8/27/24 — This week marks the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Harvey. Today is the 2555th day since the event. It’s hard to pinpoint an exact date for a storm that ravaged SE Texas for the better part of a week. But most of us remember anniversaries in a personal context.
For whatever reason, back when I started this blog, I set the counter atop the home page ticking 2555 days ago. And seven times 365 equals 2555. Add in a couple days for leap years, and I figure this is close enough. Who’s counting, right?
I would like to post some pictures from the peak of the flooding in the Lake Houston Area and its aftermath. I will also discuss some statistics from the storm.
Tomorrow, I’ll review what we’ve done during the last seven years to reduce our flood risk. But first…
For Hurricane Harvey, he began, “The tropical wave that would eventually develop into Hurricane Harvey moved off the west coast of Africa on August 11th and tracked westward across the tropical Atlantic becoming a tropical storm on August 17th and then moved into the Caribbean Sea where Harvey became disorganized and was downgraded to a tropical wave.”
“The tropical wave entered the Gulf of Mexico on the afternoon of the 22nd and was upgraded again to tropical depression Harvey on the morning of the 23rd. Over the next 48 hours Harvey would undergo a period of rapid intensification from a tropical depression to a category 4 hurricane and make landfall along the Texas coast near Port Aransas around 10:00 p.m. on August 25th.”
Lindner continued, “The upper air steering patterns that moved Harvey toward the Texas coast weakened and Harvey’s forward motion slowed to near 5 mph after landfall and then to a meander just north of Victoria, TX on the 26th. Rain bands on the eastern side of the circulation of Harvey moved into southeast Texas and Harris County on the morning of the 25th and continued through much of the night and into the 26th.”
“A strong rain band developed over Fort Bend and Brazoria Counties during the evening hours of the 26th and spread into Harris County and slowed while training from south to north,” said Lindner.
“Flash flooding developed rapidly between 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. as tremendous rainfall rates occurred across much of Harris County. Additional rain bands continued to develop into the morning hours of the 27th producing additional excessive rainfall amounts. As the center of Harvey slowly moved east-southeast and back offshore, heavy rainfall continued to spread across Harris County through much of the 29th and the 30th exacerbating the ongoing widespread and devastating flooding.”
“Harvey maintained tropical storm intensity the entire time while inland over the Texas coastal bend and southeast Texas. After moving offshore, Harvey made another landfall just west of Cameron, Louisiana on the morning of the 30th,” said Lindner.
Harvey Impacts
Re: impacts, Lindner said, “All 4.7 million people in Harris County were impacted directly or indirectly during the flood and after the flood waters receded. 60,049 residents were rescued by government resources across all portions of Harris County, most of them from their homes with 32,000-34,000 staying in 65 temporary shelters.”
“Tens of thousands of additional residents were rescued by local civilian resources and help that arrived from around Texas and surrounding states.”
“On Sunday morning, August 27th, parts of all of the 22 major freeways in the Houston metropolitan area were flooded and impassable resulting in nearly impossible travel conditions and creating significant challenges to rescue operations across not only Harris County but the entire region.”
“It is estimated that over 300,000 vehicles were flooded across Harris County, many of which were at homes, parking garages, and dealership lots.
“The Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed 36 flood related deaths across Harris County.”
Harvey was so big, it filled virtually the entire Gulf of Mexico.Looking S toward Humble from Kingwood across US59 Bridge. Supports for the southbound lanes were so badly scoured, they would take 11 months to repair while inbound traffic detoured to 45.Looking E across I-69 just south of West Fork
Heaviest Rainfall In U.S. History
HCFCD gages recorded a 4-day maximum of 47.4 inches.
A total of 1 trillion gallons of water fell across Harris County over the 4 day period which would fill NGR Stadium 1472 times and cover Harris County’s 1,777 sq. miles with an average of 33.7 inches of water.
This volume of water would also run Niagara Falls for 15 days.
Harvey dropped more rain than any other storm in the recorded history of the continental US, according to climatologists.
