1/18/25 – Don’t get a flood in your attic. The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a cold weather advisory and a winter storm watch for the entire Houston region. Sub-freezing temperatures and extreme wind chills mixed with ice and snow are expected. The:
Cold-weather advisory runs from 3 AM to 12 PM on January 19th.
Winter-storm watch takes effect on Monday January 20, 2025 at 6PM and will last until Tuesday at the same time.
For more details on each, see below.
Cold Weather Advisory Details
WHAT: Very cold wind chills below 20 degrees are expected.
WHERE: Portions of south central and southeast Texas.
WHEN: From 3 AM to noon CST Sunday, January 19, 2025
IMPACTS: Wind chill values can lead to hypothermia with prolonged exposure.
PRECAUTIONS: Use caution while traveling outside. Wear appropriate clothing, a hat, and gloves. Keep pets indoors as much as possible. Make frequent checks on older family, friends, and neighbors. Ensure portable heaters are used correctly. Do not use generators or grills inside.
Winter Storm Watch Details.
WHEN: Monday evening through Tuesday afternoon
WHAT: Heavy mixed precipitation is possible with total snow and sleet accumulations up to 3 inches and locally higher amounts. Ice accumulations of up to one tenth of an inch possible for portions of south central and southeast Texas.
IMPACTS: Roads, and especially bridges and overpasses, will likely become slick and hazardous. Plan on slippery road conditions. The hazardous conditions could impact the Tuesday morning and evening commutes.
PRECAUTIONS:
Be where you plan to be by 6:00 PM Monday for the duration of this winter storm event.
Monitor the latest forecasts for updates on this situation. Delay all travel if possible.
If travel is absolutely necessary, drive with extreme caution and be prepared for sudden changes in visibility.
Leave plenty of room between you and the motorist ahead of you, and allow extra time to reach your destination.
Avoid sudden braking or acceleration, and be especially cautious on hills or when making turns. Make sure your car is winterized and in good working order.
Jeff Lindner, Harris County’s meteorologist provided this additional detail.
As a cold front moves through the area today, look for increasingly colder conditions into Sunday and next week. Expect a substantial drop in the temperatures tonight into Sunday.
The freezing line will make it down toward the north and western sides of the metro area Sunday morning. When combined with gusty northerly winds of 15-25mph, wind chills will fall into the 10’s and 20’s for much of the area.
A more significant freeze is likely Monday morning with lows into the 20’s for much of the area and into the low 20’s north of HWY 105. Expect similar lows on Tuesday morning. Coldest temps will be on Wednesday morning with possible ice/snow cover and clearing skies resulting in maximum cooling conditions.
The duration of sub-freezing temperatures will be critical. Much of the area looks to fall below freezing Monday early evening and not rise above freezing until Wednesday afternoon.
Even then, it may only be a few degrees above freezing for a few hours. We could potentially experience sub-freezing temps for 36-45 hours over much of the area – and possibly longer.
Monday AM Forecasted Low Temperatures:
North of HWY 105: 22-26
North of I-10: 25-29
Houston metro (inside Beltway): 27-29
Coastal Counties: 28-30
Beaches/Galveston: 31-33
Tuesday AM Forecasted Low Temperatures:
North of HWY 105: 22-26
North of I-10: 26-30
Houston metro (inside Beltway): 27-29
Coastal Counties: 28-30
Beaches/Galveston: 30-32
Wednesday AM Forecasted Low Temperatures:
North of HWY 105: 17-20
North of I-10: 18-21
Houston metro (inside Beltway): 19-21
Coastal Counties: 19-24
Beaches/Galveston: 30-32
Maximum preparations and precautions for sub-freezing conditions for many hours should be completed this weekend. Failure to complete proper precautions may result in significant damage to vegetation and infrastructure.
Winter Precipitation:
Once the cold air is in place on Monday, another front will move through. Expect snow along and north of I-10 with the potential for a mixture of freezing rain/sleet/snow south of I-10. Models suggest the storm may move across the area in bands, resulting in much higher precipitation totals locally. This scenario occurred in 2004, 2008 and 2009.
