Between Pearl Harbor and the surrender of Japan, 1349 days elapsed. But more than twice that number of days have elapsed since Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
Battleship Arizona, December 7, 1941. Photo courtesy of National Park Service.
At 1349 Days after Harvey, I wrote a post entitled “It’s Official: Harvey Flood Mitigation Is Taking Longer than World War II.” The bittersweet post expressed disappointment about the lack of progress … tempered with hope for the future. But sadly, many of the observations I made then are true today. We still:
Are dredging the mouth of the San Jacinto West Fork, which backed water up into thousands of homes and businesses.
Are fighting with each other over which neighborhoods get their flood-mitigation projects started first.
Have not turned one shovel of dirt at any of the upstream sites identified for stormwater detention in the San Jacinto River Basin Master Drainage Plan.
Bush provided numerous recommendations to cut red tape. But sadly, few, if any, have been implemented.
Failure to Prepare is Preparing to Fail
During the last Harris County Commissioner’s Court Meeting, we witnessed Commissioners struggling with this slow-motion disaster that has become a second disaster in itself.
They even spent a full hour requesting an update from HCFCD on the status of bond projects. Those updates used to be a regular monthly report.
Failure to prepare for flooding that you know will come is an invitation to heartbreak and misery. When the next flood happens, the damage will be self-inflicted.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 3/1/25
2741 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/20210507-Arizona.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=18011200adminadmin2025-03-01 18:14:212025-03-01 18:52:31We Won World War II in Half the Time That It’s Taking to Start Harvey Flood-Mitigation Projects
2/28/25 – Today, the Texas General Land Office (GLO) released the status of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) disaster-relief and flood-mitigation applications from Harris County’s Flood Control District and Housing & Community Development Department.
The grant applications cover almost $1.1 billion dollars in aid for Harris County relating to Hurricane Harvey alone, which the GLO manages for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Today’s updates cover the status of more than 60 projects. A little more than half have already been approved. Twenty-one are still in review. And eight still have not been submitted yet.
Separately, yesterday Harris County Commissioners adopted three resolutions to limit financial exposure during the Federal grant funding freeze.
Let’s look at the disaster-relief and flood-mitigation applications first, then the issue of financial exposure.
HCFCD Disaster Relief Projects
Of the 11 disaster relief projects published by Flood Control, the GLO has already approved 10. Flood Control has not yet submitted the application for the Genoa Red Bluff Regional Stormwater Detention Basin.
All projects in this list total approximately $269 million.
Provided by GLO on 2/28/25
For descriptions of each project above, click here.
HCFCD Flood-Mitigation Projects
HCFCD is submitting 18 projects in the flood-mitigation category. Of those, the GLO has started reviewing 16. HCFCD has yet to submit two.
The 16 projects submitted to date total approximately $510 million out of $541,847,826 allocated for this category.
Only one project below – Taylor Gully/Woodridge – is in the Kingwood Area.
For a printable PDF of these two lists, click here.
County Making Contingency Plans for Federal Grant Funding Freeze
A large portion of the Special Harris County Commissioners Court Meeting yesterday concerned planning for uncertainties regarding the federal grant funding freeze. Specifically on the agenda:
Item 11 tried to limit the County’s financial exposure in case projects were started, but promised funding did not come through on the back end.
Item 164 requested HCFCD to provide an update on every 2018 flood-bond project (completed, in progress, and not yet started). Commissioners requested dollars expended to date by life cycle stages, locations and subprojects. They also requested a listing of how all projects scored and ranked on the County’s Equity Prioritization Framework.
Those two items alone consumed two hours.
Re: Item 11, Commissioners adopted three motions unanimously:
Motion 1 directed OMB to maintain a maximum monthly average of $100 million in outstanding receivables relating to federal grants and to update commissioners court monthly on balances.
Motion 2 directed OCA, OMB, the County’s Strategic Planning Committee, and impacted departments to make recommendations for dealing with at-risk, federally funded programs.
Motion 3 allowed payment of grant-funded invoices if federal funding is available.
The motions govern management of invoice payments related to grants and establish protocols for prioritizing grant programs.
The commissioners want to prevent a significant impact on cash flow and future budget cycles. Their plan includes setting aside general funds and cooperating with the Strategic Planning Committee to identify priority grants.
Additionally, there are strategies to identify at-risk grants, limit financial exposure, and ensure that ongoing expenditures are more closely aligned with the likelihood of reimbursement.
Motion 3 would only allow payment of project/program related invoices if reimbursement seems likely.
The measures apply to all federal grants, not just those listed above. For instance, ARPA funding expires next year and will affect many county employees.
The county averages about $70 million in liabilities every month related to payment of grant invoices (for which the Federal government later reimburses the county). The $100 million limit in Motion 1 reflects an amount that the county cannot afford if the Feds withhold payment.
For the time being, everyone is proceeding as though the funding appropriated by Congress will come through.
Most of those I interviewed for this article believe the President does not have the authority to override laws passed by Congress with executive orders. However, Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) budget cuts could have the impact of hamstringing other departments, such as HUD.