“There are three ways to examine a rainfall event to determine its historic nature and comparison to other events. This includes duration, amount, and spatial coverage of rainfall,” said Lindner.
“Texas State Climatologist Dr. John Nielson-Gammon examined the largest rainfall events ever recorded in United States history and compared against Hurricane Harvey for durations of 48, 72, and 120 hours and in spatial coverage of 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, and 50,000 square miles.”
He continued, “Harvey exceeded the previous records in all of the 18 different combinations except one. The most astounding statistic is that for the 120 hour duration over 10,000 square miles, Harvey exceeded the previous record from June 1899 by 13.33 inches or 62%.”
“The rainfall amounts and spatial coverage of those amounts have never been experienced across the United States since reliable records have been kept.”
Jeff Lindner, Harris County Meteorologist
An estimated discharge of 425,000 cubic feet per second or 5.0 times the average flow of Niagara Falls occurred at the peak flow over the Lake Houston spillway. This amount would fill NRG Stadium every 3.5 minutes.
In all, Harvey caused an estimated $125 billion in damage. It ranks as the second costliest storm in U.S. history after Katrina.
Harvey flooded 16,000 homes and 3,300 businesses in the Lake Houston Area. They included 100% of all the businesses in Kingwood’s Town Center and 44% of all business in the Lake Houston Chamber.
Sally Geis evacuating through Kingwood Town Center. Note Whataburger in background and strength of current 1.67 miles north of West Fork. Kingwood High School flooded to the second floor. Repairs took a year and the building of a flood wall around it took 2369 days (6 1/2 years) and cost $78 million.Toppled tank in Forest Cove fell three years after Harvey shifted it off its foundation. The Texas Railroad Commission did a massive cleanup effort in the area.
Key Days in Recovery
TxDoT hoped to repair damage to the I-69 bridge by September, 2018, more than a year after Harvey. But they finished the job by July, 2018.When the water finally receded, it became clear that parts of the railroad bridge over the West Fork had been swept away.Rebuilding a new bridge would take 958 days.Harvey deposited so much sand at the mouth of the West Fork, that it took more than 3 years to remove it all.
Next in Series
No one planned for an event like Harvey. But we’ve learned a lot since. More tomorrow about what we’ve done to reduce flood risk since Harvey and some of the challenges that remain ahead.
I also hope to chronicle the stories of several leaders who have helped steer us through the recovery.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Harvey-Peak-Intensity.jpg?fit=1500%2C843&ssl=18431500adminadmin2024-08-27 18:17:332024-08-28 10:05:26Remembering the Seventh Anniversary of Hurricane Harvey
8/26/24 – On Thursday night, 8/22/24, Doctor Arelia Johnson addressed the Harris County Community Flood Resilience Task Force about Harris County’s new definition of equity. Dr. Johnson is the County’s new Chief Equity Officer and has been in her job only three weeks. She has a PhD in sociology and criminology from Howard University. You can watch the video of her talk on YouTube. It begins at five minutes and ten seconds into the meeting. Below is a transcript of her talk up to the point where she started taking questions from the audience.
Introductory slide from Dr. Johnson’s talk.
Host: Whenever you’re ready Doctor Johnson, just let me know and I’ll help you advance through your slides.
Johnson: Thank you so much Amanda. This is Doctor Arelia Johnson. My pronouns are she, her, hers. And I am the chief equity officer for Harris County. And so, we’re going to talk about equity and where we are in this process of creating this foundational work and analysis.
Racism, Sexism Declared Public Health Crisis
In June, 2020, Commissioners Court declared racism and sexism a public health crisis, and they then began to move towards creating a space for chief equity officer in 2021. The county then created its initial guidelines and definition for equity, and then more recently, we were able to update a definition that was more in alignment with the strategic planning that we’re doing.
Current Definition of Equity
This particular definition feeds into our framework, which is three parts of the model. And we’ll talk about that shortly. But our definition as it stands right now is…
“Equity is the actionable pursuit of recognizing that there are groups who have disproportionately benefited from inequities, and others who have had the burden of solving the problems that have been created by inequities.”