Snow accumulations of 1-3 inches (or more locally) are possible along and north of I-10. Expect lower amounts south of I-10.
There is a:
70-85% chance much of the area will see at least a tenth of an inch of snow.
35-50% chance the area south of I-10 will get ice.
We could still be dealing with travel issues into Thursday morning. Aviation will be heavily impacted. Snow will clog runways and de-icing of planes will likely be necessary.
Forecast Graphics
Monday AM Low Temps:
Tuesday AM Low Temps:
Wednesday AM Low Temps:
Probabilities of Snow and Freezing Rain:
Snow Accumulation through Tuesday 600am (additional accumulation is likely after 600am)
Ice Accumulation through Tuesday 600am (additional accumulation is likely after 600am)
Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/18/25based on information from NOAA, NWS and Jeff Lindner
1/17/25 – According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2024 was a year for climate records and near records. 2024 was the:
Warmest year in the contiguous United States in 130 years
Third wettest year of the climate record in the contiguous United States
Second worst year for tornadoes (with 1,735 confirmed to date)
Second highest year for billion-dollar weather disasters in 45 years. Twenty-seven cost a total of $182.7 billion (which was the fourth highest price tag on record).
Fourth highest year for hurricanes making landfall in the U.S.
Graphic Recap of 2024’s Most Significant Climate and Weather Events
The maps below come from the NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). The first shows significant climate events during 2024.
Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters
The second map shows the location and dates of the 27 billion-dollar disasters.
NOAA says 2024 ranks second highest for number of billion-dollar disasters in a calendar year, one event behind 2023’s record 28 events. The total annual cost in 2024 – $182.7 billion – may rise by several billion as additional costs from identified events are reported.
Since records began in 1980, the U.S. has sustained 403 separate weather and climate disasters where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. All costs are adjusted to 2024 dollars based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The total cost of these 403 events exceeds $2.915 trillion.
Since 1980, the U.S. has experienced an average of nine billion-dollar disasters per year. So 2024 tripled the average.
Seventeen states (Texas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine) ranked warmest on record while all but two remaining states across the Lower 48 ranked as one of the warmest five years on record.
Annual precipitation for the contiguous U.S. was 31.58 inches, 1.66 inches above average, ranking in the wettest third of the historical record (1895–2024).
The Atlantic basin saw 18 named tropical cyclones and five landfalling hurricanes during 2024—an above-average season. Hurricane Helene was the seventh-most-costly Atlantic hurricane on record.
The tornado count for 2024 was second highest on record behind 2004 (1,817 tornadoes) with at least 1,735 confirmed tornadoes. When looking at EF-2+ tornadoes, 2024 was the most active year since the historic 2011 season.
Be cautious about generalizing about trends from these numbers. Almost every one of the stats references other record years from decades or even a century ago.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/17/2025 based on information from NOAA and NCEI
2698 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Disasters-in-2024.png?fit=1637%2C889&ssl=18891637adminadmin2025-01-17 16:36:282025-01-17 16:36:312024 Climate Records, Near Records
1/16/2025 – Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey, PE, and Distict E Houston City Council Member Fred Flickinger discussed the status of numerous flood projects at a meeting of the Kingwood Area Republican Women today at the Oakhurst Golf Club.
Ramsey addressing Kingwood Area Republican Women’s Club today.
Among the projects they covered were:
Taylor Gully Improvements/Woodridge Village Detention
Legal Changes Governing Pre-Release of Water from Lakes
Edgewater Park
Dredging
Medians
Flood Tunnels
Subsidence
Below are the highlights. They also discussed other issues such as median maintenance, vine control, crime, taxes, government waste, elections and more. But I will focus primarily on infrastructure issues related to flooding – especially Taylor Gully and Woodridge Village, because of pending approvals this month.
Taylor Gully/Woodridge Village
After Perry Homes clearcut approximately 270 acres in Montgomery County, hundreds of Kingwood homes flooded twice in 2019 along Taylor Gully. Taylor Gully runs through the northern part of Kingwood from Kingwood Park High School to White Oak Creek.
