11/25/24 – This flood digest contains brief summaries of five recent flood-related news items.
GLO Launches Disaster Recovery Reallocation Program
A month ago, the Texas General Land Office (GLO) announced the creation of a Disaster Recovery Reallocation Program (DRRP). The purpose: to utilize unused and de-obligated Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds from disasters dating back to 2008. See:
The GLO administers U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds in Texas. And in keeping with HUD’s mission, grant scoring for the reallocated funds gives preference to low-to-moderate income areas. Also, project evaluation criteria include feasibility of completing the proposed project(s) within two years. Communities can use the reallocated funds for:
Flood and drainage improvements
Water and wastewater improvements
Street improvements
Rehabilitation, reconstruction, and new construction of affordable multifamily projects
Permanently affixed emergency communication equipment.
Approximately 15 entities in or related to Harris County submitted projects. They include Harris County Housing Authority, City of Houston and Harris County plus a dozen or more other entities in Harris County.
Unused funds from the disasters currently total about $130 million. Grants will range from $500,000 to $20 million. For more details, see this PowerPoint presentation.
“Dam Project that Never Was” Might Have Prevented Helene Deaths
A reader sent me a link to a news story called The Dam Project that Never Was published in The Dispatch by Will Rinehart. It’s about the present day implications of a dam project in North Carolina scuttled more than 50 years ago.
The article begins with a quote from a news article in the July 17, 1916, edition of The Asheville Citizen. “Asheville today is absolutely isolated from the outside world, is a city of darkness void of ordinary transportation facilities, and finds herself helpless in the grasp of the most terrible flood conditions ever known here.”
The article then draws eerie parallels between Hurricane Helene in 2024 and the 1916 flood. After additional Ashville floods in 1949, 1961, and 1964, the Tennessee Valley Authority proposed a dam project to protect Ashville. The City sits in a mountain bowl which makes it flood prone.
In the late 1960’s, Congress allocated $3.3 billion to build dams that could have prevented future flooding. But they would have displaced 60 families.
The families organized opposition that killed the project. More time passed. Helene struck and became the second deadliest hurricane to hit the US mainland since Katrina.
Hurricane Helene shortly after formation
It’s a powerful story filled with irony. Rinehart laments a technical gap in the discourse about such floods. “Very little of the coverage of Helene’s aftermath that I’ve seen discusses the technical aspects of the flooding and what might be done to limit it in the future.”
“We aren’t even talking about dams and flood management,” he concludes.
So sad. After Harvey, the Lake Houston Area Flood Task Force began a search for solutions. More than seven years later, authorities have identified several upstream dam sites, but begun construction on none. We saw where that got us this May.
Judges Hear Oral Arguments in Upstream Addicks Barker Case
Law firm McGehee ☆ Chang, Landgraf, Feiler wrote that oral arguments in the upstream Addicks Barker case concluded on November 8, 2024.
The government claimed that Harvey was a disaster that was a once in one-thousand-year occurrence, and that the government should not be penalized for such an extremely rare event.
However, the lawyers for the plaintiffs say they refuted that claim. “Our side also pointed out that while Harvey was a significant rain event – it was not as infrequent as the government claimed.”
McGehee et. al. say they expect the appeals court to issue its ruling in approximately six months.
Addicks Repairs Costing $9.3 million Substantially Completed
In the meantime, Harris County Flood Control District says it has completed a $9.3 million project to repair channels in the Addicks Reservoir. Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey said, “The Flood Control District has learned near five miles of ditches and removed more than 2,000 dump trucks of silt.”
HCFCD Project ID: Z100-00-00-X308 – Bond Project ID: F-53
Repairs also included work on concrete structures and storm outfall failures.
Repairs Totaling $6.46 Million in Barker Reservoir Completed
On November 20, 2024, Harris County Flood Control announced substantial completion of a similar package of repairs in the Barker Reservoir, which is in Precinct 4.
HCFCD Project ID: Z100-00-00-X310 – Bond Project ID: F-52
Repairs took two years and cost $6.46 million.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/25/24
2645 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Hurricane-Helene.jpg?fit=1100%2C740&ssl=17401100adminadmin2024-11-25 17:39:092024-11-25 17:44:29Flood Digest: Brief Summaries of Five Flood-Related News Items
11/23/24 – Callan Marine now has a dredge in place to begin the City of Houston’s latest dredging operation. Last month, the City said it hoped its latest Lake Houston dredging program would start in December and now it looks like it will.
