Harlingen has a new plan to bring more shade to the city and city leaders say it could also help with flooding.

The city's new urban forestry program was approved last week and it has a big goal — more than 100,000 new trees over the next decade.

The city is starting with about 1,000 trees secured through two grants. They said the trees cover about 15 percent of Harlingen.

The goal is to increase coverage to between 20 percent and 22 percent by 2037.

"First and foremost, we need to hit the trails," Mayor Pro Tem Daniel Nemecio Lopez said. "We want to make sure that whenever you go to exercise outside, you're not dying from heat and you're not cooking on the sidewalk."

The city also wants to plant native trees near waterways to help absorb rainwater and withstand flooding.

The project is set to begin in January.