This is off topic but it affects thousands of readers. Today, Mayor Pro Tem Dave Martin announced that Kingwood Drive repairs will be extended farther west to Royal Forest beginning Monday, April 3. The repairs began at Green Oak on March 20. Crews reached Chestnut Ridge today, March 31. Houston Public Works will replace additional […]
Twenty-two months after learning it would receive $750 million from the US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Texas General Land Office (GLO) for Harvey Flood Mitigation, Harris County Commissioners finally approved a Method of Distribution (MOD) for the money on 3/14/23. The MOD must be approved by the GLO and HUD […]
On 3/22/23, I attended a lunchtime seminar on flood-mitigation best practices hosted by FEMA Region 3 (Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC). The topics covered included building hazard-mitigation plans, resiliency hubs, and flood awareness programs. The seminar showed dozens of excellent thought-provoking ideas – too many to list in one post. But three in the last category […]
Jeff Lindner, Harris County’s Meteorologist, has produced an excellent 20-minute video that explains flooding in Southeast Texas and how you can increase your situational awareness during extreme weather events. It’s now on YouTube and is called “Understanding Flooding in Southeast Texas.” Brief Outline of Video The video begins with a description of things that make […]
Since 1980, tropical cyclones have been the costliest type of weather-related disaster in the United States, according to NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). The NCEI study includes events that caused at least one billion dollars in damages when adjusted for inflation. Accounting for just under a fifth (17.6%) of the total number of […]
Have you ever flown over a winding river and wondered why rivers move? Why do they wander across the landscape and evolve the way they do? The lower Mississippi River and its delta form a spectacular example. But others are all around us. Take, for instance, the Trinity River where it enters Galveston Bay. Or […]
GLO Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D., announced yesterday more than $43 million in HUD grants for 44 infrastructure projects stemming from 2019 Disasters. The $43 million is the combined total of grants made to counties and cities stretching from the Rio Grande Valley to southeast Texas. The infrastructure-project grants will help communities recover from the 2019 […]
The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) is soliciting feedback on its proposed scoring matrix to rank efforts for the state’s first flood plan. Each region has submitted proposed projects. The scoring matrix will help rank order them statewide. And the deadline is April Fools’ Day. TWDB has provided several spreadsheets that show how the criteria […]
This is a bit off topic, but it affects tens of thousands of readers. City of Houston Mayor Pro Tem Dave Martin has announced street repairs in Kingwood and Huffman beginning on March 20. Kingwood Repairs In Kingwood, the Public Works Department will replace concrete panels in the westbound lanes of Kingwood Drive between Green […]
State Representative Charles Cunningham has introduced HB1093. The bill would ensure cleanup of abandoned sand mines in the San Jacinto watershed. It requires miners to post a bond that covers cleanup costs. So, if an irresponsible miner walks away from a mine before reclamation, the public doesn’t have to pay the deadbeat’s costs. A bond […]