Harris County Flood Control District (HCDFC) began working on mitigation plans in 2021 and presented preliminary recommendations to the community in December, 2022.
The county had high hopes for funding from the Texas General Land Office (GLO) and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), but those ran into a potential snag. Taylor Gully improvements fit within available HUD funding, but Woodridge Village (the former Perry Homes Property) did not. HCFCD hoped to build more stormwater detention basin capacity on Woodridge to help control Taylor Gully expenses downstream.
Regardless HCFCD pressed forward. They combined the two projects. And according to HCFCD, both now fit with available funding capacity (see “above the line” list on page 2) of the list being presented to Commissioners Court next week on 1/23/25.
The county purchased Woodridge Village in February 2021. Shortly thereafter, HCFCD began an excavation and removal (E&R) contract to get a “head start” on the basins. Indeed, the head start brought the total stormwater detention on the site almost to Atlas-14 standards.
However, HCFCD was forced to terminate the E&R contract before the basins could be completed. That was to comply with HUD requirements while HUD considered the grant application.
This is potentially great news for the people who live in Sherwood Trails, Elm Grove, Mills Branch and Woodstream.
Watch commissioner’s court closely next Thursday. The Kingwood area drainage study named this project as one of the two most important in Kingwood.
Kingwood Diversion Ditch and Upstream Detention
The Kingwood Diversion Ditch was the other of the two most important projects. The Diversion Ditch takes floodwaters out of Bens Branch, which runs diagonally through the center of Kingwood from St. Martha Catholic Church to River Grove Park.
Improving the Diversion Ditch would reduce flood risk for hundreds of homes and apartments, Kingwood High School, Town Center, and Kings Harbor. Both Bens Branch and the Diversion Ditch currently have a two-year level of service. That means they have a 50% chance of coming out of their banks in any given year.
Ramsey estimated today that the project could cost $60 million. However, he also indicated that U.S. Congressman Dan Crenshaw “got us enough money so we can do the final engineering.”
Eric Heppen, Precinct 3 engineer, later stated that once Commissioners Court approves the preliminary report, it will be made public.
Flickinger emphasized that he is talking with Montgomery County, trying to get them to retain more of their floodwaters. He raised concerns about a new 200,000 sq. ft. convention center planned for US59 at Valley Ranch. “That will generate a lot of runoff that could come down to us, unless we work together to find a way to hold that water up there.”
Houston City Council Member Fred Flickingerat same meeting.
Additional Floodgates for Lake Houston
Shortly after Harvey, many people pinned their flood-mitigation hopes on additional floodgates for the Lake Houston dam. The idea: to lower the lake faster when it becomes certain that a storm will flood the area. The existing gates have 1/15th the capacity of Lake Conroe’s. So Lake Houston must start releasing far earlier in advance of storms than Lake Conroe. And by the time Lake Houston is lowered, storms can veer away, wasting valuable water.
So Conroe tends to hold its water back until it is absolutely certain. At that point, it has no other choice than to release water at high rates that flood people downstream.
Being able to lower Lake Houston faster would let Lake Conroe release earlier and slower, smoothing out flood peaks downstream.
Ramsey estimated the cost of 11 new floodgates that could release 80,000 cubic feet per second at $150 million. He said the final engineering should be completed this year. He also said that bidding and construction could start in 2026.
Legal Changes Governing Pre-Release of Water
Flickinger addressed a related legal issue. State law limits the release of water from lakes; it must be only for defined beneficial uses and flood control is not one of them.
So, Flickinger is working with State Rep. Charles Cunningham to change that and increase the limit. “Bottom line,” he said, “is that we need to release more water sooner rather than holding it back until we’re adding to the crest of the flood.”
Flickinger is also working with the San Jacinto River Authority on these changes.