For instance, I talked to two government officials on the condition of anonymity who discussed rumors of staffing cuts greater than 80% at HUD. That could affect reimbursement for tens of billion of dollars in CDBG funds nationwide, because the Department might not have the personnel to process reimbursements.
That could affect most of the disaster-relief and flood-mitigation applications above. But more on that at a future date when and if the rumors become real.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/28/25
2740 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/HCFCD-Mit-e1740797936379.png?fit=1100%2C718&ssl=17181100adminadmin2025-02-28 21:09:202025-02-28 22:45:13GLO Releases Status of Disaster-Relief, Flood-Mitigation Applications
2/27/25 – Hallett Materials has finally plugged a year-long leak in its Porter sand mine on the San Jacinto West Fork.
According to residents who live near the leak, an investigator from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) visited the mine yesterday. For more than six hours, he sampled water leaking from the mine.
A short time later, Hallett, a self-proclaimed environmental leader, started plugging the leak. It had created a river of sludge several hundred feet wide that led straight to the drinking water supply for 2 million people…for more than a year.
History of Leak
Photos taken on February 8, 2024, show that bulldozers created the leak. Those dozer tracks in the image below certainly don’t appear accidental.
Notice where tracked vehicle shaveddown area between Hallett settling pond (far right) and road/woods, letting sediment-laden water leak out of overloaded pond.Same pond, same sludge, same leaks more than a year later on 2/23/25.
I ran a story about the year-long leak that same day. The post also took the TCEQ to task for magically overlooking the river of what I call Houdini sludge. It can escape from anything, anytime, year round, day or night – without detection by even the most eagle-eyed TCEQ investigator. Slippery stuff, that sludge!
Seriously, I’m sure Hallett will send a blind, part-time, sub-assistant foreman to some TCEQ gulag for re-education and environmental sensitivity training. That should placate the reluctant regulators.”
A note from the sacrificial sub-assistant’s ophthalmologist should also sufficiently explain the “accidental” oversight enough to get Hallett off the hook with a strongly worded apology and a ten dollar fine.
TCEQ’s Biggest Investigation Ever?
The investigator sampling the water this week wouldn’t say much except that this was “the biggest investigation he had ever been a part of.” Of course, previous TCEQ investigators couldn’t find water falling out of a rowboat with a seeing-eye dog.
Pics of Fix
Hallett reportedly parked a bulldozer near where the investigator was working. This afternoon, a resident sent pictures of a pile of dirt the bulldozer pushed against the rising tide of sludge. It was about as deep as a stack of chocolate pancakes at IHOP. See below.
Where one of the rivers of sludge cut across the maintenance roadHallet leak plugged……at least for a day or two.How long will it last?Vegas is taking odds.
Now, there’s a beautifully engineered bandaid!
What more could a TCEQ commissioner up for reappointment ask?
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/27/25
2739 Days since Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/20250223_0968_D.jpg?fit=1100%2C619&ssl=16191100adminadmin2025-02-27 21:46:382025-02-27 23:20:14Hallett Finally Plugs Year-Long Leak in Sand Mine
We Won World War II in Half the Time That It’s Taking to Start Harvey Flood-Mitigation Projects
3/1/25 – More than 60 flood-mitigation and disaster-relief projects identified after Hurricane Harvey have yet to begin. We won World War II in half that time.
Between Pearl Harbor and the surrender of Japan, 1349 days elapsed. But more than twice that number of days have elapsed since Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
At 1349 Days after Harvey, I wrote a post entitled “It’s Official: Harvey Flood Mitigation Is Taking Longer than World War II.” The bittersweet post expressed disappointment about the lack of progress … tempered with hope for the future. But sadly, many of the observations I made then are true today. We still:
Around the time of my first World War II post, I also tried to understand why mitigation took so long. See these posts:
Bush provided numerous recommendations to cut red tape. But sadly, few, if any, have been implemented.
Failure to Prepare is Preparing to Fail
During the last Harris County Commissioner’s Court Meeting, we witnessed Commissioners struggling with this slow-motion disaster that has become a second disaster in itself.
They even spent a full hour requesting an update from HCFCD on the status of bond projects. Those updates used to be a regular monthly report.
Failure to prepare for flooding that you know will come is an invitation to heartbreak and misery. When the next flood happens, the damage will be self-inflicted.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 3/1/25
2741 Days since Hurricane Harvey
GLO Releases Status of Disaster-Relief, Flood-Mitigation Applications
2/28/25 – Today, the Texas General Land Office (GLO) released the status of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) disaster-relief and flood-mitigation applications from Harris County’s Flood Control District and Housing & Community Development Department.
The grant applications cover almost $1.1 billion dollars in aid for Harris County relating to Hurricane Harvey alone, which the GLO manages for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Today’s updates cover the status of more than 60 projects. A little more than half have already been approved. Twenty-one are still in review. And eight still have not been submitted yet.
Separately, yesterday Harris County Commissioners adopted three resolutions to limit financial exposure during the Federal grant funding freeze.
Let’s look at the disaster-relief and flood-mitigation applications first, then the issue of financial exposure.
