9/12/26 – On 9./18/26, Montgomery County (MoCo) Commissioners Court will consider changes to its Drainage Criteria and Development Regulations. See Item 12A on the agenda.
Just last year, Montgomery County adopted a new drainage criteria manual. It was the first major update in decades. The new manual was first proposed in early 2024. That followed a minor update in 2019 from the county’s old 1988 drainage criteria manual in effect at the time of Harvey.
It adopted many, but not all of the minimum drainage criteria proposed by Harris County for other counties draining into Harris. MoCo allows fill in the 500-year floodplain, but Harris doesn’t. And Harris requires homes to be built at the 500-year flood elevation, whereas MoCo requires only the 100-year.
Making the manual easier to understand and use. For instance, it clarifies the meaning of many terms
Improving navigation in the document by adding hyperlinks to the table of contents in the PDF version
Expanding the scope of approved modeling software
Clarifying the County’s position on:
Nonproprietary (Primary) Modeling Software
Proprietary Modeling Software
Advanced Modeling
Spreadsheet Calculations
Secondary (Check) Analysis
Adding a section on “TAILWATER.” Tailwater is the downstream water level that controls or influences how easily upstream water can get out. The following items are described in this new section: free outfall, normal depth, fixed elevation, rating curve, regulatory, dynamic, conservative maximum, and required documentation.
Modifying content discussing “MINIMUM DETENTION RATE” for clarity and better alignment with FEMA and County floodplain requirements.
Adding to “DETENTION STRUCTURE DESIGN” to better explain the concept of “Hydraulically Connected Detention Ponds”
Creating a new section called “BASE LEVEL ENGINEERING,” explaining what BLE is and how to use BLE in proposed designs submitted to the County for permitting.
Clarifying requirements for “Drainage Submittals” and deliverables.
Adding new definitions for numerous concepts.
By and large, these changes seem focused on clarifying the County’s requirements so that developers and the County’s Engineering Department can minimize “back-and-forth” changes/requests.
How will “tailwater” affect the outfall from this storm drain? When water in the ditch gets high, will it back water up into streets and neighborhoods? New MoCo Drainage Criteria proposal would require engineers to answer those questions and more.
MoCo regulations require developers to submit plans to commissioners before submitting them to the engineering department for final approval.
On the plus side, the amendment will help ensure timely processing and improve government efficiency.
But this change also comes with a potential downside, in my opinion. Two weeks doesn’t allow much time for public input or protest. It usually takes that long to get copies of documents via FOIA or Public Information Requests, assuming the requests don’t get appealed to the attorney general. So the two week requirement effectively excludes the public from the process…at least with the commissioner who directly represents him/her.
Since these are infrastructure decisions that could affect communities for a hundred years or more, is it wise to rush them? The language in the proposed amendment reads like a sharp elbow to the gut of commissioners. It basically says, “If you can’t do your job, get out of the way. The Engineering Department will do it for you.”
Gee, what if the commissioner’s staff member is on vacation?
9/11/2026 – The Harris County Community Resilience Flood Task Force (CFRTF) has passed a resolution opposing the 5300+ acre proposed Scarborough/San Jacinto Preserve development near the confluence of the San Jacinto West Fork with Spring, Cypress and Turkey Creeks.
In doing so, it joins Harris County Commissioners Court and the Houston City Council which passed unanimous resolutions opposing the development. More than 9,300 residents of Harris and Montgomery Counties have also signed a Change.org petition opposing it.
Below is the text of the resolution. I have redacted the officers’ signatures to protect their privacy.
Text of Resolution
RESOLUTION BY THE COMMUNITY FLOOD RESILIENCE TASK FORCE OPPOSING PROPOSED SCARBOROUGH DEVELOPMENT (“SAN JACINTO PRESERVE”)
The Community Flood Resilience Task Force (CFRTF) was established by Harris County Commissioners Court to serve in an advisory capacity on flood resilience planning that accounts for community needs and priorities, including flood risk that originates upstream of the county line. Consistent with that mission, the CFRTF adopts the following position regarding the proposed Scarborough development, known as the ‘San Jacinto Preserve.’
The CFRTF shares the conclusion Houston City Council reached in its December 17, 2025 resolution: that catastrophic flooding renders this property unfit for residential development, and its highest and best use would instead be for flood mtigation and as a public park. The CFRTF opposes residential development of this property and supports its preservation as open space.
