Flood Bond Meeting Changes Location; Make Sure You Submit Your Recommendations

The Harris County Flood Bond Meeting originally scheduled for July 10, 6pm at the Kingwood Community Center is changing location. The meeting will now be held at Kingwood Park High School on the same date and at the same time. The purpose for the change in venue is to provide additional seating and parking. The address is:

Kingwood Park High School
4015 Woodland Hills Drive
Kingwood, TX 77339

The purpose of the meeting itself is to solicit public input on things that people in this this area need to remediate flooding. Without your input, the risk is that we get generic solutions that don’t really address the root causes of flooding in the San Jacinto watershed. See my summary of what we need and why we need it below as well as my previous post on flooding causes and solutions in the Lake Houston area.

Meeting Format

According to Matt Zeve of Harris County Flood Control, the meeting will essentially consist of two parts: County officials explaining the bond process and citizens volunteering input about projects for their area. There will be no open microphone. County employees will be set up around the room for one-on-one discussions. Residents will also be able to submit ideas through workstations that will be set up around the room.

County Judge Ed Emmett, who used to live in Bear Branch and represented this area in the state legislature for many years, will personally attend the meeting.

All of Us are Smarter than Each of Us

Similar meetings are being held in each watershed throughout the county. Currently ten watersheds have completed their meetings. Thirteen meetings remain.

The idea is to involve residents to the maximum degree possible so that the County’s flood control professionals can listen and design solutions that best address the unique needs of each area.

This represents a great opportunity for all of the geotechnical professionals and others in the Humble/Kingwood/Huffman area, especially those who flooded, to volunteer their experience. The county is actively soliciting input.

I already volunteered my ideas online, but will also attend the meeting. If you have other ideas, of course, you should volunteer them.

Recommendations: More Dredging, Detention and Gates

My recommendations were a combination of three things. To restore our area to the original design assumptions, i.e., above the 100-year flood plain, we need:

• Additional Dredging
• Additional Detention
• Additional Gates

More DREDGING to restore the original carrying capacity of the river, streams and ditches.
More DETENTION to reduce the amount of water and sand coming downstream during floods.
More FLOOD GATES on Lake Houston’s dam so it can discharge water faster during a flood.

More dredging, detention and gates will help reduce flood risk for EVERYONE who lives or works on or near Lake Houston.

Currently Under Consideration for Flood Bond

To see the CURRENTLY proposed flood reduction projects for the San Jacinto River Watershed, please follow this link. If you are unable to attend the meetings you may also submit your comments online to HCFCD. The meetings will conclude August 1, allowing time for county officials to finalize the bond package for voters.

Background on Flood Bond

On June 12, Harris County Commissioners Court approved placing the $2.5 billion flood bond issue on the August 25 ballot, asking voters to finance a 10 to 15 year program of flood mitigation projects that include drainage improvements, upgraded warning systems, infrastructure repairs, home buyouts, and construction of more detention basins.

For more information, please contact the Harris County Flood Control District Bond Program Hotline at 713-684-4107.This could be the most important referendum in the county’s history. It is a defining moment. How we respond to Harvey will determine our collective future. This will help far more than people who flooded. Harvey affected almost everyone in the county. Through friends, families, rescue efforts, rebuilding, employers, transportation, schools and more. Vote to restore your community to way it was.The money in the bond package could more than double through matching funds. So a no vote is like throwing away at least $2.5 billion.

Posted 6/27/2018 by Bob Rehak
 
302 Days since Hurricane Harvey