River Grove dredging has finally begun. Silt and sand deposited by Hurricane Harvey 2.5 years ago is being removed from two areas: the boat launch and boardwalk. KSA obtained a final permit from the City of Houston and equipment arrived yesterday. Boardwalk First Priority As you can see from these pictures, the contractor wasted no […]
Note: This post has been modified to delete the mention of storm drains. On closer examination of older photos, it appears that the storm drains were installed before January 20th. Perry Taking Bids on New Detention Ponds Perry Homes is taking bids on additional detention ponds, as you can see from this document by LJA […]
Replacement of the old Union Pacific Bridge across the San Jacinto West Fork is nearing completion. Less than a month ago, crews constructing the new railroad bridge still had to remove the supports for the old bridge. See below the old four-post steel-frame structures between the new cement supports. By 2/13/2020, however, only one of […]
Below are aerial images from two new developments under construction. They show two detention ponds in two different counties. Can you tell which is in Montgomery County and which is in Harris County? I took both photos on the same day, 2/13/2020. Clue Look where the grass has established itself: In A, the land was […]
Q: When is a detention pond not a detention pond?A: When it’s just a wide spot on a stream. The defining characteristic of a detention pond is an “outfall” smaller than the inlet. The pond holds back rain in a storm and releases it later at an acceptable rate. This reduces downstream flooding. That’s the […]
DRC (Disaster Recovery Corporation) excavators are slowly whittling down the mouth bar of the West Fork of the San Jacinto. DRC is picking up where the Army Corps and Great Lakes Dredge and Dock left off around Labor Day last year. The Corps and Great Lakes removed 500,000 cubic yards of sediment. DRC will remove […]
The Emergency West Fork Dredging Program started by the Army Corps of Engineers in May of 2018 is now virtually done with demobilization. In the last month, the Army Corps and its contractors have vacated the old command post they established on the south side of the San Jacinto West Fork opposite Forest Cove. They […]
While photographing the West Fork from a helicopter Thursday, I saw something large from the corner of my eye. I looked up and was treated to a magnificent sight – a bald eagle in flight … right beside us. I quickly zoomed my lens out to 300mm and snagged this air-to-air shot. We were in […]
Yesterday, a reader, Donna Hanna Dewhirst, sent me pictures of a dredging operation beginning in the channel that cuts through Walden on Lake Houston. Today, I photographed it from the air. Walden Project Kicks Off Typically, in a project with wet dirt like this, contractors “de-water” it by letting it drain on the banks for […]
On a flyover of the Harris/Montgomery county line last month, I spotted something unusual: a detention pond with an outlet bigger than its inlet. And it was in Woodridge FOREST. You may remember that after Imelda, Woodridge Forest advertised homes that did not flood on signs posted in nearby intersections…around downstream homes that did flood! […]