The proposed development would place approximately 5,300 acres, at the confluence of Spring Creek, Cypress Creek, Turkey Creek, and the West Fork of the San Jacinto River, west of Kingwood, into residential use. This property consists predominantly of active floodways, floodplains, and wetlands that currently function as a natural sponge, slowing and absorbing stormwater while filtering the water that ultimately flows into Lake Houston. Clearing and filling these wetlands to elevate the property for development would increase the speed and volume of stormwater runoff, placing downstream communities at greater risk of flooding, while undermining regional flood mitigation efforts already underway.
Beyond flood risk, this property sits within one of the most environmentally sensitive parts of the Lake Houston watershed, which serves as the primary drinking water source for approximately 2.4 million people across the Greater Houston area. Development of this tract therefore raises concerns not only for downstream flooding, but also for the water quality relied upon by a substantial share of the region’s population.
The CFRTF believes this property is better preserved as natural floodplain and green space than developed for residential use, given the severity of flood risk in this watershed and the role this land plays in protecting downstream communities and drinking water quality.
ADOPTED on August 28, 2026, by the Harris County Community Flood Resilience Task Force.
(Signed) Dr. Pamela Hernandez, Chair
Mary Anne Piacentini, Vice Chair
Chris Valdez, Secretary
For a PDF of the full document on letterhead, but with signatures redacted for privacy reasons, click here.
About the CFRTF
The Harris County Community Resilience Flood Task Force consists of ordinary citizens who represent communities and watersheds across Harris County. The 17 volunteer members are flood survivors, community organizers, engineers, advocates, and technical experts, working together to reduce flood risk for all Harris County communities.
Location of proposed development outlined in screen capture from FEMA Flood Hazard Layer Viewer. Cross-hatch = floodway. Aqua = 100 year floodplain. Brown = 500 year floodplain. Note: this is a pre-Atlas 14 flood map. Montgomery County has not yet updated its flood maps.
To learn more, go to the search bar of ReduceFlooding.com and search on Scarborough or Ryko (the previous owner of this land).
And I highly recommend this post that contains an original song, Scarborough Bottom.
Please sign the petition today and forward this post to all your friends and family. Help put the petition over 10,000 signatures.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/11/2026
3300 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/20250417-Ryko-property-copy-1.jpg?fit=1100%2C659&ssl=16591100adminadmin2026-09-11 17:33:112026-09-11 18:02:53Harris County Flood Resilience Task Force Opposes Scarborough Development
9/10/26 – Looking back at the last 100 years, today is the statistical peak of hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin. However, this year will also set a record for the latest “first hurricane” in recorded history…if we get one.
Since 1950, the record for the latest first hurricane was set in 2002 by Gustav and later tied in 2013 by Humberto. Both formed on September 11, according to AccuWeather.
“If no hurricane forms by Friday (Sept. 11), the 2026 Atlantic season will mark the latest point in the satellite era without an Atlantic hurricane,” they said.
Hurricane Climatology
So far this year, the season looks like a rarity. How much so? Check out the charts below taken from the National Hurricane Center’s (NHC) Climatology page. All represent data for the Atlantic Basin.
The first shows the number of hurricanes observed from May through December in the last hundred years. The historical peak happens today, September 10.
But the screen capture below, shows no tropical cyclone activity in the Atlantic. And NONE expected for the next seven days.
Screen capture from National Hurricane Center’s Tropical Outlook page on September 10, 2026
So, 2026 will go down in the record books as a late bloomer. And if the wind sheer induced by the current El Niño continues, who knows? We could tie 1914.
Defining Normal
Weather forecasters nationwide are cherry picking their own frames of reference. Some say this will be the latest start since 1950…a nice round number. Others are saying, this will be the latest start since 1963…the start of the satellite era, which helped improve our global acuity.
NHC’s climatology page shows what happens when in a normal year…defined as the average in a recent 30 year period.
“Normally” by now, we would have had eight named storms, three of which were hurricanes and one of which was a major hurricane.
The chart below shows where those storms start during the first ten days of September.
Converting that into a heat map that illustrates the relative risk of a cyclone striking you shows that the Houston area (green) lies in the middle of pack. The Mississippi delta region and the East Coast from Miami to Virginia have all had more cyclones strike them in the last hundred years during September.
Finally, looking back to 1851, the number of cyclones in the Atlantic Basin seems to be increasing. However, advances in technology, such as satellites, may skew the numbers. Still, you can clearly see immense variation within relatively short periods.