Callan’s dredge, the General Pershing, is currently anchored on the West Fork San Jacinto south of where the previous Mouth Bar dredging program ended. And this morning, I spotted a tug pulling lengths of dredge pipe into position.
Program First Announced in 2023
The City of Houston first announced its new Lake Houston dredging program last year. The focus: between Kings Point and FM1960 where the East and West Forks of the San Jacinto come together.
For months, Callan’s General Pershing dredge, was anchored south of the Forest Cove Pool on the West Fork San Jacinto at the old Army Corps mobilization site. Yesterday, Callan moved the General Pershing and its dredge pipe downriver to the starting point of the dredging program.
See the photos below taken this morning with the exception of the last one, which I shot last night.
Start of 2024 dredging between Kings Point (right) and Atascocita Point (left). Looking upstream toward West Lake Houston Parkway Bridge in far upper left.Looking downstream toward FM1960 bridge and Lake Houston Dam in distance.Tug pulling sections of dredge pipe into positionfor use.Reverse angle showing pipe and dredge.Only two or three sections of pipe remained upstream last night at the mobilization site south of the Forest Cove Pool.Area between FM1960 and Kings Point currently has one of the largest sediment build-upson the lake.
The dredge program was first announced in October 2023 at former City Council Member Dave Martin’s last town hall meeting.
Former City Flood Czar Stephen Costello outlined the program at that time. East of Atascocita and south of the convergence of the East and West Forks, the City plans to spend another $34 million to remove almost 900,000 cubic yards of sediment.
At the time, Costello said the City hoped to recoup some of its costs by reselling sand that it recovers from “hilltops” in the lake. Dredging will target areas that have sand which can be used for concrete, agriculture and other beneficial uses. At one point, the City reportedly also considered using spoils in the Ike Dike.
Costello showed the heat map above. Notice the heavy sediment concentrations in the lake’s headwaters. This is because sediment drops out of suspension where rivers slow down as they meet standing bodies of water.
Increasing Water Supply Capacity, Reducing Flood Risk
In addition to reducing the water storage capacity of Lake Houston, the sediment increases flood risk. It reduces conveyance of the rivers and lake forcing water up and out during floods.
According to a City of Houston source, the contractor will reportedly pipe the spoils south and east to an area near Spanish Cove. See map below.
The new disposal site (bottom right) is closer to the dredging than another site south of River Grove Park previously used for disposing of the spoils. That should reduce pumping costs.Location is approximate.
Since its construction in the mid-1950s, Lake Houston has lost nearly 20% of its capacity due to sedimentation. The City estimates it currently loses another 360 to 460 acre-feet per year.
This dredging program will help restore some of that capacity and create more room for floodwaters.
Answer a few simple questions about the construction of your home, i.e., “Is it slab on grade?”
Tell it how much coverage you want
Select a deductible
Press a button to get your quote.
The entire process took me less than two minutes. I found that I could get the maximum coverage ($250,000) with the minimum deductible for $887.
How to Act on the Quote
Of course, you don’t buy flood insurance directly from FEMA. You buy it from a flood insurance agent. So before you leave, the tool gives you the option of emailing the FEMA quote to an independent agent through a variety of channels. See below.
Everything You Wanted to Know About Flood Insurance in One Place
This new quote tool is amazingly easy to use. It’s also integrated with other useful information about flooding, ways to reduce your flood risk and obtain insurance. For instance, linked pages contain information about:
Each of the links above has additional links that help you drill down through information and explore ways to save. For instance, the page on Elevation Certificates above has a link to a fact sheet on Why First Floor Height is Important?; how you can modify your property to lower insurance costs; and a checklist about “Ways to Protect Your Home and Pay Less.”
Benefits of Tool and Site
I can see many benefits for FEMA’s new flood-insurance tool and its FloodSmart site. It:
Makes consumers smarter about risk and buying decisions
Saves buyers’ time
Saves agents’ time
Acts as a cross-check against possible mistakes by new agents
Encourages people to buy flood insurance even when they think they may not need it.
