This morning I returned to the Laurel RV Springs Resort construction site and found contractors burying pipe in the trench they dug through the wall of the detention pond last Saturday. The pipe leads from the inside to the outside of the pond near Harris County Precinct 4’s new Edgewater Park. This is not an […]
Only about 4.4% of the land in the U.S. has estimated impervious cover greater than 40%. Usually, high percentages of impervious cover are associated with shopping malls; large apartment complexes; manufacturing and warehouse districts; and densely populated urban neighborhoods. Now there’s a new entry in that category: the Preserve at Woodridge – single-family housing so […]
The construction plans approved by the City of Houston for the Laurel Springs RV Resort state that “Stormwater runoff shall not cross property line.” The memory of that warning did not last long. Reminder about Stormwater Runoff A reader emailed me this morning to alert me to the fact that the contractor was digging through […]
Mechanical dredging is sloooooooooow. Two months after my last dredging update, contractors are still working on the same portion of the East Fork Mouth Bar complex just north of the entrance to Luce Bayou. The sand bar is question is one of many in the area that popped up after Harvey and Imelda. Pictures Taken […]
In the afternoon of 1/27/22, Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) contractor Sprint Sand & Clay began excavation of additional detention pond capacity on Woodridge Village. Woodridge is the former Perry Homes property implicated in the flooding of Elm Grove Village and North Kingwood Forest twice in 2019. Numerous factors contributed to the flooding. But […]
At least part of Madera, a new 1,700-acre development in Montgomery County that straddles FM1314 immediately north of SH242, is being built on wetlands and is in a 10-year flood zone. US Fish & Wildlife Map Shows Wetlands Dot Development FEMA’s Base Flood Elevation Viewer Shows Flood Risk Note that this survey shows only about […]
Yesterday, 1/25/22, Harris County Commissioners Court named Dr. Christina Petersen as the new head of the Flood Control District. That position had been open for seven months since Russ Poppe resigned last July. Below is a brief bio of Petersen distributed by David Berry, the new Harris County administrator. Petersen Background “Dr. Christina “Tina” Petersen […]
When it comes to flood control in Harris County, you often hear claims of “historic disinvestment” in low-to-moderate income (LMI) neighborhoods. Residents allege that they flood because Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) funneled dollars into affluent neighborhoods for decades while ignoring lower-income watersheds. But are those claims true? Not if you look at the […]
Flood mitigation efforts in Harris County just took their second major hit in less than a year. Last July, Russ Poppe, the executive director of the Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) resigned after months of political backbiting. Now, Matt Zeve, the deputy executive director has resigned, too. Zeve Background and Contributions Zeve joined HCFCD one day after […]
Correction: Original plans called this development Madera. Subsequently, the developer named it Mavera. I have changed all mentions of the former to the latter because of confusion it caused as time went by. A new 1700-acre development called Mavera at FM1314 and SH242 claims it will have “no adverse impact” on surrounding areas. However, to […]