For instance, reviewing the table associated with the bar graph above shows that in 2014, the Atlantic had just eight named storms. In 2020, we had 30.
The data also shows only two years since 1851 without any hurricanes…1907 and 1914. Both occurred more than a hundred years ago.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/10/2026 based on NHC data.
3299 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Screenshot-2026-09-10-at-10.42.01-AM-scaled.png?fit=2560%2C1387&ssl=113872560adminadmin2026-09-10 12:52:292026-09-10 12:53:46At Peak of Hurricane Season, No Hurricanes. How Unusual is That?
MoCo Changing Drainage, Subdivision Rules
9/12/26 – On 9./18/26, Montgomery County (MoCo) Commissioners Court will consider changes to its Drainage Criteria and Development Regulations. See Item 12A on the agenda.
Just last year, Montgomery County adopted a new drainage criteria manual. It was the first major update in decades. The new manual was first proposed in early 2024. That followed a minor update in 2019 from the county’s old 1988 drainage criteria manual in effect at the time of Harvey.
It adopted many, but not all of the minimum drainage criteria proposed by Harris County for other counties draining into Harris. MoCo allows fill in the 500-year floodplain, but Harris doesn’t. And Harris requires homes to be built at the 500-year flood elevation, whereas MoCo requires only the 100-year.
Proposed Drainage Criteria Changes
Here are the MoCo drainage criteria adopted in 2025. And here are the changes proposed for 2026. The changes are summarized on the first two pages.
The changes seem predominantly focused on:
By and large, these changes seem focused on clarifying the County’s requirements so that developers and the County’s Engineering Department can minimize “back-and-forth” changes/requests.
Amendment to Development Regulations
MoCo will also discuss changing its development regulations by adding a fourteen (14) calendar day response period for written acknowledgment from Commissioners’ offices.
MoCo regulations require developers to submit plans to commissioners before submitting them to the engineering department for final approval.
On the plus side, the amendment will help ensure timely processing and improve government efficiency.
But this change also comes with a potential downside, in my opinion. Two weeks doesn’t allow much time for public input or protest. It usually takes that long to get copies of documents via FOIA or Public Information Requests, assuming the requests don’t get appealed to the attorney general. So the two week requirement effectively excludes the public from the process…at least with the commissioner who directly represents him/her.
Since these are infrastructure decisions that could affect communities for a hundred years or more, is it wise to rush them? The language in the proposed amendment reads like a sharp elbow to the gut of commissioners. It basically says, “If you can’t do your job, get out of the way. The Engineering Department will do it for you.”
Gee, what if the commissioner’s staff member is on vacation?
Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/12/2026
3201 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Harris County Flood Resilience Task Force Opposes Scarborough Development
9/11/2026 – The Harris County Community Resilience Flood Task Force (CFRTF) has passed a resolution opposing the 5300+ acre proposed Scarborough/San Jacinto Preserve development near the confluence of the San Jacinto West Fork with Spring, Cypress and Turkey Creeks.
In doing so, it joins Harris County Commissioners Court and the Houston City Council which passed unanimous resolutions opposing the development. More than 9,300 residents of Harris and Montgomery Counties have also signed a Change.org petition opposing it.
Below is the text of the resolution. I have redacted the officers’ signatures to protect their privacy.
Text of Resolution
RESOLUTION BY THE COMMUNITY FLOOD RESILIENCE TASK FORCE OPPOSING PROPOSED SCARBOROUGH DEVELOPMENT (“SAN JACINTO PRESERVE”)
The Community Flood Resilience Task Force (CFRTF) was established by Harris County Commissioners Court to serve in an advisory capacity on flood resilience planning that accounts for community needs and priorities, including flood risk that originates upstream of the county line. Consistent with that mission, the CFRTF adopts the following position regarding the proposed Scarborough development, known as the ‘San Jacinto Preserve.’
The CFRTF shares the conclusion Houston City Council reached in its December 17, 2025 resolution: that catastrophic flooding renders this property unfit for residential development, and its highest and best use would instead be for flood mtigation and as a public park. The CFRTF opposes residential development of this property and supports its preservation as open space.