Edgewater Park
After Harvey, the County acquired land on the northeast corner of the West Fork and US59, which will turn into Edgewater Park. It will also connect the Houston Parks Board’s West Fork Greenway with the Spring Creek Nature Trail. Ramsey said the plans will be made public very soon. After the meeting, Precinct 3 engineer Eric Heppen confirmed the plans were 99% complete.
Ramsey said, “Soon, you’ll be able to go from Kingwood to Tomball and not cross a road.” That should be a tremendous draw for hikers and bikers and the entire area.
Dredging
Flickinger discussed two aspects of dredging not covered in last night’s post. First, he is seeking additional funding to continue the current program while the dredge is on the lake. Second, he feels opportunities exist to increase efficiency.
I asked what he meant by that. FEMA restrictions on the funds currently being used limit the dredging to “pre-Harvey” conditions. That means, Callan Marine, the contractor, must dredge to different depths to match the exact bottom profile that existed before Harvey. And that requires repositioning the dredge more than if you were just dredging to a uniform depth across wide areas.
The search for additional funding has led Flickinger to the City, the Coastal Water Authority (CWA) and former State Representative Dan Huberty. Huberty was appointed to the board of CWA last last year by Houston Mayor John Whitmire.
Medians
Several people from the audience questioned Flickinger about the medians along Kingwood Drive. He touted the success of his first Median Madness event in November 2024 and announced another on February 22, 2025. Mark your calendar now.
More than 50 volunteers participated in the last vine-cutting extravaganza. He hopes for many more volunteers this time.
Flood Tunnels
The county is getting ready to launch the next phase of its flood tunnel study. Ramsey emphasized that there isn’t enough room in Harris County to poke enough holes in the ground to solve all of our flooding problems. He sees tunnels that carry floodwater from strategic locations as essential parts of the solution.
Eric Heppen, Ramsey’s engineer said that by burying the 40 foot tunnels 80 feet underground, you can double the conveyance in some watersheds, sidestep environmental issues, and avoid having to condemn property.
But many issues have yet to be worked out. For instance, will tunnels be constructed to relieve 2-year, 5-year, 10-year, 25-year or 50-year flooding? More to follow when details become available.
Subsidence
Harris County estimates the area east of Lake Houston will grow by 18,000 homes in the next 10 years. But there currently are no plans to provide them with surface water. So, they will pump groundwater. That means subsidence. And subsidence means flooding, according to Ramsey. He pointed to Conroe as an example. The City’s groundwater pumping has caused subsidence as far south as Harris County.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/16/25
2697 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/20221206-Taylor-Gully.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=112001200adminadmin2025-01-16 21:37:172025-01-17 14:29:08Ramsey, Flickinger Discuss Status of Flood Projects
NWS Issues Cold Weather Advisory, Winter Storm Watch
1/18/25 – Don’t get a flood in your attic. The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a cold weather advisory and a winter storm watch for the entire Houston region. Sub-freezing temperatures and extreme wind chills mixed with ice and snow are expected. The:
For more details on each, see below.
Cold Weather Advisory Details
WHAT: Very cold wind chills below 20 degrees are expected.
WHERE: Portions of south central and southeast Texas.
WHEN: From 3 AM to noon CST Sunday, January 19, 2025
IMPACTS: Wind chill values can lead to hypothermia with prolonged exposure.
PRECAUTIONS: Use caution while traveling outside. Wear appropriate clothing, a hat, and gloves. Keep pets indoors as much as possible. Make frequent checks on older family, friends, and neighbors. Ensure portable heaters are used correctly. Do not use generators or grills inside.
Winter Storm Watch Details.
WHEN: Monday evening through Tuesday afternoon
WHAT: Heavy mixed precipitation is possible with total snow and sleet accumulations up to 3 inches and locally higher amounts. Ice accumulations of up to one tenth of an inch possible for portions of south central and southeast Texas.
IMPACTS: Roads, and especially bridges and overpasses, will likely become slick and hazardous. Plan on slippery road conditions. The hazardous conditions could impact the Tuesday morning and evening commutes.
