Harris County has opened a temporary Disaster Recovery Center in Kingwood at the United Methodist Church, 1799 Woodland Hills Drive, Room K105. Hours will be from 9 to 6 weekdays and 9 to 1 this coming Saturday. The Center will close for Memorial Day on May 27. “Resource Navigators” Will Help Flood Victims Find Help […]
You have to give credit to Montgomery County. MoCo just took ethical conflict to a whole new level. I’m not alleging that the County or LJA Engineering has done anything illegal. But the optics of this stink worse than the hundreds of flooded homes below the development LJA designed and MoCo permitted. Approximately 200 Elm […]
Hundreds of residents in Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest, south of the new Woodridge Village development, flooded last week. Everyone says they never flooded before the contractor started clearcutting and grading the property. So what changed? Clearcutting removed all the plants and ponds that slowed the water’s velocity. It also exposed a highly impervious […]
Coordinated, fast action by the City, Harris County Flood Control, and concerned citizens reduced flood risk for many homes earlier this month. Together, they eliminated many blockages in drains and ditches that likely prevented many homes from flooding during the storms from May 3 through May 10. Perhaps we can learn from the experience and […]
Houston City Council Member Dave Martin announced Saturday that Mayor Sylvester Turner has agreed to waive permit fees for the hundreds of residents affected by flooding during the heavy rains during the week of May 7. Details still need to be worked out. More news to follow soon. This is a pleasant development for people […]
On Thursday, May 16, I photographed a contractor for a subsidiary of Perry Homes dumping dirt, mulch and sticks in a neighbor’s drainage ditch. I was investigating flooding around the edges of a new development called Woodridge Village in Montgomery County just north of the Harris County line. The developer, Figure Four Partners (a subsidiary […]
Since Harvey, I’ve been talking about the dangers of sand mining too close to the river. Texas is the only state I can find that has no minimum setback for mines. Tony Buzbee, candidate for Mayor of Houston, asked to see what I was talking about. So a friend, Josh Alberson, took us on out […]
Last Christmas, the Army Corps issued a public notice about Romerica Investment’s permit application to build a high rise development in the floodplain and floodway of the San Jacinto West Fork. Almost immediately, people and groups began writing protest letters. By the end of the public comment period, the Army Corps had received 727. That […]
“No adverse impacts.” Really? Really! That’s what they say. Read the full report here. It May Be Time to Rethink That Assertion, LJA! In the conclusion of the cover letter of the report dated 8/28/18, Phyllis Mbewe, the project manager of hydrology and hydraulics for LJA Engineering guarantees Dan Wild, Montgomery County’s assistant engineer, that […]
Late yesterday, I received engineering and drainage plans for the new development north of Elm Grove called Woodridge Village. They show that the developer had planned detention that was not yet installed when last week’s heavy rains hit. This helps explain why water overflowed into the streets of Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest instead […]