In other words…
“Equity is the actionable commitment to significantly reduce the disparity in the distribution of benefits and the actionable commitment in reducing the burdens of aligning and embedding goals, objectives, and outcomes related to inclusivity and accessibility to the historically marginalized.”
Benefiting From or Being Hurt Disproportionally
Now, what does that mean? I’m glad you all asked. When we’re talking about equity, we have historically talked about equity in very vague, abstract ways. We have these huge aspirational goals, as if we can undo 250 years’ worth of work institutionalizing disparity.
However, we have to take a step back. And so, that’s what we’ve done as a county. We are taking a step back to figure out what can we do to recognize that there have been groups, multiple groups, who have benefited from disproportionality.
And then there have been multiple groups who have not benefited from disproportionality and who have been tasked with the burden, whether it’s the emotional labor, the physical labor, the social-political labor of solving the problems that inequity has caused and that has resulted in disparate treatment and what those consequences are.
Equity is a conscious practice. It’s something that we are grounding in research, and it is informed by data that actively engages and addresses the historical, cultural and institutional dynamics and structures that privilege some and disadvantaged others.
Mitigating History
So, when you’re thinking about being a task force that wants to mitigate some of the flooding issues that we’re having, how do you then ground what you’re doing in research? How do you actively address the historical, cultural, institutional and structural dynamics?
And how do you know that you’re doing that? One of the tools that you can use is by actively engaging committees like this one, to where you can have a myriad of lenses and lived experiences at the table, to where you can hear from all of those different perspectives.
There are three ways that we are looking at equity structurally, which is achieved when we take all of those dynamics that I just talked about into consideration.
What is the historical context? How have certain groups been ignored or underserved or underprivileged?
What are the cultural contexts? Are there biases or perspectives that are involved with dealing with the historically marginalized?
What are the institutional dynamics that have traditionally privileged some and disadvantaged others?
Structural Equity
Now you’re talking about systems and systematic oppression, which does happen. It has structural consequences, especially when you’re talking about which areas are being served and which areas are going to be the hardest hit.
Those are some of the things that we need to consider from a structural perspective.
Structural equity also seeks to rectify underlying structures, frameworks and policies and practices.
Procedural Equity
Procedural equity is more about the development and implementation of equitable distribution and sustainability. We want to look at standard operating procedures.
What are those practices? How do we then create impact within those communities, not just in word but also in deed, and making sure that those populations are groups that are not otherwise considered:
One, have a seat at the table so they can have consideration,
Two, they can also help with these efforts instead of those efforts being done for them.
Socio-Emotionally-Intelligent Equity
And then you have socio-emotionally-intelligent equity. I think this is probably one of the things that we have to work hard because we have all been socialized and conditioned to some extent.
This form of equity helps us to increase the capacity to recognize, understand and address and then mitigate the impacts of interpersonal, individual, structural, systemic and institutional racism and sexism on the well-being of others.
Aligning with Commissioner’s Court Priorities
We think this is really important as a county, because we want to be in alignment with all of the resolutions that are coming out of commissioner’s court. But then, we also want to be able to take a step back and be introspective and reflective when having interactions with others.
Must Work on Unconscious Biases
Sometimes our implicit biases are our unconscious biases seep into interactions. It’s not because we intend on being harmful. Sometimes we are completely unaware that we are being harmful.
And so, this is something that we really have to work on. And it has to be very intentional and conscious.
Socio-emotionally intelligent equity is locational or context specific, which means that you have to recognize where you are, your generational context, your historical context, your social context, your political context, and recognize it and recognize that sometimes we assume things to the detriment of progress.
What you may be experiencing with someone, if it looks like anger, may not actually be anger, it may be frustration or disappointment.
And so doing all of those things, what it does for us, it helps promote a uniform starting place, which means that then we go into this place of what training looks like, what a shared language looks like, what commonality looks like.
