Last week, the White House announced a government-wide initiative to make climate information more accessible and actionable. The effort targets individuals and communities hit by flooding, drought, wildfires, extreme heat, coastal erosion, and more. Not everyone agrees on climate change. But we have all observed what happens when people fail to sufficiently heed climate risk. […]
Where Greens Bayou cuts across the northwest corner of Beltway 8 and 249, Harris County Flood Control District is expanding its Cutten Regional Stormwater Detention Basin. The $16.2 million expansion will add 866 acre-feet of stormwater storage capacity to the previous 677 acre-feet. That’s enough to lower the water surface elevation by .36 feet throughout […]
In April this year, I posted about Harris County Flood Control District’s (HCFCD) completion of the Aldine-Westfield Detention Basin Phase 1 along Greens Bayou. Now construction of Phase 2 is starting. It’s currently in the clearing phase. The basin sits east of Aldine-Westfield Road at Beltway 8 North just south of Bush Intercontinental Airport. Photos […]
Phase I of the giant Lauder Detention Basin on Greens Bayou is nearing completion. The 90-acre Phase I of the project will cost approximately $18 million when complete. Excavation and grading are now finished but landscaping still remains on the to-do list for most of the site. It’s come a long way since I photographed […]
Construction has begun on another massive detention pond along Halls Bayou. It stretches south from Isom Street to the bayou between Chrisman and Aldine-Westfield Roads. It covers approximately 26 acres and when complete will hold 180-acre feet of stormwater to reduce the risk of flooding. This is just one of 11 projects comprising the Halls […]
This morning, for the first time, I photographed dredging on the San Jacinto East Fork. It was a welcome site and one that hundreds of East Fork residents who flooded will appreciate. Three Months After Plans Unveiled It was back on July 9, 2021, that Stephen Costello, the City’s Chief Recovery Officer, unveiled the City’s […]
Below are updates on three items recently in the news: Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) Grants, Affordable Housing Investigations, and Subsidence. Texas Water Development Board Grants Affecting Houston Region Last week, I posted a story about flood mitigation assistance grants being considered by the TWDB. The Houston region qualified for eight and the TWDB approved […]
After finishing excavating silt from under the Kingwood Drive Bridge over Ben’s Branch, City crews are now doing the same under the bridge over the Diversion Ditch near the fire station on Kingwood Drive. Bridges are often chokepoints during floods because of their supports that reduce and sometimes slow the flow of water and contribute […]
One of the more alarming facts that came out of Thursday’s City Council meeting is that Houston’s Housing and Community Development is spending far more on disaster relief than it gets back in reimbursements. In the case of one program, Economic Development, the ratio between costs and reimbursements to date was actually 1100 to 1, […]
Since Harvey, Houston’s Housing and Community Development Department has been criticized severely by HUD, the GLO, media, and flood victims alike for poor performance and non-performance in flood assistance efforts. Thursday, Keith Bynam, the Interim Director of the Department, and Temika Jones, the Department’s Assistant Director and Chief Financial Officer, informed city council members about […]