Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced a tightening of the lockdown already in place because of the corona virus. For the full text of the County’s 20-page order, click here. Summary of Key Provisions Starting tonight at 11:59 P.M. and lasting through April 3, 2020, “this Order requires all individuals […]
The rain earlier this week continues to filter into Lake Conroe and raise the lake level. As of today at 3 p.m. today, the level reached 200.35 msl (mean feet above sea level). That means the lake level now exceeds the average for April – and there’s still a week left in March. With additional […]
Montgomery County commissioners will vote Tuesday whether to sue a new sand mine on the west side of the San Jacinto West Fork. The mine is in a Conroe development called Carriage Hills. Agenda Item and Text of Motion by County Attorney This link contains the full text of the motion that commissioners will vote […]
Susanne Kite sent me this fascinating story and video from the BBC. It chronicles the fight of an indigenous Polynesian tribe, the Maori, to gain “legal personhood” status for a river they revere as ancestral. The 160-Year Fight The tribe fought for more than 160 years to get legal protection for the Whanganui River. In […]
Yesterday, I posted about rains that quickly brought Lake Conroe back up to its average for March. Additional rain last night and today brought the lake up another 3.24 inches to 200.23 as of 9pm on 3/22/2020. That means the lake is now within about 1 inch of its average level for April. This now […]
Lake Conroe area businesses, boaters, home values and tax rolls got a boost yesterday. Yes, despite the drought, Lake Conroe returned to its normal level for this time of year. The watershed received an average of 2 to 2.5 inches of rain in the last 36 hours. That’s all it took. The March average for […]
LJA Engineers submitted a master drainage plan for the 2,200 acre Artavia development that Montgomery County approved. It has no detention ponds. And the drainage channels currently do not connect to the San Jacinto river. Even though LJA said they would connect to the river, the plans do not specify how, when or where. As […]
Mark Mooney, PE, the long-time Montgomery County Engineer whose office approved LJA plans for Woodridge Village and Artavia, and whose office oversaw LJA’s investigation of itself, has joined LJA Engineering as a “business development representative.” (Usually that means “sales.”) A February 17, 2020, press release about Mr. Mooney’s appointment appears on LJA’s Facebook page. According […]
On March 6, I flew over the Union Pacific bridge repairs near 59 and the West Fork and noticed some splashing I could not explain. I’ve been on a fruitless search for answers ever since. So now I’m enlisting your help. But first a quick update on the status of repairs. Update on Repairs Not […]
Last August, I posted about a loophole in Montgomery County Flood Plain regulations. It allowed all developers who could prove they were “beating the peak” of a flood to bypass the requirement for detention ponds. Montgomery County Commissioners decided to leave the loophole open. They said, “We don’t have a flooding problem.” Giant Development Exploits […]