August 29, 2023 – Six years ago today, thousands of Lake Houston Area residents woke up with water in their bedrooms thanks to Hurricane Harvey and a massive release of 79,000 cubic feet per second from the Lake Conroe Dam. Harvey was a near week-long event. So it’s hard to pinpoint an exact day for […]
CenterPoint delays have forced a change in Northpark Drive expansion plans. Contractors working on the Northpark Drive expansion project in Kingwood have installed culvert as far west as they can until CenterPoint begins eliminating 11 conflicts. According to Ralph De Leon, Northpark project manager for the Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority (LHRA), CenterPoint was to have […]
Montgomery County has just finished an Upper Taylor Gully clean out that will restore the conveyance in the channel which had become totally blocked. The new commissioner in Montgomery County Precinct 4, Matt Gray, has adopted a much more active and collaborative role in flood mitigation than his predecessor. Commissioner Gray’s crews inspected Taylor Gully […]
This is a bit off topic for a flood blog, but it affects tens of thousands of readers. Late yesterday, after multiple heat records were broken across the region, the City of Houston announced water-use restrictions going into effect Sunday, August 27, 2023. Let me address the heat first, water restrictions second. Then I’ll discuss […]
By Jeff Lindner, Harris County Flood Control District’s Director Hydrologic Operations Division/Meteorologist, with a few minor edits for a non-technical audience. There have been many comparisons of this summer to that of 2011 with respect to the heat and drought. Below, see the comparison of drought, water supply storage, and heat between 2011 and 2023. […]
The massive $1.77 billion expansion of the 120-acre Northeast Water Purification Plant near Summerwood is now well into its last phase. The last update to the expansion website is dated May 23, 2023 and estimates completion in 2025. Contractors have made considerable progress since May. This satellite image is dated 6/14/23. Note the area on […]
8/21/23 (9 AM CDT) – Three named storms have formed in the Atlantic in two days and we will likely get fourth (in the Gulf of Mexico) today or tomorrow. Tropical storms Emily and Gert formed in the Atlantic yesterday (8/20/23). Gert formed overnight. And a fourth disturbance barreling across the Gulf of Mexico toward […]
(11AM 8/20/23 and updated at 7PM) Here’s something you don’t often see – a tropical disturbance that could increase fire danger more than flood risk. The 8am 7-day tropical outlook from the National Hurricane Center shows that Tropical Storm Emily has formed in the Atlantic. Separately, a disturbance lingering over the Bahamas has finally crossed […]
What a difference a day makes! Yesterday, the Atlantic Basin had four areas of concern. Today, it has five. And, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the chances of tropical development have increased for all of them since yesterday. See the seven-day outlook for the Atlantic Basin below and note the time: Saturday, August […]
Update as of 6:30 PM: Outbound lanes have opened. One inbound lane open. Utility crews onsite. Northpark Drive is closed in the worst possible place at the worst possible time – Friday night during rush hour in a construction zone. However, the accident that caused the closure is not related to construction. A little before […]