HCFCD Disaster Relief Projects
Of the 11 disaster relief projects published by Flood Control, the GLO has already approved 10. Flood Control has not yet submitted the application for the Genoa Red Bluff Regional Stormwater Detention Basin.
All projects in this list total approximately $269 million.
For descriptions of each project above, click here.
HCFCD Flood-Mitigation Projects
HCFCD is submitting 18 projects in the flood-mitigation category. Of those, the GLO has started reviewing 16. HCFCD has yet to submit two.
The 16 projects submitted to date total approximately $510 million out of $541,847,826 allocated for this category.
Only one project below – Taylor Gully/Woodridge – is in the Kingwood Area.
For descriptions of each project, click here.
For a printable PDF of these two lists, click here.
Housing and Community Development Mitigation and Planning
Harris County’s Housing & Community Development Department also has projects in two categories: mitigation and planning.
Mitigation includes nine projects totaling approximately $150 million. GLO has already approved all except for two still in review.
HC H&CD has already issued notices of intent to release funds for approved projects above.
Housing & Community Development has also requested money for 23 planning studies. The 18 approved or still in review total $10.775 million.
For a printable PDF of these two lists, click here.
County Making Contingency Plans for Federal Grant Funding Freeze
A large portion of the Special Harris County Commissioners Court Meeting yesterday concerned planning for uncertainties regarding the federal grant funding freeze. Specifically on the agenda:
Those two items alone consumed two hours.
Re: Item 11, Commissioners adopted three motions unanimously:
The motions govern management of invoice payments related to grants and establish protocols for prioritizing grant programs.
Rationale Behind Motions in Item 11
Watch the discussion of Item 11 in this video of yesterday’s Special Commissioners Court Meeting. Make sure you click on the segment labeled “Departments 2 of 2.” The discussion starts at 11:02 A.M.
The commissioners want to prevent a significant impact on cash flow and future budget cycles. Their plan includes setting aside general funds and cooperating with the Strategic Planning Committee to identify priority grants.
Additionally, there are strategies to identify at-risk grants, limit financial exposure, and ensure that ongoing expenditures are more closely aligned with the likelihood of reimbursement.
Motion 3 would only allow payment of project/program related invoices if reimbursement seems likely.
The measures apply to all federal grants, not just those listed above. For instance, ARPA funding expires next year and will affect many county employees.
The county averages about $70 million in liabilities every month related to payment of grant invoices (for which the Federal government later reimburses the county). The $100 million limit in Motion 1 reflects an amount that the county cannot afford if the Feds withhold payment.
For the time being, everyone is proceeding as though the funding appropriated by Congress will come through.
Most of those I interviewed for this article believe the President does not have the authority to override laws passed by Congress with executive orders. However, Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) budget cuts could have the impact of hamstringing other departments, such as HUD.
For instance, I talked to two government officials on the condition of anonymity who discussed rumors of staffing cuts greater than 80% at HUD. That could affect reimbursement for tens of billion of dollars in CDBG funds nationwide, because the Department might not have the personnel to process reimbursements.
That could affect most of the disaster-relief and flood-mitigation applications above. But more on that at a future date when and if the rumors become real.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/28/25
2740 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Hallett Finally Plugs Year-Long Leak in Sand Mine
2/27/25 – Hallett Materials has finally plugged a year-long leak in its Porter sand mine on the San Jacinto West Fork.
According to residents who live near the leak, an investigator from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) visited the mine yesterday. For more than six hours, he sampled water leaking from the mine.
A short time later, Hallett, a self-proclaimed environmental leader, started plugging the leak. It had created a river of sludge several hundred feet wide that led straight to the drinking water supply for 2 million people…for more than a year.
History of Leak
Photos taken on February 8, 2024, show that bulldozers created the leak. Those dozer tracks in the image below certainly don’t appear accidental.
I ran a story about the year-long leak that same day. The post also took the TCEQ to task for magically overlooking the river of what I call Houdini sludge. It can escape from anything, anytime, year round, day or night – without detection by even the most eagle-eyed TCEQ investigator. Slippery stuff, that sludge!
Seriously, I’m sure Hallett will send a blind, part-time, sub-assistant foreman to some TCEQ gulag for re-education and environmental sensitivity training. That should placate the reluctant regulators.”
A note from the sacrificial sub-assistant’s ophthalmologist should also sufficiently explain the “accidental” oversight enough to get Hallett off the hook with a strongly worded apology and a ten dollar fine.
TCEQ’s Biggest Investigation Ever?
The investigator sampling the water this week wouldn’t say much except that this was “the biggest investigation he had ever been a part of.” Of course, previous TCEQ investigators couldn’t find water falling out of a rowboat with a seeing-eye dog.
Pics of Fix
Hallett reportedly parked a bulldozer near where the investigator was working. This afternoon, a resident sent pictures of a pile of dirt the bulldozer pushed against the rising tide of sludge. It was about as deep as a stack of chocolate pancakes at IHOP. See below.
What more could a TCEQ commissioner up for reappointment ask?
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/27/25
2739 Days since Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.