So, those are the three components of our equity framework and our definition.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/26/24
2554 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/2024-08-22-CFRTF-General-Meeting-Slide-Deck-_FINAL_Page_07.jpg?fit=2000%2C1125&ssl=111252000adminadmin2024-08-26 17:39:182024-08-26 18:49:08Harris County’s New Definition of Equity
8/25/2024 – An investigation by the Associated Press shined a light on how information is being withheld by the government that affects flood risk below dams. The secrecy also affects the cost of flood insurance that residents below dams pay.
West Fork and US59 after 2017 release from Lake Conroe during Hurricane Harvey. Floodwaters stretched 2 miles wide.
It begins, “Conflicting federal policies may force thousands of residents in flood-prone areas to pay more for flood insurance or be left unaware of danger posed by dams built upstream from their homes and worksites, according to an Associated Press review of federal records and data.”
Lieb continues, “The problem stems from a complex set of flood policies and some national security precautions taken after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.”
Lieb covers recent emergency repairs in Georgia, Minnesota, New York, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin, forcing evacuations and costly repairs.
Let me try to summarize the essence of Lieb’s excellent research and articles. But first, lest you think this doesn’t affect you, let me remind you of a local example.
Local Example: Lake Livingston
Emergency repairs to the Lake Livingston Dam were made public earlier this year after 20 inches of rain fell upstream from the dam. Releases washed out some areas below it. But the nature of the repairs and who would be affected if the dam failed were kept under raps due to federal policies, according to the AP.
Key Takeaways from First AP Story
The AP Reports blame recent intense storms and aging dams on a series of emergency repairs and outright dam failures.
According to AP, “Conflicting federal policies may be inhibiting the ability of local officials to share details with residents, businesses and other property owners about the places that get could inundated with floodwaters if a dam were to fail. That same information gap also could be costing residents more for flood insurance.”
Below are some takeaways from the AP’s report on the conflicting federal policies.
Flood Insurance Discounts vs. Secrecy of Inundation Data In Event of Dam Failure
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) oversees the national flood-insurance program. FEMA also oversees the Community Rating System that offers discounts on flood insurance to communities that score high on flood safety measures.
A community that earns the best rankings (Class 1) earns its residents 45% discounts on their flood-insurance premiums. “But,” says Lieb, “it’s not easy to achieve. Just two of the 1,500 local governments taking part in the Community Rating System have earned the top discount for their residents.” That’s 0.13%.
Why only two? The Community Rating System focuses in part on dams. Receiving a Class 1 ranking requires communities “to maintain maps showing the homes, businesses and critical facilities that could get inundated with floodwaters if a dam were to fail,” says Lieb. The communities must also warn residents. But only four out of 1,500 communities nationwide have earned any credit for their local efforts regarding flood risk below dams.
Secrecy about Dams and Indundation Stems from 9/11
Some federal agencies have prohibited the release of inundation maps for dams that they own or regulate, a legacy of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. They fear dams could become targets,
The Bureau of Reclamation, which owns 430 dams requires non-disclosure agreements when sharing dam inundation maps and emergency action plans with local officials. “That has inhibited officials from sharing specific information about the risks of dam failures with residents who could get flooded,” says Lieb.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regulates about 1,800 power-producing dams. It too says dam inundation maps “could be useful to a person planning an attack.” FERC requires those receiving such information to sign non-disclosure agreements.
It took AP nearly two-and-half years after the news organization submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to FEMA to obtain the information regarding flood risk below dams that can cost homeowners money and lives.
Are Changes Coming?
The Bureau of Reclamation said it is revising its policies and will start allowing communities to publicly share information about dam inundation zones, including:
Potential flood-wave travel times
Flood depths and durations.
The Bureau said changes will begin in 2025, but will take 8+ years to complete.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also has become more transparent. The Corps began posting dam inundation maps online in late 2021 after determining that releasing the information “is more beneficial to the public than any risk of misuse.”
“The information is more beneficial to the public than any risk of misuse.”
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2021 as reported by the AP
FEMA is considering potential changes to the Community Rating System for flood insurance.
This summer, FEMA opened a public comment period on potential changes to the Community Rating System. People can submit suggestions regarding flood risk below dams through Sept. 9. But FEMA doesn’t expect to make any changes until 2026 at the earliest, according to Lieb.
