Now You See It; Now You Don’t. Second Biggest Blockage on West Fork GONE!

These two images, taken almost two years apart, show one of the most dramatic improvements to West Fork conveyance – the removal of a giant blockage that the Army Corps nicknamed Sand Island.

Sand Island mysteriously appeared during Harvey almost overnight and virtually blocked the entire West Fork of the San Jacinto. Today, the blockage is gone as the before/after photos below show.

Taking Time to Reflect on Accomplishments

This is what Sand Island looked like two weeks after Harvey. It appeared virtually overnight. I took this shot from a helicopter.

Facing east. Sand Island blocks the entire west fork of the San Jacinto. The Kingwood Country Club is in the upper left portion of the photo. Shot from a helicopter on 9/14/2017.

Bayou Land Conservancy Provides the “After” Photo

Suzanne Simpson, Land Stewardship Director for the Bayou Land Conservancy, was doing a wetlands inventory with her drone near River Grove Park this morning. She captured a similar shot below of the same area.

After more than a year of dredging, Sand Island is finally gone. The Army Corps and Great Lakes have restored conveyance on this portion of the San Jacinto West Fork, immediately downstream from River Grove Park. Shot by Suzanne Simpson with a drone on 7/18/2019.

A Job Well Done

This pair of images shows the dramatic improvement in conveyance to this portion of the river. Kudos to the Army Corps and their contractors, especially Great Lakes, which managed this portion of dredging.

Clearing the river of blockages like these should have a dramatic impact on conveyance and help reduce future flooding.

Great Lakes is now working on the mouth bar farther downriver, while Callan Marine is dredging the area near Kings Harbor. Only the mouth bar was/is a bigger blockage on the West Fork than Sand Island.

Additional thanks go to FEMA for funding the project, the Texas Division of Emergency Management, former Congressmen Ted Poe, and the City of Houston.

Since dredging started almost a year ago, the Corps has removed 1.8 million cubic yards of sediment. That’s enough sand to fill the Astrodome.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/18/2019

688 Days After Hurricane Harvey