The city of Alton is investing in an $8 million drainage project to combat flooding.

Residents living on Madison Street said the road turned into a lake during the 2018 and 2020 storms, and again in March 2025 during the historic rainfall and flooding event.

"You could literally get on a freaking boat and run a boat in here, it was horrible,” resident Osvaldo Rivera said.

Alton city leaders said Madison Street and East Polk Avenue currently lack drainage infrastructure. 

Alton City Manager Jeff Underwood said help is on the way. The city plans to add 60-inch pipes along Madison Street and East Polk Avenue to get all the water out of these neighborhoods.

“It will eventually end up at Josefa Garcia Park, and it will go into the pit there where we will be holding,” Underwood said, adding that the project will benefit more than 600 homeowners in the area. 

The project is funded with about $5 million in grants from the Texas Water Development Board, and about $3.5 million in loans, Underwood said.

According to Underwood, the project will begin in August 2025.

“Just please be patient with us,” Underwood said. “We are gonna get it done, and they are going to see the benefits of that really soon."

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