Flood Insurance Discounts in Houston and Harris County
Lieb’s second story focuses largely on the impacts to individual communities. It points out that FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program is available in 22,692 communities that have adopted and enforced floodplain management regulations.
Premium discounts range from 5% to 45%.
City of Houston’s 128,767 policy holders pay NFIP premiums totaling $38.71 billion thanks to a 25% community discount.
However, 97,365 NFIP policy holders in unincorporated Harris County pay $31.31 billion. They get a 15% discount.
Thus, Houston and Harris County earn up to 20-30% less in discounts than they otherwise might.
Remembering the Seventh Anniversary of Hurricane Harvey
8/27/24 — This week marks the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Harvey. Today is the 2555th day since the event. It’s hard to pinpoint an exact date for a storm that ravaged SE Texas for the better part of a week. But most of us remember anniversaries in a personal context.
For whatever reason, back when I started this blog, I set the counter atop the home page ticking 2555 days ago. And seven times 365 equals 2555. Add in a couple days for leap years, and I figure this is close enough. Who’s counting, right?
I would like to post some pictures from the peak of the flooding in the Lake Houston Area and its aftermath. I will also discuss some statistics from the storm.
Tomorrow, I’ll review what we’ve done during the last seven years to reduce our flood risk. But first…
Origins of Harvey
Jeff Lindner, Harris County’s meteorologist, produces reports summarizing every major storm that hits the area.
For Hurricane Harvey, he began, “The tropical wave that would eventually develop into Hurricane Harvey moved off the west coast of Africa on August 11th and tracked westward across the tropical Atlantic becoming a tropical storm on August 17th and then moved into the Caribbean Sea where Harvey became disorganized and was downgraded to a tropical wave.”
“The tropical wave entered the Gulf of Mexico on the afternoon of the 22nd and was upgraded again to tropical depression Harvey on the morning of the 23rd. Over the next 48 hours Harvey would undergo a period of rapid intensification from a tropical depression to a category 4 hurricane and make landfall along the Texas coast near Port Aransas around 10:00 p.m. on August 25th.”
Lindner continued, “The upper air steering patterns that moved Harvey toward the Texas coast weakened and Harvey’s forward motion slowed to near 5 mph after landfall and then to a meander just north of Victoria, TX on the 26th. Rain bands on the eastern side of the circulation of Harvey moved into southeast Texas and Harris County on the morning of the 25th and continued through much of the night and into the 26th.”
“A strong rain band developed over Fort Bend and Brazoria Counties during the evening hours of the 26th and spread into Harris County and slowed while training from south to north,” said Lindner.
“Flash flooding developed rapidly between 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. as tremendous rainfall rates occurred across much of Harris County. Additional rain bands continued to develop into the morning hours of the 27th producing additional excessive rainfall amounts. As the center of Harvey slowly moved east-southeast and back offshore, heavy rainfall continued to spread across Harris County through much of the 29th and the 30th exacerbating the ongoing widespread and devastating flooding.”
“Harvey maintained tropical storm intensity the entire time while inland over the Texas coastal bend and southeast Texas. After moving offshore, Harvey made another landfall just west of Cameron, Louisiana on the morning of the 30th,” said Lindner.
Harvey Impacts
Re: impacts, Lindner said, “All 4.7 million people in Harris County were impacted directly or indirectly during the flood and after the flood waters receded. 60,049 residents were rescued by government resources across all portions of Harris County, most of them from their homes with 32,000-34,000 staying in 65 temporary shelters.”
“Tens of thousands of additional residents were rescued by local civilian resources and help that arrived from around Texas and surrounding states.”
“On Sunday morning, August 27th, parts of all of the 22 major freeways in the Houston metropolitan area were flooded and impassable resulting in nearly impossible travel conditions and creating significant challenges to rescue operations across not only Harris County but the entire region.”
“It is estimated that over 300,000 vehicles were flooded across Harris County, many of which were at homes, parking garages, and dealership lots.
“The Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed 36 flood related deaths across Harris County.”