To that last point, note that during Hurricane Harvey, more than 154,000 homes in Harris County alone flooded. Of those, 70,370 were outside of the 1% (100-yr) and .2% (500-yr) floodplains. That’s almost half!
Flooded Sculptures, Car, Home during Harvey by Julie Yandell
And that’s not all that unusual. One of the FAQs on FEMA’s site points out that “…from 2014 to 2018, policyholders outside of areas required to carry flood insurance filed over 40 percent of all NFIP flood insurance claims.”
Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/22/24
2642 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG_0034-e1732307050812.jpg?fit=1100%2C825&ssl=18251100adminadmin2024-11-22 14:29:162024-11-22 14:29:17FEMA Launches New Online Flood-Insurance Quote Tool
Flood Digest: Brief Summaries of Five Flood-Related News Items
11/25/24 – This flood digest contains brief summaries of five recent flood-related news items.
GLO Launches Disaster Recovery Reallocation Program
A month ago, the Texas General Land Office (GLO) announced the creation of a Disaster Recovery Reallocation Program (DRRP). The purpose: to utilize unused and de-obligated Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds from disasters dating back to 2008. See:
The GLO administers U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds in Texas. And in keeping with HUD’s mission, grant scoring for the reallocated funds gives preference to low-to-moderate income areas. Also, project evaluation criteria include feasibility of completing the proposed project(s) within two years. Communities can use the reallocated funds for:
Approximately 15 entities in or related to Harris County submitted projects. They include Harris County Housing Authority, City of Houston and Harris County plus a dozen or more other entities in Harris County.
Unused funds from the disasters currently total about $130 million. Grants will range from $500,000 to $20 million. For more details, see this PowerPoint presentation.
“Dam Project that Never Was” Might Have Prevented Helene Deaths
A reader sent me a link to a news story called The Dam Project that Never Was published in The Dispatch by Will Rinehart. It’s about the present day implications of a dam project in North Carolina scuttled more than 50 years ago.
The article begins with a quote from a news article in the July 17, 1916, edition of The Asheville Citizen. “Asheville today is absolutely isolated from the outside world, is a city of darkness void of ordinary transportation facilities, and finds herself helpless in the grasp of the most terrible flood conditions ever known here.”
The article then draws eerie parallels between Hurricane Helene in 2024 and the 1916 flood. After additional Ashville floods in 1949, 1961, and 1964, the Tennessee Valley Authority proposed a dam project to protect Ashville. The City sits in a mountain bowl which makes it flood prone.
In the late 1960’s, Congress allocated $3.3 billion to build dams that could have prevented future flooding. But they would have displaced 60 families.
The families organized opposition that killed the project. More time passed. Helene struck and became the second deadliest hurricane to hit the US mainland since Katrina.
It’s a powerful story filled with irony. Rinehart laments a technical gap in the discourse about such floods. “Very little of the coverage of Helene’s aftermath that I’ve seen discusses the technical aspects of the flooding and what might be done to limit it in the future.”
“We aren’t even talking about dams and flood management,” he concludes.
So sad. After Harvey, the Lake Houston Area Flood Task Force began a search for solutions. More than seven years later, authorities have identified several upstream dam sites, but begun construction on none. We saw where that got us this May.
Judges Hear Oral Arguments in Upstream Addicks Barker Case
Law firm McGehee ☆ Chang, Landgraf, Feiler wrote that oral arguments in the upstream Addicks Barker case concluded on November 8, 2024.
The government claimed that Harvey was a disaster that was a once in one-thousand-year occurrence, and that the government should not be penalized for such an extremely rare event.
However, the lawyers for the plaintiffs say they refuted that claim. “Our side also pointed out that while Harvey was a significant rain event – it was not as infrequent as the government claimed.”
McGehee et. al. say they expect the appeals court to issue its ruling in approximately six months.
Addicks Repairs Costing $9.3 million Substantially Completed
In the meantime, Harris County Flood Control District says it has completed a $9.3 million project to repair channels in the Addicks Reservoir. Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey said, “The Flood Control District has learned near five miles of ditches and removed more than 2,000 dump trucks of silt.”
Repairs also included work on concrete structures and storm outfall failures.
