10/31/24 – An extreme rainfall event near Valencia in southern Spain on Tuesday this week fueled a spate of hasty climate-change stories. But was that the cause of the flooding? A year’s worth of rain fell in a day. The area has an average annual rainfall of 17.87 inches. October is their rainiest month with an […]
10/28/24 – After posting about maintenance dollars per square mile in Harris County’s different watersheds, an astute reader suggested I look at maintenance dollars per stream mile. Why? Stream miles don’t always vary proportionally with square miles and may be a more appropriate metric for maintenance. Certainly, when considering activities, such as channel mowing and […]
10/27/24 – Meritage Homes of Texas LLC has placed an estimated 5 feet of fill above street level in Phase 1 of its new development in Atascocita. The height has raised concerns among surrounding residents, who fear that runoff from the Meritage site could flood them. It’s hard to see the interior of the site […]
10/26/24 – Say goodbye to the old Northpark Drive. Construction crews were hard at work all along Northpark Drive on this beautiful fall Saturday afternoon. One group focused on replacing the Northpark median at Russell Palmer Road. Another focused on breaking up and carrying away pavement from the old westbound lanes. A third group focused […]
U.S. Representative Dan Crenshaw helped secure another $3.2 million dollars for two crucial Kingwood flood-mitigation projects. The money is part of two EPA grants, each for $1.6 million. And they will cover final engineering for the Taylor Gully/Woodridge Village and Kingwood Diversion Ditch flood-mitigation projects. 80:20 Matching Grants from EPA The EPA will pay 80% […]
10/24/24 – It may seem counterintuitive, but there is a well-recognized relationship between wildfires and floods. What is it? Simple. Wildfires create conditions that increase the risk of future flooding. Specifically, they affect infiltration; runoff volume and speed; erosion; sedimentation; and more. How Wildfires Increase Future Flood Risk Here’s an outline of the the relationship […]
10/23/24 – Starting Friday 10/25/24 at 8 PM through Monday 10/28/24 at 5AM, contractors will close the Northpark crossover at Russell Palmer Road to pour new concrete in the median. See location of the X in the diagram below. That means northbound traffic on Russell Palmer will not be able to turn west (left) toward […]
10/22/24 – The New York Times ran a story today about a radical English experiment to reduce flooding. The gist: giving land back to the sea by turning farm land into salt marsh. The subhead claims, “When a huge tract of land on the Somerset coast was deliberately flooded, the project was slammed as ‘ridiculous’ […]
Correction 10/28/24 – The table showing maintenance dollars/square mile has been updated with maintenance dollars/stream miles, a more appropriate metric for maintenance dollars. 10/21/24 – Today is the first day of early voting. Knowing where maintenance dollars go may affect how you vote on Harris County Flood Control District’s (HCFCD) proposed 63% maintenance-tax increase. Before […]
10/20/24 – My latest FOIA request revealed some surprising details about Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) spending in the San Jacinto Watershed and how it contrasts to the Brays Bayou Watershed. For several years, I have tracked HCFCD spending by watershed and project phase on a quarterly basis. I have discovered tremendous disparities in […]