Heaviest Rainfall In U.S. History
HCFCD gages recorded a 4-day maximum of 47.4 inches.
A total of 1 trillion gallons of water fell across Harris County over the 4 day period which would fill NGR Stadium 1472 times and cover Harris County’s 1,777 sq. miles with an average of 33.7 inches of water.
This volume of water would also run Niagara Falls for 15 days.
Harvey dropped more rain than any other storm in the recorded history of the continental US, according to climatologists.
“There are three ways to examine a rainfall event to determine its historic nature and comparison to other events. This includes duration, amount, and spatial coverage of rainfall,” said Lindner.
“Texas State Climatologist Dr. John Nielson-Gammon examined the largest rainfall events ever recorded in United States history and compared against Hurricane Harvey for durations of 48, 72, and 120 hours and in spatial coverage of 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, and 50,000 square miles.”
He continued, “Harvey exceeded the previous records in all of the 18 different combinations except one. The most astounding statistic is that for the 120 hour duration over 10,000 square miles, Harvey exceeded the previous record from June 1899 by 13.33 inches or 62%.”
An estimated discharge of 425,000 cubic feet per second or 5.0 times the average flow of Niagara Falls occurred at the peak flow over the Lake Houston spillway. This amount would fill NRG Stadium every 3.5 minutes.
In all, Harvey caused an estimated $125 billion in damage. It ranks as the second costliest storm in U.S. history after Katrina.
Harvey flooded 16,000 homes and 3,300 businesses in the Lake Houston Area. They included 100% of all the businesses in Kingwood’s Town Center and 44% of all business in the Lake Houston Chamber.
Key Days in Recovery
Next in Series
No one planned for an event like Harvey. But we’ve learned a lot since. More tomorrow about what we’ve done to reduce flood risk since Harvey and some of the challenges that remain ahead.
I also hope to chronicle the stories of several leaders who have helped steer us through the recovery.
In the meantime, I would steer you toward an excellent booklet produced by Harris County Flood Control called “Hurricane Harvey: Impact and Response.”
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/27/24
2555 Days since Hurricane Harvey (7 years)
Harris County’s New Definition of Equity
8/26/24 – On Thursday night, 8/22/24, Doctor Arelia Johnson addressed the Harris County Community Flood Resilience Task Force about Harris County’s new definition of equity. Dr. Johnson is the County’s new Chief Equity Officer and has been in her job only three weeks. She has a PhD in sociology and criminology from Howard University. You can watch the video of her talk on YouTube. It begins at five minutes and ten seconds into the meeting. Below is a transcript of her talk up to the point where she started taking questions from the audience.
Host: Whenever you’re ready Doctor Johnson, just let me know and I’ll help you advance through your slides.
Johnson: Thank you so much Amanda. This is Doctor Arelia Johnson. My pronouns are she, her, hers. And I am the chief equity officer for Harris County. And so, we’re going to talk about equity and where we are in this process of creating this foundational work and analysis.
Racism, Sexism Declared Public Health Crisis
In June, 2020, Commissioners Court declared racism and sexism a public health crisis, and they then began to move towards creating a space for chief equity officer in 2021. The county then created its initial guidelines and definition for equity, and then more recently, we were able to update a definition that was more in alignment with the strategic planning that we’re doing.
Current Definition of Equity
This particular definition feeds into our framework, which is three parts of the model. And we’ll talk about that shortly. But our definition as it stands right now is…
“Equity is the actionable pursuit of recognizing that there are groups who have disproportionately benefited from inequities, and others who have had the burden of solving the problems that have been created by inequities.”
In other words…
“Equity is the actionable commitment to significantly reduce the disparity in the distribution of benefits and the actionable commitment in reducing the burdens of aligning and embedding goals, objectives, and outcomes related to inclusivity and accessibility to the historically marginalized.”
Benefiting From or Being Hurt Disproportionally
Now, what does that mean? I’m glad you all asked. When we’re talking about equity, we have historically talked about equity in very vague, abstract ways. We have these huge aspirational goals, as if we can undo 250 years’ worth of work institutionalizing disparity.