The proposed development would place approximately 5,300 acres, at the confluence of Spring Creek, Cypress Creek, Turkey Creek, and the West Fork of the San Jacinto River, west of Kingwood, into residential use. This property consists predominantly of active floodways, floodplains, and wetlands that currently function as a natural sponge, slowing and absorbing stormwater while filtering the water that ultimately flows into Lake Houston. Clearing and filling these wetlands to elevate the property for development would increase the speed and volume of stormwater runoff, placing downstream communities at greater risk of flooding, while undermining regional flood mitigation efforts already underway.
Beyond flood risk, this property sits within one of the most environmentally sensitive parts of the Lake Houston watershed, which serves as the primary drinking water source for approximately 2.4 million people across the Greater Houston area. Development of this tract therefore raises concerns not only for downstream flooding, but also for the water quality relied upon by a substantial share of the region’s population.
The CFRTF believes this property is better preserved as natural floodplain and green space than developed for residential use, given the severity of flood risk in this watershed and the role this land plays in protecting downstream communities and drinking water quality.
ADOPTED on August 28, 2026, by the Harris County Community Flood Resilience Task Force.
(Signed) Dr. Pamela Hernandez, Chair
Mary Anne Piacentini, Vice Chair
Chris Valdez, Secretary
For a PDF of the full document on letterhead, but with signatures redacted for privacy reasons, click here.
About the CFRTF
The Harris County Community Resilience Flood Task Force consists of ordinary citizens who represent communities and watersheds across Harris County. The 17 volunteer members are flood survivors, community organizers, engineers, advocates, and technical experts, working together to reduce flood risk for all Harris County communities.
Add Your Name to the Change.Org Petition
Please add your name to the Change.org petition and help protect your community by clicking here.
Location of proposed development outlined in screen capture from FEMA Flood Hazard Layer Viewer. Cross-hatch = floodway. Aqua = 100 year floodplain. Brown = 500 year floodplain. Note: this is a pre-Atlas 14 flood map. Montgomery County has not yet updated its flood maps.
To learn more, go to the search bar of ReduceFlooding.com and search on Scarborough or Ryko (the previous owner of this land).
And I highly recommend this post that contains an original song, Scarborough Bottom.
Please sign the petition today and forward this post to all your friends and family. Help put the petition over 10,000 signatures.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/11/2026
3300 Days since Hurricane Harvey
At Peak of Hurricane Season, No Hurricanes. How Unusual is That?
9/10/26 – Looking back at the last 100 years, today is the statistical peak of hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin. However, this year will also set a record for the latest “first hurricane” in recorded history…if we get one.
Since 1950, the record for the latest first hurricane was set in 2002 by Gustav and later tied in 2013 by Humberto. Both formed on September 11, according to AccuWeather.
“If no hurricane forms by Friday (Sept. 11), the 2026 Atlantic season will mark the latest point in the satellite era without an Atlantic hurricane,” they said.
Hurricane Climatology
So far this year, the season looks like a rarity. How much so? Check out the charts below taken from the National Hurricane Center’s (NHC) Climatology page. All represent data for the Atlantic Basin.
The first shows the number of hurricanes observed from May through December in the last hundred years. The historical peak happens today, September 10.
But the screen capture below, shows no tropical cyclone activity in the Atlantic. And NONE expected for the next seven days.
So, 2026 will go down in the record books as a late bloomer. And if the wind sheer induced by the current El Niño continues, who knows? We could tie 1914.
Defining Normal
Weather forecasters nationwide are cherry picking their own frames of reference. Some say this will be the latest start since 1950…a nice round number. Others are saying, this will be the latest start since 1963…the start of the satellite era, which helped improve our global acuity.
NHC’s climatology page shows what happens when in a normal year…defined as the average in a recent 30 year period.
“Normally” by now, we would have had eight named storms, three of which were hurricanes and one of which was a major hurricane.
The chart below shows where those storms start during the first ten days of September.
Converting that into a heat map that illustrates the relative risk of a cyclone striking you shows that the Houston area (green) lies in the middle of pack. The Mississippi delta region and the East Coast from Miami to Virginia have all had more cyclones strike them in the last hundred years during September.
Finally, looking back to 1851, the number of cyclones in the Atlantic Basin seems to be increasing. However, advances in technology, such as satellites, may skew the numbers. Still, you can clearly see immense variation within relatively short periods.
For instance, reviewing the table associated with the bar graph above shows that in 2014, the Atlantic had just eight named storms. In 2020, we had 30.
The data also shows only two years since 1851 without any hurricanes…1907 and 1914. Both occurred more than a hundred years ago.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/10/2026 based on NHC data.
3299 Days since Hurricane Harvey