Repairs Totaling $6.46 Million in Barker Reservoir Completed
On November 20, 2024, Harris County Flood Control announced substantial completion of a similar package of repairs in the Barker Reservoir, which is in Precinct 4.
Repairs took two years and cost $6.46 million.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/25/24
2645 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Ready, Set, Dredge!
11/23/24 – Callan Marine now has a dredge in place to begin the City of Houston’s latest dredging operation. Last month, the City said it hoped its latest Lake Houston dredging program would start in December and now it looks like it will.
Callan’s dredge, the General Pershing, is currently anchored on the West Fork San Jacinto south of where the previous Mouth Bar dredging program ended. And this morning, I spotted a tug pulling lengths of dredge pipe into position.
Program First Announced in 2023
The City of Houston first announced its new Lake Houston dredging program last year. The focus: between Kings Point and FM1960 where the East and West Forks of the San Jacinto come together.
For months, Callan’s General Pershing dredge, was anchored south of the Forest Cove Pool on the West Fork San Jacinto at the old Army Corps mobilization site. Yesterday, Callan moved the General Pershing and its dredge pipe downriver to the starting point of the dredging program.
See the photos below taken this morning with the exception of the last one, which I shot last night.
The dredge program was first announced in October 2023 at former City Council Member Dave Martin’s last town hall meeting.
Former City Flood Czar Stephen Costello outlined the program at that time. East of Atascocita and south of the convergence of the East and West Forks, the City plans to spend another $34 million to remove almost 900,000 cubic yards of sediment.
At the time, Costello said the City hoped to recoup some of its costs by reselling sand that it recovers from “hilltops” in the lake. Dredging will target areas that have sand which can be used for concrete, agriculture and other beneficial uses. At one point, the City reportedly also considered using spoils in the Ike Dike.
Costello showed the heat map above. Notice the heavy sediment concentrations in the lake’s headwaters. This is because sediment drops out of suspension where rivers slow down as they meet standing bodies of water.
Increasing Water Supply Capacity, Reducing Flood Risk
In addition to reducing the water storage capacity of Lake Houston, the sediment increases flood risk. It reduces conveyance of the rivers and lake forcing water up and out during floods.
According to a City of Houston source, the contractor will reportedly pipe the spoils south and east to an area near Spanish Cove. See map below.
Since its construction in the mid-1950s, Lake Houston has lost nearly 20% of its capacity due to sedimentation. The City estimates it currently loses another 360 to 460 acre-feet per year.
This dredging program will help restore some of that capacity and create more room for floodwaters.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/23/24
2643 Days since Hurricane Harvey
FEMA Launches New Online Flood-Insurance Quote Tool
11/22/24 – FEMA has launched a new, online flood-insurance quote tool. You simply:
The entire process took me less than two minutes. I found that I could get the maximum coverage ($250,000) with the minimum deductible for $887.
How to Act on the Quote
Of course, you don’t buy flood insurance directly from FEMA. You buy it from a flood insurance agent. So before you leave, the tool gives you the option of emailing the FEMA quote to an independent agent through a variety of channels. See below.
Everything You Wanted to Know About Flood Insurance in One Place
This new quote tool is amazingly easy to use. It’s also integrated with other useful information about flooding, ways to reduce your flood risk and obtain insurance. For instance, linked pages contain information about:
Buying a Policy
Renewing a Policy
Flood Risks and Costs
Before and After a Flood
Flood Zones and Maps
Get a Quote (The New Tool)
Each of the links above has additional links that help you drill down through information and explore ways to save. For instance, the page on Elevation Certificates above has a link to a fact sheet on Why First Floor Height is Important?; how you can modify your property to lower insurance costs; and a checklist about “Ways to Protect Your Home and Pay Less.”
Benefits of Tool and Site
I can see many benefits for FEMA’s new flood-insurance tool and its FloodSmart site. It:
To that last point, note that during Hurricane Harvey, more than 154,000 homes in Harris County alone flooded. Of those, 70,370 were outside of the 1% (100-yr) and .2% (500-yr) floodplains. That’s almost half!
And that’s not all that unusual. One of the FAQs on FEMA’s site points out that “…from 2014 to 2018, policyholders outside of areas required to carry flood insurance filed over 40 percent of all NFIP flood insurance claims.”
Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/22/24
2642 Days since Hurricane Harvey