Donna Dewhirst’s home did not flood. But the flood came within feet of her foundation and left debris strewn across her yard. Based on Harris County Flood Control estimates, 154,170 homes flooded in Harris County during Harvey (see page 13). The US Census Bureau estimates that there were 1.56 million households in Harris County in […]
On Tuesday this week, I created a post in response to a question about whether they really were taking sand out of the river. Someone thought the presence of dredges on the river was a government hoax because they didn’t see any trucks carrying sand away. Shades of Roswell and UFOs! I explained that they […]
Interview by Bob Rehak Jim and Melissa Balcom live in a spectacular three-story home built on pylons 12 feet above the ground and 20 feet above the San Jacinto West Fork. Their home fronts on the north bank immediately west of River Grove Park. They named one son River, another Talon (like the eagles that […]
John Rocco lives in Kingwood Greens where 225 out of 225 homes flooded according to statistics compiled by the Kingwood Service Association. John is a man of few words. He let these images tell the story for him and sketched out a few details (see below). All images were taken after he was able to […]
This is another in a series of looks back at Harvey, as told through the photos of its victims. Melissa Sturgis, self-described “oil-patch gypsy,” is still angry. “My entire home. Treasured antiques, three generations back from New England, are on this curb. Furniture and collectibles from eight years overseas in Malaysia, London and Russia. It’s a […]
David Burress, head of the Kings Forest architectural review committee, sent me this picture yesterday. It shows what he believes to be the last FEMA trailer leaving Kings Forest. It’s a modest, although important sign of recovery. Kings Forest lies north of Kingwood Drive, 1.5 to 2 miles from the San Jacinto River. Despite the […]
At a community meeting last night, someone asked whether the Army Corps was REALLY taking sand out of the river. They didn’t see any dump trucks and they were concerned that the project was just a big hoax, on the order of Roswell, aliens and UFOs. You have no idea how often I hear comments […]
Three local luminaries updated residents on the status of various flood mitigation issues and projects Monday night at the March meeting of the Lake Houston Pachyderm Club. Kaaren Cambio, is the field representative for Congressman Dan Crenshaw and a board director for the SJRA. Matt Zeve is the Deputy Executive Director for the Harris County […]
While much of the press after Harvey focused on the wisdom of development in floodways and floodplains, the plight of homes and businesses much further from the San Jacinto was largely overlooked. Amy Slaughter and Jennifer Trimble bought homes more than a mile from the river, thinking they beyond the reach of floods. They weren’t. […]
A lengthy Associated Press article today talked about the long, slow demise of community newspapers around the country. Now you may ask, “What does this have to do with flooding?” It doesn’t directly relate. But indirectly, it does…or at least with the slow pace of recovery from disasters, such as Harvey. Our founding fathers considered […]