However, we have to take a step back. And so, that’s what we’ve done as a county. We are taking a step back to figure out what can we do to recognize that there have been groups, multiple groups, who have benefited from disproportionality.
And then there have been multiple groups who have not benefited from disproportionality and who have been tasked with the burden, whether it’s the emotional labor, the physical labor, the social-political labor of solving the problems that inequity has caused and that has resulted in disparate treatment and what those consequences are.
Equity is a conscious practice. It’s something that we are grounding in research, and it is informed by data that actively engages and addresses the historical, cultural and institutional dynamics and structures that privilege some and disadvantaged others.
Mitigating History
So, when you’re thinking about being a task force that wants to mitigate some of the flooding issues that we’re having, how do you then ground what you’re doing in research? How do you actively address the historical, cultural, institutional and structural dynamics?
And how do you know that you’re doing that? One of the tools that you can use is by actively engaging committees like this one, to where you can have a myriad of lenses and lived experiences at the table, to where you can hear from all of those different perspectives.
There are three ways that we are looking at equity structurally, which is achieved when we take all of those dynamics that I just talked about into consideration.
Structural Equity
Now you’re talking about systems and systematic oppression, which does happen. It has structural consequences, especially when you’re talking about which areas are being served and which areas are going to be the hardest hit.
Those are some of the things that we need to consider from a structural perspective.
Structural equity also seeks to rectify underlying structures, frameworks and policies and practices.
Procedural Equity
Procedural equity is more about the development and implementation of equitable distribution and sustainability. We want to look at standard operating procedures.
What are those practices? How do we then create impact within those communities, not just in word but also in deed, and making sure that those populations are groups that are not otherwise considered:
Socio-Emotionally-Intelligent Equity
And then you have socio-emotionally-intelligent equity. I think this is probably one of the things that we have to work hard because we have all been socialized and conditioned to some extent.
This form of equity helps us to increase the capacity to recognize, understand and address and then mitigate the impacts of interpersonal, individual, structural, systemic and institutional racism and sexism on the well-being of others.
Aligning with Commissioner’s Court Priorities
We think this is really important as a county, because we want to be in alignment with all of the resolutions that are coming out of commissioner’s court. But then, we also want to be able to take a step back and be introspective and reflective when having interactions with others.
Must Work on Unconscious Biases
Sometimes our implicit biases are our unconscious biases seep into interactions. It’s not because we intend on being harmful. Sometimes we are completely unaware that we are being harmful.
And so, this is something that we really have to work on. And it has to be very intentional and conscious.
Socio-emotionally intelligent equity is locational or context specific, which means that you have to recognize where you are, your generational context, your historical context, your social context, your political context, and recognize it and recognize that sometimes we assume things to the detriment of progress.
What you may be experiencing with someone, if it looks like anger, may not actually be anger, it may be frustration or disappointment.
And so doing all of those things, what it does for us, it helps promote a uniform starting place, which means that then we go into this place of what training looks like, what a shared language looks like, what commonality looks like.
So, those are the three components of our equity framework and our definition.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/26/24
2554 Days since Hurricane Harvey
AP Reports Shine Light on Secrecy of Flood Risk Below Dams
8/25/2024 – An investigation by the Associated Press shined a light on how information is being withheld by the government that affects flood risk below dams. The secrecy also affects the cost of flood insurance that residents below dams pay.
Two Related Stories
A copyrighted story by David A. Lieb published by AP on 8/23/2024 was titled, “Takeaways from AP’s report on federal policies shielding information about potential dam failures.”
The story begins with, “Thousands of people live downstream from dams yet may not always realize the risks.”
On 8/24/24, Lieb wrote a related followup story also published by AP. It was titled, “Conflicting federal policies may cost residents more on flood insurance, and leave them at risk.”
It begins, “Conflicting federal policies may force thousands of residents in flood-prone areas to pay more for flood insurance or be left unaware of danger posed by dams built upstream from their homes and worksites, according to an Associated Press review of federal records and data.”
Lieb continues, “The problem stems from a complex set of flood policies and some national security precautions taken after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.”
