Calling Tropical Storm Harvey's devastation a "game-changer," Harris County Judge Ed Emmett on Monday called for a sweeping reexamination of the region's flood control strategy, a process that could include billions of dollars to upgrade aging dams, building a new storm water reservoir and ramping up regulations to tamp down booming development in flood-prone areas.

The set of options outlined by Emmett on Monday, if implemented, would be the biggest change in decades to how the Houston region protects against its perennial rains and floods. Emmett said everything would be on the table, including large-scale buyouts, banding with surrounding counties to create a regional flood control district and seeking authority from the state to levy a sales tax to pay for what likely would be a massive initiative.

Emmett, a Republican who has served as county judge since 2007 and largely is seen as a pragmatist, likened the changes to a post-flood push in the 1930s that led to the creation of the Harris County Flood Control District and the construction of the Addicks and Barker dams on the city's west side, which today protect thousands of homes of homes, downtown Houston and the Texas Medical Center.

"We can't continue to say these are anomalies," Emmett said. "You've got to say, 'We're in a new normal, so how are we going to react to it?'"

Jim Blackburn, an environmental lawyer and frequent critic of Harris County's flood control strategy, was encouraged after hearing Emmett's comments Monday.

"This is the single best piece of news I have heard post-Harvey from any elected official," said Blackburn, who has sued the county on several occasions and co-directs Rice University's center on Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters. "I would like to hear every one of them say that."

During Harvey's onslaught, up to 52 inches of rain fell across Harris County, flooding more than 100,000 homes, inflicting billions of dollars in damage to infrastructure and other public costs, according to county and city estimates provided last week, and killing more than 70 people.

The county's approach to flood control is two-pronged. The flood control district spends roughly $60 million every year to build detention basins, widen and straighten channels and conduct small-scale buyouts of properties that have flooded repeatedly. The county also requires developers and builders to offset the impact of paving over flood-absorbent ground by building detention ponds.

Flood control officials estimate nearly 178,000 structures are in the county's floodplain, most built before regulations were implemented in the 1980s. Only a fifth of the county's 2,450 miles of bayous, creeks and drainage channels can contain a 100-year storm event.

Flood control officials estimate that providing 100-year-flood protection to all the homes in the county would cost upwards of $20 billion.

Meanwhile, the Memorial Day 2015, Tax Day 2016 and Harvey floods all featured at least 500-year level rainfall; in Harvey's case up to 40,000-year rainfall, according to flood control district meteorologist Jeff Lindner.

Should Emmett generate a consensus on boosting area flood control efforts, the question then becomes one of how to pay for it. Emmett said some portion could come from the federal government, which routinely grants Harris County hundreds of millions of dollars for disaster recovery, housing and other infrastructure upgrades.

He also floated the possibility of reallocating Harris County's budget to make flood control a greater priority.

"I don't think there's a subject more important than what we do about flooding," the judge said. "I think it has jumped to the top of the list, ahead of transportation, ahead of crime, flooding is the issue we long-term need to address."

Instead of considering a property tax rate hike, he would look to state lawmakers to provide Harris County another stream of revenue, such as a sales tax.

Gov. Greg Abbott's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, had not seen the options outlined by Emmett, but said senators were discussing what changes could be made statewide in Harvey's wake.

"I think everybody that looks at Harvey with a rational mind wants to change some things in the future," he said.

Included in the options Emmett outlined Monday were buyouts, not just of individual homes, but whole tracts of land. He said a wish-list of homes that are not already being targeted by projects, such as the upgrades on Brays Bayou, could cost $2.5 billion.

A regional flood control district could be modeled after the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District, created in 1975 to oversee the conversion from well water to surface water after sinking ground alarmed residents and public officials.

Emmett said given the repetitive flooding, the 100-year standard the county uses to design projects and regulate development, would need to be reexamined.

"We basically had three 500-year events in two years,' he said.

An additional reservoir and a levee in the northwest part of the county to back floodwaters from Cypress Creek - both part of the options Emmett outlined - had been part of an original U.S. Army Corps plan when it built the Addicks and Barker reservoirs. Those projects failed to materialize, however, and land costs became prohibitive as people moved in.

The Army Corps did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday afternoon.

At least two of Emmett's colleagues on Commissioners Court agreed with the broad strokes of his comments.

"I think the judge is spot on," said Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle, a Republican, whose own home flooded during Harvey. "I would like to see us not only go forward to the reservoir, which had been previously planned in the 1940's, but that we would also examine all of our bayous and our creekways in terms of trying to increase the green space and the areas for which our waters can flow to."

Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis, the lone Democrat on Commissioners Court, said the county needs to take a holistic approach that considers "everything from the long-term effects of climate change on our region to proper and equitable infrastructure investments to meaningful planning restrictions."