PRECAUTIONS:
WHERE: Houston; Trinity; Madison; Walker; San Jacinto; Polk; Burleson; Brazos; Washington; Grimes; Montgomery; Northern Liberty; Colorado; Austin; Waller; Inland Harris; Chambers; Wharton; Fort Bend; Inland Jackson; Inland Matagorda; Inland Brazoria; Inland Galveston; Southern Liberty; Coastal Harris; Coastal Jackson; Coastal Matagorda; Coastal Brazoria; Coastal Galveston; Matagorda Islands; Brazoria Islands; Galveston Island; Bolivar Peninsula.
What to Expect within Metro Area
Jeff Lindner, Harris County’s meteorologist provided this additional detail.
As a cold front moves through the area today, look for increasingly colder conditions into Sunday and next week. Expect a substantial drop in the temperatures tonight into Sunday.
The freezing line will make it down toward the north and western sides of the metro area Sunday morning. When combined with gusty northerly winds of 15-25mph, wind chills will fall into the 10’s and 20’s for much of the area.
A more significant freeze is likely Monday morning with lows into the 20’s for much of the area and into the low 20’s north of HWY 105. Expect similar lows on Tuesday morning. Coldest temps will be on Wednesday morning with possible ice/snow cover and clearing skies resulting in maximum cooling conditions.
The duration of sub-freezing temperatures will be critical. Much of the area looks to fall below freezing Monday early evening and not rise above freezing until Wednesday afternoon.
Even then, it may only be a few degrees above freezing for a few hours. We could potentially experience sub-freezing temps for 36-45 hours over much of the area – and possibly longer.
Monday AM Forecasted Low Temperatures:
Tuesday AM Forecasted Low Temperatures:
Wednesday AM Forecasted Low Temperatures:
Winter Precipitation:
Once the cold air is in place on Monday, another front will move through. Expect snow along and north of I-10 with the potential for a mixture of freezing rain/sleet/snow south of I-10. Models suggest the storm may move across the area in bands, resulting in much higher precipitation totals locally. This scenario occurred in 2004, 2008 and 2009.
Snow accumulations of 1-3 inches (or more locally) are possible along and north of I-10. Expect lower amounts south of I-10.
There is a:
We could still be dealing with travel issues into Thursday morning. Aviation will be heavily impacted. Snow will clog runways and de-icing of planes will likely be necessary.
Forecast Graphics
Monday AM Low Temps:
Tuesday AM Low Temps:
Wednesday AM Low Temps:
Probabilities of Snow and Freezing Rain:
Snow Accumulation through Tuesday 600am (additional accumulation is likely after 600am)
Ice Accumulation through Tuesday 600am (additional accumulation is likely after 600am)
Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/18/25 based on information from NOAA, NWS and Jeff Lindner
2699 Days since Hurricane Harvey
2024 Climate Records, Near Records
1/17/25 – According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2024 was a year for climate records and near records. 2024 was the:
Graphic Recap of 2024’s Most Significant Climate and Weather Events
The maps below come from the NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). The first shows significant climate events during 2024.
Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters
The second map shows the location and dates of the 27 billion-dollar disasters.
NOAA says 2024 ranks second highest for number of billion-dollar disasters in a calendar year, one event behind 2023’s record 28 events. The total annual cost in 2024 – $182.7 billion – may rise by several billion as additional costs from identified events are reported.
Since records began in 1980, the U.S. has sustained 403 separate weather and climate disasters where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. All costs are adjusted to 2024 dollars based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The total cost of these 403 events exceeds $2.915 trillion.
This is also a record 14th consecutive year when the U.S. experienced 10 or more billion-dollar disasters.
Other Stats and Key Points
The average annual temperature of the contiguous U.S. was 55.5°F, 3.5°F above average and the warmest in the 130-year record.
Seventeen states (Texas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine) ranked warmest on record while all but two remaining states across the Lower 48 ranked as one of the warmest five years on record.
Annual precipitation for the contiguous U.S. was 31.58 inches, 1.66 inches above average, ranking in the wettest third of the historical record (1895–2024).
