Below is a quick digest of six flood-related stories affecting the Lake Houston Area. Dredging is a Slow Go Mechanical dredgers are slowly working their way through the channel south of Royal Shores. It connects the East and West Forks of the San Jacinto. Without dredging, the dredging equipment itself would not be able to […]
Did you know that one-third of the area in Harris County now has impervious cover? That Montgomery County had a 57.12% net increase of impervious surface area between 2001 and 2019? Or that 10% of land cover in the Lower 48 states changed during that same period? I discovered these and a multitude of other […]
On June 29, 2021, Harris County Commissioners approved two contracts for preliminary engineering on the Kingwood Diversion Ditch and Taylor Gully Projects. This week, I’ve been getting reports of boots on the ground. So I grabbed my camera and went looking for activity this morning. I found a soil survey truck at Kingwood Drive next […]
Want to learn how to create healthy, resilient, natural spaces in your community that can mitigate the effects of flooding? Harris County Precinct 4 will sponsor a free event this weekend at Jesse Jones Park called “Floods and Phytoremediation.” It starts at 1PM, 20634 Kenswick Drive, Humble, TX 77338 near Spring Creek. For directions, click […]
A front moving into the region could bring high hourly rainfall rates and rapid street flooding, according to Jeff Lindner, Harris County’s meteorologist. He says, “A weak front will move into the area today and tonight, and stall near the coast or just offshore on Tuesday and Wednesday.” Slow-Moving Front, Training Cells, Possible Street Flooding […]
A reader sent me a link to a fascinating article by Ann Scott Tyson in the Christian Science Monitor about China’s “sponge cities.” It reminded me of a recent study by Dr. Matthew Berg about the need for conservation to be a component of all flood solutions. Tyson’s Sponge City article focused on recent Chinese […]
According to its lake lowering policy adopted last year, the San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA) should start to drop the level of Lake Conroe this weekend. Text of Lake-Lowering Policy The lake-lowering policy states: “Beginning August 1, release only an amount of water from Lake Conroe to create a one foot capacity to catch rainfall […]
I have made two major changes to ReduceFlooding.com by adding a new page dedicated to “Funding” and removing the “High Rise” page from the menu. High-Rise Issue No Longer Topical, Funding Is Funding is a hot topic at the moment and the high-rise battle is over…at least for now. Even though I removed the high-rise […]
On July 28, 2021, Stan Sarman, chairman of the Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority (LHRA), discussed details of the Northpark Drive expansion project with a group of Kingwood executives. The story below is based on his comments. Improvements Motivated by Traffic Congestion, Railroad Delays and Flooding The severely congested Northpark Drive will expand from four lanes […]
Texas has a dubious distinction that not many people realize. We lead the nation in flood events and their impacts. Not one of Texas’ 254 counties has escaped flooding. Despite our prowess in engineering, engineering alone has not prevented flooding. As a growing number of leaders are now starting to recognize, success will require the […]