2/6/26 – The project to add more gates to the Lake Houston Dam has reached the 30% design benchmark, according to Houston City Council Member Fred Flickinger. The 30% milestone is widely regarded among engineers as the point where the design becomes real enough that you can start working out the final details, including costs, […]
2/5/26 – For months, Huffman residents have complained about TXDoT contractors dumping fill in the floodplain of Cedar Bayou. This morning, I caught the dumping on camera. The fill comes from two stormwater detention basin sites. One is almost complete. The other one is larger and still being excavated. Both sites are adjacent to the […]
2/4/26 – Yesterday, the Houston Planning and Development Department called to say that Romerica has withdrawn the variance request for its plat application from the Houston Planning Commission’s agenda for 2/5/26. So, if you were planning to go downtown to protest it tomorrow, there is no longer any need. Kingwood Residents Concerned about Floodplain Development […]
2/3/26 – On 2/1/26, I printed a story about Steve Toth’s shocking voting record in 2021 and 2023. He called me dishonest, claiming I misrepresented his votes on five of the first six bills he checked on my list. See his text and my response below. Twenty-four hours after my offer above, Toth has not […]
2/1/26 – State Representative Steve Toth is running against U.S. Representative Dan Crenshaw in the Republican primary for the second congressional district of Texas. To date, Toth has run a largely negative campaign, smearing Crenshaw with half-truths and lies. When I posted a positive story about Crenshaw’s work in Congress to reduce flood risk, dozens […]
1/30/26 – A four-million dollar earmark secured by U.S. Representative Dan Crenshaw for widening the Walnut Lane Bridge in Kingwood saved the entire $44 Million Kingwood Diversion Ditch Project from being killed by the Democratic members of Harris County Commissioners Court. Crenshaw requested the funding in 2023. Congress awarded it in 2024. Then in 2025, […]
1/29/26 – An investigation by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) found the Texas General Land Office (GLO) did not discriminate against minorities or low-to-moderate income Texans in the distribution of Hurricane Harvey Flood Mitigation Funds. The investigation reviewed more than 80,000 pages of documents. Two Houston groups – the Northeast Action […]
1/28/26 – People living near the Kingwood Diversion Ditch and the Woodridge Village/Taylor Gully area have been asking what happened to their flood-mitigation projects. Good news: Both are moving forward. Here’s some historical context, where the projects currently stand, and what comes next. Kingwood Diversion Ditch The Kingwood Diversion Ditch splits off Bens Branch between […]
1/27/26 – Are you having trouble researching the flood risk of a home? Yours or perhaps one you are considering buying? Worried that your flood risk may have increased over time? If so, the Houston Chronicle wants to hear from you. The Chronicle is conducting a brief survey about flood risk. Investigative reporter Yilun Cheng […]
1/26/26 – Progressives are wrong to critique local leaders for working across the political aisle on flooding: an Op-ed about partisanship originally published in the Houston Chronicle Opinion Section. For eight years, I have hosted the website ReduceFlooding.com, which focuses on the need to reduce flooding in Houston. Pretty straightforward. This also means I spend […]