Blocked Ditch Under Kingwood Drive Near High School

4/27/25 – A drainage ditch that runs under Kingwood Drive about a tenth of a mile west of Kingwood High School is blocked. Where the ditch runs through the median, it has become so overgrown, you cannot even see it.

Historical images in Google Earth suggest that the City has not cleared the ditch since 2002. Full height trees have grown up in it, contributing to the blockage.

During Harvey, Kingwood High School flooded to the second floor. Four-thousand students had to be bussed to other schools for a year during decontamination and reconstruction.

4000 Students at Kingwood High School — *Kingwood High School during Harvey. Kingwood Drive (upper left), one of the area’s main evacuation routes, was also cut off.*

Ditch is So Overgrown, You Can’t See It

Harris County Flood Control labels the ditch as G-103-36-01. It crosses under Kingwood Drive about one-tenth of a mile west of Valley Manor and the high school.

*Location of ditch and blockage relative to Kingwood High School.* *Shown with floodplains in Harris County Flood Education Mapping Tool.*

See the pictures below. Can you even see where the ditch is? Hint: it’s in the center of the frame.

*Looking slightly south. Lake Kingwood is toward the top* *of the frame.*

*Opposite direction. The ditch runs between the two storm drains on either side of Kingwood Drive.*

*From a lower elevation, you can see under the forest canopy. Still no clear path for drainage.*

The City has cleared all the other ditches in the map above, but not this one. It’s so overgrown, they likely can’t find it and confuse it with one of the other ditches they’ve already cleared.

Because this blockage has the potential to cut off a major evacuation route, we can’t afford to wait any longer.

I have reported it previously several times already. To be clear, Harris County Flood Control District is responsible for keeping the channel clear. But the City is responsible for cleaning out the channel under its roads, i.e., Kingwood Drive.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/27/25

2798 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Ditch is So Overgrown, You Can’t See It

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