Floodplain & drainage ordinances
- Flood Damage Prevention Court Order, Article 2 — “Substantial Improvement” / “Substantial Damage” (50 percent rule)
- If flood repairs to a structure in a Medina County special flood hazard area cost 50 percent or more of the building's market value before the damage, or the flood damage itself reaches that threshold regardless of what repair work is done, the county treats the whole structure as new construction and the owner must bring it fully into compliance with the order.
- Flood Damage Prevention Court Order, Article 5, Section B(1) — Residential Construction (lowest-floor elevation)
- Once a repair counts as a substantial improvement, the home's lowest floor, including any basement, must be elevated at least 18 inches above the base flood elevation, and a registered professional engineer, architect, or land surveyor must certify the finished elevation to the Floodplain Administrator before the work is accepted.
- Flood Damage Prevention Court Order, Article 5, Section A — General Standards (anchoring, flood-resistant materials, utilities)
- Substantial-improvement repairs must use materials resistant to flood damage, be anchored to prevent flotation and lateral movement, and locate electrical, heating, plumbing, and air-conditioning equipment so water cannot enter it, meaning drywall, wiring, and mechanicals below flood level cannot simply be replaced in kind.
- Flood Damage Prevention Court Order, Article 3, Section C — Establishment of Development Permit
- No structure in a county area of special flood hazard may be altered or reconstructed without first obtaining a Floodplain Development Permit from the county Environmental Health Department, so flood repairs in the mapped floodplain must be permitted and reviewed before work begins rather than after the fact.
Local water-damage notes
- Medina Dam and Medina Lake sit on the county's main river — The dam, a gravity concrete structure 164 feet high and 1,580 feet long completed in 1913, impounds the lake on the county's main river. It is owned and operated by the Bexar-Medina-Atascosa Counties Water Improvement District No. 1 and holds 254,823 acre-feet at conservation pool per a 1995 survey.
- Dam-failure inundation corridor runs Rio Medina to Castroville to La Coste — The water district's Emergency Action Plan for the dam maps a downstream inundation corridor from the dam through Castroville and La Coste toward Lackland Air Force Base. On detection of an emergency the district notifies the county Sheriff's Department and the National Weather Service, which coordinate street-level evacuations using the inundation maps.
- D'Hanis has a dedicated Seco Creek flood-mitigation project — The county was awarded a Fiscal Year 2022 Flood Mitigation Assistance grant, the D'Hanis Flood Mitigation Grant, to reduce Seco Creek flooding through D'Hanis. The county published 50-year and 100-year floodplain maps comparing pre- and post-mitigation conditions and held public town-hall meetings on October 11, 2022 and April 3, 2025.
- The July 2002 flood of record forced a precautionary Castroville evacuation — In July 2002 the flood of record produced the greatest loading event the dam and its diversion dam had experienced, prompting a precautionary evacuation of downstream Castroville amid continued heavy rain and limited engineering data on the dams. The dams were inspected in April, July, and September 2002.
Cleanup & recovery services nearby
- South Texas Refuse Disposal Inc — — Hondo-based roll-off container rental (15–40 yd) plus five local waste collection stations for household and cleanup debris.
- Bowyer's Tree Service — — Devine-based crew handling emergency tree removal, storm-damage work, and stump removal across Hondo and Castroville.
- Tree Brush TX — — brush, tree, and storm-debris removal plus land clearing and forestry mulching throughout Medina County.
- Hondo Attic Self Storage — — climate-controlled and standard self-storage units in Hondo for holding belongings during repairs.
- Alsatian Attic Self Storage — — climate-controlled units and vehicle/RV parking on Hwy 90 E in Castroville serving La Coste, Hondo, and nearby towns.
By the numbers
- Average relative humidity — High overnight humidity keeps interiors damp, feeding mold growth after water intrusion.
- 81% at 6 A.M., 49% at 6 P.M.
- FEMA National Risk Index rating — The county's overall multi-hazard risk rates Relatively Low nationally; building stock is valued at about $9.07 billion.
- Relatively Low (Risk Index score 68.70)