Meritage Site Overflows Despite Detention Basin
2/13/25 – Phase I of the new 40-acre Meritage development in Atascocita between Pinehurst and Kings River overflowed after less than two inches of rain on Tuesday 2/11/25. Approximately an inch of that fell in a half hour.
While that is a pretty heavy downpour, it still falls short of the 1.43 inches per half hour needed to qualify as a 1-year rain on the Atlas-14 rainfall-probability scale.
Even when totaling the peak rainfall for an hour (less than 1.5 inches), it still doesn’t qualify as a one year rain.
The point is that this rainfall was far from extraordinary, yet the Meritage drainage system failed.
Video Shows Half-Flooded Street
A local resident sent me these videos of Pinehurst Trail Drive which runs between Phases I and II. In both videos, you’re looking toward Phase I, west of the street.
Still Photos Show Problems with Pollution Prevention Measures
I took the still photos below after the rain stopped. You can see how the accumulated rain overwhelmed the silt fence. Water ran over and under the fence, and into the street.
Insufficient Urgency
The silt fences and wattle roles visible in the photos and videos above certainly helped contain sediment-laden runoff. But they didn’t stop it.
The riskiest time during development happens between clearing and completion of construction when grass and landscaping are installed. All that erosion can reduce the conveyance of drains and ditches, increasing flood risk.
Yet virtually all of Phase I was cleared 11 months ago. Since then, the developer has installed a detention basin, but still not paved the streets, installed all the storm sewers or started home construction.
The excessive delays expose the neighborhood, its infrastructure and Lake Houston to more sediment pollution than necessary. But that’s not all. One neighbor complained that the water on Kings Park Way hasn’t dried out in five months. I have also heard complaints about mosquitoes because of constantly standing water.
One even quipped that they should advertise that they have a “lazy river.” (See below how the site looked a month earlier on January 8.)
Water entered the street on Feb. 11, exactly where that lazy river ends in the photo above.
It seems the street flooding we saw Tuesday resulted from a failure to build quickly once the land was cleared. It also resulted from a failure to contain water the developer couldn’t channel into the detention basin.
These failures don’t bode well for the future of the neighborhood.
For More Information
Meritage builds homes in 11 states. Their website also shows they build homes in 34 communities in the Houston area alone. The posts below contain photos of and background materials about the development.
12/23/24 – Meritage Finishes Clearing 40 Acres Between Pinehurst and Kings River
10/27/24 – Concerns About Fill Height in New Atascocita Development
3/11/24 – New Kings River Development Gets a Buzz Cut
2/13/24 – Meritage Begins Clearing 40 Acres for 210 Homes, Many Over Wetlands
2/26/24 – New Kings River Development Drainage Analysis, Plans Raise Questions
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/13/25
2725 Days since Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