The Atlantic basin saw 18 named tropical cyclones and five landfalling hurricanes during 2024—an above-average season. Hurricane Helene was the seventh-most-costly Atlantic hurricane on record.
The tornado count for 2024 was second highest on record behind 2004 (1,817 tornadoes) with at least 1,735 confirmed tornadoes. When looking at EF-2+ tornadoes, 2024 was the most active year since the historic 2011 season.
Hurricane Helene’s extensive damage topped the list of 27 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disaster events identified during 2024.
Be cautious about generalizing about trends from these numbers. Almost every one of the stats references other record years from decades or even a century ago.
For More Information
For more detailed climate information, check out NOAA’s comprehensive Annual 2024 U.S. Climate Report. For additional information on the statistics provided here, visit NOAA’s Climate at a Glance and National Maps webpages.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/17/2025 based on information from NOAA and NCEI
2698 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Ramsey, Flickinger Discuss Status of Flood Projects
1/16/2025 – Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey, PE, and Distict E Houston City Council Member Fred Flickinger discussed the status of numerous flood projects at a meeting of the Kingwood Area Republican Women today at the Oakhurst Golf Club.
Among the projects they covered were:
Below are the highlights. They also discussed other issues such as median maintenance, vine control, crime, taxes, government waste, elections and more. But I will focus primarily on infrastructure issues related to flooding – especially Taylor Gully and Woodridge Village, because of pending approvals this month.
Taylor Gully/Woodridge Village
After Perry Homes clearcut approximately 270 acres in Montgomery County, hundreds of Kingwood homes flooded twice in 2019 along Taylor Gully. Taylor Gully runs through the northern part of Kingwood from Kingwood Park High School to White Oak Creek.
Harris County Flood Control District (HCDFC) began working on mitigation plans in 2021 and presented preliminary recommendations to the community in December, 2022.
The county had high hopes for funding from the Texas General Land Office (GLO) and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), but those ran into a potential snag. Taylor Gully improvements fit within available HUD funding, but Woodridge Village (the former Perry Homes Property) did not. HCFCD hoped to build more stormwater detention basin capacity on Woodridge to help control Taylor Gully expenses downstream.
Regardless HCFCD pressed forward. They combined the two projects. And according to HCFCD, both now fit with available funding capacity (see “above the line” list on page 2) of the list being presented to Commissioners Court next week on 1/23/25.
The county purchased Woodridge Village in February 2021. Shortly thereafter, HCFCD began an excavation and removal (E&R) contract to get a “head start” on the basins. Indeed, the head start brought the total stormwater detention on the site almost to Atlas-14 standards.
However, HCFCD was forced to terminate the E&R contract before the basins could be completed. That was to comply with HUD requirements while HUD considered the grant application.
This is potentially great news for the people who live in Sherwood Trails, Elm Grove, Mills Branch and Woodstream.
Watch commissioner’s court closely next Thursday. The Kingwood area drainage study named this project as one of the two most important in Kingwood.
Kingwood Diversion Ditch and Upstream Detention
The Kingwood Diversion Ditch was the other of the two most important projects. The Diversion Ditch takes floodwaters out of Bens Branch, which runs diagonally through the center of Kingwood from St. Martha Catholic Church to River Grove Park.
Improving the Diversion Ditch would reduce flood risk for hundreds of homes and apartments, Kingwood High School, Town Center, and Kings Harbor. Both Bens Branch and the Diversion Ditch currently have a two-year level of service. That means they have a 50% chance of coming out of their banks in any given year.
The District started preliminary engineering in mid-2021. HCFCD will finally present that report to Commissioners Court on February 6, 2025.
Ramsey estimated today that the project could cost $60 million. However, he also indicated that U.S. Congressman Dan Crenshaw “got us enough money so we can do the final engineering.”
Eric Heppen, Precinct 3 engineer, later stated that once Commissioners Court approves the preliminary report, it will be made public.
Flickinger emphasized that he is talking with Montgomery County, trying to get them to retain more of their floodwaters. He raised concerns about a new 200,000 sq. ft. convention center planned for US59 at Valley Ranch. “That will generate a lot of runoff that could come down to us, unless we work together to find a way to hold that water up there.”
