Does Wharton, TX Flood?
Short answer
Yes — this is the best-documented fact about the city. Most of Wharton sits in the 100-year floodplain, Harvey damaged over a third of its buildings, and the city flooded again less than two years later.
Fact — government / primary source
“Roughly three quarters of Wharton’s area lies on a 1% (100-year) floodplain,” and Hurricane Harvey damaged “more than a third of all homes and buildings” in the city.
Source: Col. Rhett Blackmon, USACE Galveston District, Nov. 29, 2023
Fact — government / primary source
The National Weather Service documented “widespread catastrophic flooding across the county from both the Colorado and San Bernard Rivers.”
Source: NWS Houston/Galveston, Hurricane Harvey Info
Fact — government / primary source
The Colorado River at Wharton crested around 50.52 feet in Harvey — second-highest on record (the record: 51.90 feet, December 13, 1913). Roughly 1,300 homes and 163 businesses were damaged.
Source: Crossroads Today; ABC13 Houston (2017–2018)
Fact — government / primary source
In May 2019, flooding again overwhelmed Wharton’s sewage system and flooded parts of the city.
Source: KHOU (May 2019)
Our take — opinion
Two catastrophic floods in two years, a floodplain covering three quarters of the city, and a levee that took 25 years to break ground. The river is not a hypothetical here — it is a recurring line item.