Lieb covers recent emergency repairs in Georgia, Minnesota, New York, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin, forcing evacuations and costly repairs.
Let me try to summarize the essence of Lieb’s excellent research and articles. But first, lest you think this doesn’t affect you, let me remind you of a local example.
Local Example: Lake Livingston
Emergency repairs to the Lake Livingston Dam were made public earlier this year after 20 inches of rain fell upstream from the dam. Releases washed out some areas below it. But the nature of the repairs and who would be affected if the dam failed were kept under raps due to federal policies, according to the AP.
Key Takeaways from First AP Story
The AP Reports blame recent intense storms and aging dams on a series of emergency repairs and outright dam failures.
According to AP, “Conflicting federal policies may be inhibiting the ability of local officials to share details with residents, businesses and other property owners about the places that get could inundated with floodwaters if a dam were to fail. That same information gap also could be costing residents more for flood insurance.”
Below are some takeaways from the AP’s report on the conflicting federal policies.
Flood Insurance Discounts vs. Secrecy of Inundation Data In Event of Dam Failure
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) oversees the national flood-insurance program. FEMA also oversees the Community Rating System that offers discounts on flood insurance to communities that score high on flood safety measures.
A community that earns the best rankings (Class 1) earns its residents 45% discounts on their flood-insurance premiums. “But,” says Lieb, “it’s not easy to achieve. Just two of the 1,500 local governments taking part in the Community Rating System have earned the top discount for their residents.” That’s 0.13%.
Why only two? The Community Rating System focuses in part on dams. Receiving a Class 1 ranking requires communities “to maintain maps showing the homes, businesses and critical facilities that could get inundated with floodwaters if a dam were to fail,” says Lieb. The communities must also warn residents. But only four out of 1,500 communities nationwide have earned any credit for their local efforts regarding flood risk below dams.
Secrecy about Dams and Indundation Stems from 9/11
Some federal agencies have prohibited the release of inundation maps for dams that they own or regulate, a legacy of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. They fear dams could become targets,
The Bureau of Reclamation, which owns 430 dams requires non-disclosure agreements when sharing dam inundation maps and emergency action plans with local officials. “That has inhibited officials from sharing specific information about the risks of dam failures with residents who could get flooded,” says Lieb.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regulates about 1,800 power-producing dams. It too says dam inundation maps “could be useful to a person planning an attack.” FERC requires those receiving such information to sign non-disclosure agreements.
It took AP nearly two-and-half years after the news organization submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to FEMA to obtain the information regarding flood risk below dams that can cost homeowners money and lives.
Are Changes Coming?
The Bureau of Reclamation said it is revising its policies and will start allowing communities to publicly share information about dam inundation zones, including:
The Bureau said changes will begin in 2025, but will take 8+ years to complete.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also has become more transparent. The Corps began posting dam inundation maps online in late 2021 after determining that releasing the information “is more beneficial to the public than any risk of misuse.”
FEMA is considering potential changes to the Community Rating System for flood insurance.
This summer, FEMA opened a public comment period on potential changes to the Community Rating System. People can submit suggestions regarding flood risk below dams through Sept. 9. But FEMA doesn’t expect to make any changes until 2026 at the earliest, according to Lieb.
Flood Insurance Discounts in Houston and Harris County
Lieb’s second story focuses largely on the impacts to individual communities. It points out that FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program is available in 22,692 communities that have adopted and enforced floodplain management regulations.
Premium discounts range from 5% to 45%.
City of Houston’s 128,767 policy holders pay NFIP premiums totaling $38.71 billion thanks to a 25% community discount.
However, 97,365 NFIP policy holders in unincorporated Harris County pay $31.31 billion. They get a 15% discount.
Thus, Houston and Harris County earn up to 20-30% less in discounts than they otherwise might.
One can only wonder how many people would have built farther back from rivers downstream from Lake Conroe and Lake Houston had they had the dam information. The SJRA consistently cites the risk of dam failure with every release during a major flood.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/25/24
2553 Days since Hurricane Harvey