Top Flood-Related Stories of 2025: Part III – Mitigation Slowdown Becomes Election Issue
12/30/25 – Part III of the top flood-related stories of 2025 concerns a slowdown in flood-mitigation activity at Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) and how it is already becoming an issue in the election of a new Harris County Judge. Let’s look at the slowdown part first.
Spending Drops for Fifth Year
The graph below illustrates the slowdown.
That slowdown means people live with higher flood risk than necessary.
Potential Loss of $322 Million in Partner Funding At Stake
The slowdown also puts 11 grants totaling $322 million at risk.
That’s the total of Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Relief (CDBG-DR) to Harris County from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The Texas General Land Office (GLO) administers those grants for HUD.
All have a firm deadline of 2/28/2027, according to the GLO. But most have not even been advertised for bids yet and won’t be until the first quarter of next year.
Only one CDBG-DR project so far is in construction: Arbor Oaks. Brookglen bidding has closed. Three others are still in bidding: Lauder, Greens Mid-Reach, and Keegans. Others highlighted above haven’t even started bidding yet.
It typically takes three to four months from advertising a project for bids until a winner is selected, Commissioners Court approves the award, contracts are signed and a notice to proceed is issued. That leaves less than a year for construction on most of these projects. And many could take longer than a year to build, if history is any guide.
T.C. Jester Project Illustrates Problem
For instance, HCFCD has issued a press release saying that construction of the T.C. Jester East Basin (partially funded by CDBG-DR dollars) will not finish until Q4 of 2028. HCFCD finished the preliminary engineering review in 2021.
It’s all part of a bigger story about the slowdown and complacency. Collectively…
“We have lost the sense of urgency that once fueled our flood mitigation crusade after Hurricane Harvey.”
Bob Rehak
According to an HCFCD press release, $20 million HUD CDBG-DR dollars are at risk for one of the three detention basin compartments that will be built on the site above. But the project also involves funding from other sources. State Rep Sam Harless secured $12 million for the project through the Texas Water Development Board.
If the HUD funding falls through, what will happen to the state money? There likely wouldn’t be enough money to complete the project.
Two additional stormwater detention basin compartments on the east side of TC Jester have longer deadlines, but are scheduled to finish earlier in 2028 – ten years after the flood bond and eleven years after Harvey! They involve funding from FEMA (via Congressman Dan Crenshaw).
Any time you get two departments of the federal government (each with their own rules), the state government (with its own rules), and county government (with its rules), things get complicated. And the current leadership in Harris County has added bureaucracy that has contributed to the slowdown.
Lancton Makes Slowdown an Election Issue
The potential loss of funding has already become a campaign issue in the Harris County Judge election year.
Candidate Marty Lancton, now endorsed by Governor Abbott, has jumped on it. He issued this statement.
“The implementation of CDBG funds has taken an unacceptably long amount of time. As County Judge, I will ensure that every Harris County department is thoroughly evaluated to identify and implement process improvements. The Harris County Flood Control District will be among the first departments reviewed.”
Lancton continued, “In developing the current funding priorities, three commissioners and the current County Judge established a project list that did not adequately prioritize initiatives with the greatest potential impact, nor did it sufficiently account for whether projects could realistically be completed within the required timelines.
“As County Judge, I will ensure that taxpayer dollars are invested responsibly and that funding priorities are established based on effectiveness, feasibility, and measurable benefit to Harris County residents. Finally, I will work closely with HUD and the Texas General Land Office to improve coordination and accelerate the implementation of projects that protect and serve the people of Harris County.”
Lancton is a long time leader of first responders and is extremely aware of flood risk.
In major storms, Cypress Creek is usually one of the hardest hit areas in the County. For people who live in that area as well as downstream areas, such as Lake Houston, flood-risk reduction can’t come fast enough.
In the last 125 years, we’ve been hit with major floods 48 times. We were lucky this year. But it’s only a matter of time before one strikes again. We must be prepared.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 12/30/2025
3045 Days since Hurricane Harvey
