Dust to Dust: Another Forest Cove Townhome Complex Coming Down

Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) started tearing down the townhomes at 960 Marina Drive in Forest Cove this morning at 7:45 a.m. What took years to build will only take hours to destroy. Of course, nature began destroying these townhomes years before today. In Hurricane Harvey, 240,000 cubic feet per second of floodwater rampaged through them. That’s because these townhomes were built in the floodway and floodplain of the San Jacinto West Fork.

As I reviewed the photos I shot this morning, I saw massive piles of dried dirt tumbling from third floor apartments and even attics. That’s a testament to how high the water reached. And how foolish it is to build structures this close to the river. See below.

Demolition began at 7:45.
A few minutes later, note the dirt tumbling down from the attic space above the claw.
More dirt coming from another third-floor living space.
And if you thought the dirt might have been coming from the machine’s claw, see this shower of dirt tumbling to the left.

There’s only one way the dirt could get that high. Harvey deposited it.

Hopes and Dreams Bite the Dust

People built their hopes and dreams here. Invested their life savings here. Got married here under the shade of trees by the river.

But Mother Nature always gets the last word. And in this case, she reclaimed her territory.

Harris County Flood Control is buying out these townhomes and taking down each building as soon as every unit within them has been purchased.

Several more units remain. In the meantime, other builders are building more condos even closer to the river in Kings Harbor.

Hope springs eternal. New condos in Kings Harbor, a little more than a mile downstream from those being torn down in Forest Cove, and even closer to the West Fork.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/26/2021

1366 Days since Hurricane Harvey

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