Overview: The Onion Creek neighborhood has a history of flooding, with floods in the late 1800s and early 1900s leaving a mark on the neighborhood, according to Atlas Obscura. The first major flood occurred in 1998 which led to the destruction of over a hundred homes. In 2013, a flood on Halloween devastated the Onion Creek neighborhood as hundreds of houses were torn apart and as a result, millions of dollars were used in government spending, according to estimates by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This made way for many initiatives proposed by the city to remake the Onion Creek area into a park and a safe neighborhood, according to KVUE.
1970s
The Onion Creek area became a popular neighborhood with thousands of single-family homes. Due to mapping errors, some homes were in areas where floods were present every 25 years. According to the Austin-American Statesman, the construction was made possible due to a lack of federal regulations against building in a floodplain.
1998
A major flood hit the Onion Creek area destroying over 100 homes. This came after heavy rains fell over south and southeast Texas, causing Onion Creek, an area prone to flooding, to overflow rapidly. Urban areas such as San Antonio and Austin were majorly affected with severe damages in Travis, Bexar, Guadalupe, and Caldwell counties.
1999-present
Austin-American Statesman estimates the city has spent $35.5 million buying 322 homes in their 25-year flood plain since 1999 to prevent more devastating floods in the region. Of that, an estimated $7.5 million has come from FEMA. This was prompted after the major flood in 1998 and previous floods in 1921 and 1869.
2013
On Halloween night, a flood destroyed hundreds of homes in the Dove Springs and Onion Creek areas, killed an estimated four people, and displaced many families. The flood prompted the then-mayor Lee Leffingwell to declare a local state of disaster. According to USA Today, the height of water reached a record 41 feet, surpassing the previous 1869 and 1921 record of 38 feet.
2014
Six months after the 2013 Halloween flood, many of the residents who had damaged homes struggled to fix them. Letters were sent out from the city informing those with “substantially damaged” homes that they were prohibited from making any repairs until they were raised above the floodplain which can cost tens of thousands of dollars, according to the Austin-American Statesman.
2021
On December 2, the Austin City Council unanimously approved a resolution that came roughly two years after Phase 1 of the master plan was completed to transform many acres of the floodplain into a park. Through this resolution, the city aims to rejuvenate the area and create an Onion Creek Metro Park, KVUE reported. The park’s masterplan report estimates the park to be 555 acres along Onion Creek.
