Entries by admin

Median Madness Volunteers De-Vine Another Section of Northpark

11/16/25 – Dozens of Kingwood volunteers – young and old – turned out yesterday for Round 4 of Median Madness. Armed with lopping shears, muscle, determination and smiles, they de-vined another section of Northpark Drive just east of West Lake Houston Parkway. They cut, pulled and stacked mountains of vines that had been creeping out […]

What Have We Accomplished and Learned in 3000 Days Since Harvey?

11/15/2025 – Today marks 3000 days since Hurricane Harvey – 8.2 years. In that time, I’ve researched and written 2,941 articles about flooding that have been read 2,737,740 times. Those articles contained 1,989,909 words (not counting this one). That roughly equals 25 novels. I’ve also shot 63,526 photos to support that work. Before I run […]

New Floodplain Maps Remain Secret For Now – At Least in Harris County

11/14/25 – Both Harris County Commissioners Court and the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group agreed yesterday to keep new, updated Harris County floodplain maps secret from the public. They accepted Harris County Flood Control District’s (HCFCD) explanation that they couldn’t release the maps until FEMA finished vetting them…a process that has gone years longer […]

Izzy Finds Harris County Magically Solved All Its Flooding Problems Overnight

11/12/25 – My weird nephew Izzy called this morning. He was all excited about what he thought would be a tax refund check from Harris County. He had just finished scanning through the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group’s latest report and had convinced himself that the check was in the mail. The Holiday Miracle […]

San Jacinto Flood Planning Group’s Proposed Minimum Floodplain Management Practices

11/11/25 – The San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group will consider adopting a set of proposed minimum floodplain management practices for the entire river basin at its meeting on November 13. The standards are part of a requirement by the Texas Water Development Board for the 2028 update of the state’s next flood plan. The […]

100-Year Floodplains Doubling in Size, But HCFCD Won’t Release New Maps

11/10/25 – The Texas Water Development Board’s San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group will meet on Thursday, November 13, to consider adopting a technical memorandum that shows the river basin’s 100-year floodplains more than doubling in size. However, even though the group acknowledges the superiority of Harris County Flood Control District’s (HCFCD) MAAPnext floodplain models, […]

New Feature on ReduceFlooding.com

11/9/2025 – In a continuing effort to make ReduceFlooding.com as useful to readers as possible, I have added a new tab on the Reports Page. It’s called Real-Time Conditions and Floodplain Extents. The information on this page comes from national, state and local sources. On one page, you can find numerous links to sources that […]

Why We Need FEMA

11/8/25 – The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has not just battled nature’s extremes this year. It has also battled political superstorms that have left both employees and citizens exposed and uncertain. Disasters So Far in 2025 Despite a quieter than normal hurricane season so far this year, the U.S. has suffered: Political Crosswinds Create […]

Harris County Commissioners Court Agendas Reflect HCFCD Slowdown

11/7/2025 – Seven years into what was supposed to be a ten-year flood bond, less than 40% of the money has been spent. As a result of slower than expected project execution, Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) is running out of time to complete projects associated with hundreds of millions of dollars in matching […]

Save the Date: Median Madness Round 4 Scheduled for November 15

11/6/25 – Houston City Council Member Fred Flickinger has scheduled another round of Median Madness for November 15. The focus this time will be a stretch of Northpark near the Kroger at the intersection with West Lake Houston Parkway. Median Madness events not only beautify Kingwood medians, they improve traffic safety by improving visibility and […]