Additional Floodgates for Lake Houston
Shortly after Harvey, many people pinned their flood-mitigation hopes on additional floodgates for the Lake Houston dam. The idea: to lower the lake faster when it becomes certain that a storm will flood the area. The existing gates have 1/15th the capacity of Lake Conroe’s. So Lake Houston must start releasing far earlier in advance of storms than Lake Conroe. And by the time Lake Houston is lowered, storms can veer away, wasting valuable water.
So Conroe tends to hold its water back until it is absolutely certain. At that point, it has no other choice than to release water at high rates that flood people downstream.
Being able to lower Lake Houston faster would let Lake Conroe release earlier and slower, smoothing out flood peaks downstream.
Ramsey estimated the cost of 11 new floodgates that could release 80,000 cubic feet per second at $150 million. He said the final engineering should be completed this year. He also said that bidding and construction could start in 2026.
Legal Changes Governing Pre-Release of Water
Flickinger addressed a related legal issue. State law limits the release of water from lakes; it must be only for defined beneficial uses and flood control is not one of them.
So, Flickinger is working with State Rep. Charles Cunningham to change that and increase the limit. “Bottom line,” he said, “is that we need to release more water sooner rather than holding it back until we’re adding to the crest of the flood.”
Flickinger is also working with the San Jacinto River Authority on these changes.
Edgewater Park
After Harvey, the County acquired land on the northeast corner of the West Fork and US59, which will turn into Edgewater Park. It will also connect the Houston Parks Board’s West Fork Greenway with the Spring Creek Nature Trail. Ramsey said the plans will be made public very soon. After the meeting, Precinct 3 engineer Eric Heppen confirmed the plans were 99% complete.
Ramsey said, “Soon, you’ll be able to go from Kingwood to Tomball and not cross a road.” That should be a tremendous draw for hikers and bikers and the entire area.
Dredging
Flickinger discussed two aspects of dredging not covered in last night’s post. First, he is seeking additional funding to continue the current program while the dredge is on the lake. Second, he feels opportunities exist to increase efficiency.
I asked what he meant by that. FEMA restrictions on the funds currently being used limit the dredging to “pre-Harvey” conditions. That means, Callan Marine, the contractor, must dredge to different depths to match the exact bottom profile that existed before Harvey. And that requires repositioning the dredge more than if you were just dredging to a uniform depth across wide areas.
The search for additional funding has led Flickinger to the City, the Coastal Water Authority (CWA) and former State Representative Dan Huberty. Huberty was appointed to the board of CWA last last year by Houston Mayor John Whitmire.
Medians
Several people from the audience questioned Flickinger about the medians along Kingwood Drive. He touted the success of his first Median Madness event in November 2024 and announced another on February 22, 2025. Mark your calendar now.
More than 50 volunteers participated in the last vine-cutting extravaganza. He hopes for many more volunteers this time.
Flood Tunnels
The county is getting ready to launch the next phase of its flood tunnel study. Ramsey emphasized that there isn’t enough room in Harris County to poke enough holes in the ground to solve all of our flooding problems. He sees tunnels that carry floodwater from strategic locations as essential parts of the solution.
Eric Heppen, Ramsey’s engineer said that by burying the 40 foot tunnels 80 feet underground, you can double the conveyance in some watersheds, sidestep environmental issues, and avoid having to condemn property.
But many issues have yet to be worked out. For instance, will tunnels be constructed to relieve 2-year, 5-year, 10-year, 25-year or 50-year flooding? More to follow when details become available.
Subsidence
Harris County estimates the area east of Lake Houston will grow by 18,000 homes in the next 10 years. But there currently are no plans to provide them with surface water. So, they will pump groundwater. That means subsidence. And subsidence means flooding, according to Ramsey. He pointed to Conroe as an example. The City’s groundwater pumping has caused subsidence as far south as Harris County.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/16/25
2697 Days since Hurricane Harvey