One week after contractors began digging the first Northpark entry pond, you can see a broad area that has already been excavated. The decorative pond, when complete, will double as a detention basin to temporarily store extra runoff from the newly widened Northpark roadbed and US59 feeder road during heavy storms. Stormwater will collect between […]
Houston District E City Council Member Fred Flickinger announced today that Houston Public Works will lower Lake Houston beginning Sunday afternoon. They expect to complete the lowering before rain starts on Monday. Houston Public Works is actively monitoring weather forecasts. The National Weather Service has predicted 3-5+ inches of rainfall in our watershed beginning Monday […]
According to Dr. Mark Wentzel, Hydrologist for Texas Water Development Board, 2023 was the hottest and 33rd driest year for Texas since 1895. That’s 128 years! “We began 2023 with half the area of the state impacted by drought, the result of a statewide drought that had been ongoing for more than a year,” said […]
I received a call this morning from Congressman Dan Crenshaw’s office asking for help to publicize a widespread telecom outage in the Lake Houston Area. It affects Atascocita, Humble, Kingwood, and Porter. Comcast appears to be the target of the vandalism. But some AT&T customers also report being affected. Comcast has set up a webpage […]
A British website, TropicalStormRisk.com, which has won insurance industry awards for its accuracy, predicts that North Atlantic hurricane activity in 2024 will be more than 50% above the long-term average and 30% above the average for the last three decades. The website claims it has the best performing statistical seasonal forecast model at all lead […]
In late December 2023, the San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA) released the third part of its massive, years-long sedimentation study. SJRA labeled the report “Technical Memorandum 3: Annual Sediment Supply and Storage.” Only seven more steps remain in the 10-step effort. The Larger Context The ten steps include: SJRA applied for a TWDB grant to […]
Kingwood Residences HTX II LLC is clearing 11.5 acres of land on West Lake Houston Parkway (WLHP) without the normal safeguards to control sediment-laden runoff. In recent weeks, concerned residents have emailed me multiple pictures like the ones below. Normally, contractors would protect storm drains by catching silt with sand bags placed in the gutters. […]
Excavation of the decorative ponds that will double as Northpark detention basins at US59 began this week. Contractors will stockpile the dirt in two places for now: behind Duncan Donuts and at a sand mine on Sorters-McClellan Road several blocks to the west. Contractors will use the dirt later to level the road surface and […]
After more than four years of traffic disruption, TxDOT announced it has completed construction of Loop 494 and Kingwood Drive improvements. Some cleanup and a small section of sidewalk construction remains. So does the switchover from old traffic lights to new. But those things are minor compared to the heavy lifting that started in late […]
Guess where the wetlands were? Today, I flew over Northpark Drive and Sorters-McClellan Road near the San Jacinto West Fork. I photographed a new development called Northpark South. Much of this land is in the floodplain. And much was also classified as wetlands for sixty years. Can you guess which portion? Here’s what the area […]