One Man’s Struggle Against Rising Floodwaters, Sand Mines and SJRA

8/10/2024 – Sometimes Randy Reagan must feel that he has struggled for most of his adult life against rising floodwaters, sand mines and the San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA). He has flooded six times in the last nine years. Still, he’s rebuilding on a lot he bought 30 years ago. But he’s doing it differently this time.

Erosion of Country Lifestyle

Reagan grew up not far from the San Jacinto West Fork. He remembers a time as a child before Lake Conroe when the river ran clear and teemed with fish.

His wife grew up in the same neighborhood. Her parents were the first settlers in an area that came to be known as Bennett Estates between FM1314 and the San Jacinto West Fork.

They loved living near the river and all the abundant wildlife. So Reagan bought 5.5 acres for $10,000 back in the mid-’90s. He put a mobile home on it and started raising a family. He hunted all the meat his family ate from his own property and the surrounding forests. Life was good.

The 1994 flood was the highest ever in that area. The SJRA released 56,000 cubic feet per second (CFS) from Lake Conroe during the storm. So Reagan elevated his home a foot above the high water mark from that storm and figured he was safe.

But gradually, his dream of peaceful, country living turned sour. In the mid-2000s, two companies started mining sand near his home – one a few blocks north, the other immediately south of his property.

The mines accelerated runoff and erosion. They also changed local drainage patterns in ways that flooded his property.

In the meantime, upstream areas grew, also increasing runoff. And by the time I first met Reagan in early 2020, his property had flooded five times in four years. The worst: Harvey in 2017. Ninety-three inches of water invaded his home. That’s almost 8 feet! See that story here.

Eventually, Reagan tore down the mobil home. Repeat flooding had caused the foundation to shift and destabilized it. He and his wife began living in his workshop or with relatives.

Reagan tried to get a low-interest SBA loan through FEMA to rebuild. But they denied him because he had “let his flood insurance lapse after Harvey.”

“Of course I let it lapse,” said Reagan. “There was nothing left to insure. The home was gone.”

Fast Forward Four Years

The May flood this year swamped his property again after the SJRA opened the gates on Lake Conroe and began releasing 72,000 CFS, the second highest release rate in SJRA history.

Only Harvey exceeded that rate. SJRA released 79,000 CFS in 2017 during Harvey.

Since then, Reagan began planning his comeback against Mother Nature, the sand mines and SJRA.

His dream now is to build a foundation for a new home up 10 feet above the original level of the land. That would make the land higher than the Harvey high-water mark.

Then he wants to build a new home up on stilts, another ten feet above the elevated foundation. It would be elevated 20 feet above his first home on the property and more than 10 feet above Harvey. Hopefully, that will keep him safe for a few years.

The retired oil-field worker and bull rider is looking at designs from UB Homes. He also hired a MoCo excavation company, Graham Land Services, to excavate a pond at the back of the property.

Dirt from the pond is building up the foundation where his new home will go.

Pros and Cons of Rebuilding in Location that Floods

On the plus side:

• Mining behind his property has ceased. He now has a 42-acre pond behind him. No one will ever build behind him and spoil his view.
• He can still hunt on his property.
• Despite the flooding, property values have appreciated. Not far away, a home recently went up for sale at $1.4 million.
• Development in surrounding areas has brought shopping, services and hospitals closer to home without changing his country-living atmosphere.
• The May flood deposited fish in Reagan’s pond, which are now thriving.

On the minus side:

• All the tractor work has taken a toll on Reagan’s aging body. He complains of aching joints and bulging disks in his back and neck. He’s also fighting knee and shoulder pain from a lifetime of backbreaking work in the oil fields and on his property.
• He wishes SJRA would pre-release water from Lake Conroe at much slower rates in advance of major storms, but has little hope that they will. “This May flood could have been totally avoided if they would have let water out sooner,” said Reagan. “SJRA needs to start operating the Lake Conroe Dam a lot better than what they’re doing.”
• Reagan feels SJRA places Lake Conroe recreation above the protection of downstream property.
• He feels he would have to move north of Huntsville to find the kind of flood-safe country living he once enjoyed. “It’s hard to get a piece of country living anymore in Montgomery County. It’s all going away,” said Reagan.

A Pioneer Spirit

Reagan typifies the struggle many Houstonians feel. He loves nature and living near water – until floods exact their terrible price. Still, he returns. To fight for a life he loves.

I admire the fact that he’s not waiting for others to protect him from the ravages of West Fork flooding. By elevating his property and home, he’s protecting himself and his family.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/10/24

2538 Days since Hurricane Harvey