Note: This story was updated on 7/26/23 to include more information about phasing of the Northpark Drive expansion project.
After what turned out to be a ceremonialgroundbreaking on 4/13/23, the Northpark Drive expansion project appears to have started in earnest on 7/25/2023. Northpark is a vital evacuation route for tens of thousands of Kingwood and Porter residents during floods.
Cones and Culvert Line Northpark Center Ditch
Traffic cones line the center ditch between Russell-Palmer and the Kingwood Diversion Ditch.
Looking west toward Russell-Palmer Road
Contractors have also stacked what looks like six-foot reinforced-concrete pipe on the edge of the Northpark Drive ditch where it enters the Kingwood Diversion Ditch.
Looking SE across Northpark from Fireworks Stand parking lot to Flowers of Kingwood.
They have also begun excavating the Northpark center ditch.
Looking E to Kingwood and City Limit (Green sign).
Project Partners
Project partners include:
Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority
City of Houston District E
Montgomery County Precinct 4
Texas Dept. of Transportation
Harris County Flood Control
Plan Vs. Execution
In general, the project partners plan to widen Northpark by a lane in each direction (toward the middle). But instead of taking land and parking from merchants, the project partners plan to replace the center ditch with culvert then pave over it.
Early plans indicated that the area between US59 and Russell-Palmer would be Phase One and that Russell-Palmer to the Diversion Ditch and eventually beyond Woodland Hills would follow.
However, Ralph Deleon, a TIRZ engineer/project manager indicated that contractors are taking pieces of the phases out of order. Why? Contractors are ready to go. But not all the right-of-way and utility issues have been resolved.
So they’re approaching drainage first and starting at the downstream end – a best practice. In coming days, we should see additional activity on other portions of Northpark Drive. But Deleon emphasized that the public should have two lanes of traffic in both directions at all times.
The first thing that popped into my mind when I looked at the size of the culvert and the size of the ditch was that the culvert could not possibly convey all the water that the ditch used to.
Google Earth shows width of v-shaped ditch is 50 feet. Circular pipe is 6 feet.
Then I read this letter from Harris County Flood Control to the engineering company. It states, “The proposed improvement includes enlarging the proposed storm sewer system to provide inline detention and modeling the restrictors needed to meet allowable outflow requirements for both outfalls.”
The pipes shown above would definitely act as restrictors. I sure hope they don’t back water up into the street.
Having worked near Northpark for 22 years, I’ve seen the ditch overflow on multiple occasions. I’ve seen cars plunge to the bottom, emergency rescues, and stalled vehicles.
U.S. Congressman Dan Crenshaw made nine flood-related earmark requests for 2024. And according to his office, several House of Representative Committees have approved all nine. They include:
$1.75M – Taylor Gully Flood Mitigation Project
$1.75M – Goose Creek Channel Conveyance Improvements
$1.83 – San Jacinto River Wastewater System Replacement
$4M – Kingwood Diversion Channel/Walnut Lane Bridge
$1.12M – FM1488 Area Street Rehabilitation and Drainage Improvement Project
$3M – Tamina Economic Development Planning Project
$7M – Ford Road Improvement Projects
$700,000 Montgomery County Bridge Project
A committee also approved a request by Crenshaw NOT related to flooding – $1.65M for the Montgomery County Active Shooter Defense Training Facility. That means all 10 of Representative Crenshaw’s 2024 requests received funding, although not all received the full amount requested.
Project Descriptions
For descriptions of all 10 earmarks requested by Crenshaw, see below.
1. Taylor Gully Flood Mitigation Project
Recipient: Harris County Flood Control District
Requested: $8 million
Committee Approved: $1.75 million. See Interior List.
Purpose: To reduce flood risk in the Kingwood area. This area experienced widespread flooding from recent storm events, including Hurricane Harvey and Tropical Storm Imelda. This project will create a detention basin and improve stormwater conveyance to minimize flood risks. Engineering studies show that completion of this project will result in substantial reductions in flooding along Taylor Gully. The studies show that this project will remove the 100-year floodplain from more than 276 structures and 115 acres of flood area.
2. Goose Creek Channel Conveyance Improvements and Stormwater Detention Project
Recipient: Harris County Flood Control District
Requested: $8 million
Committee Approved: $1.75 million. See Interior List.
Purpose: This project is designed to reduce flood risk within the Goose Creek Watershed by creating a detention basin and improving stormwater conveyance. The project is estimated to remove approximately 28 acres of inundated land, up to 77 structures, and 1.44 miles of inundated roadways from the 100-year event. Preventing flooding will avoid the need for more costly recovery efforts after flooding events.
Purpose: Reconstruction of multiple poorly paved roads in subdivisions throughout the Highlands, Crosby, and Huffman areas of northeast Harris County. Existing gravel roads and inadequate drainage will be replaced with asphalt pavement, driveway culverts, and roadside ditches that will greatly improve residents’ quality of life. The projects will also improve accessibility for law enforcement and emergency services, reduce flood risk, and bring the local infrastructure to a standard acceptable for long-term County maintenance.
4. San Jacinto River Wastewater System Replacement Project
Purpose: To increase the reliability of the San Jacinto River Authority Woodlands Division wastewater conveyance system and repair damage from recent storms. List stations were damaged by flooding during Hurricane Harvey and have yet to be repaired. Both on-site lift stations, the control building, and the emergency generator were flooded and need to be replaced. This request would fund the demolition of the existing structure and build new systems.
5. Kingwood Diversion Channel – Walnut Lane Bridge Project
Purpose: The project includes the widening and reconstruction of Walnut Lane Bridge in Kingwood. This bridge, in its current configuration, will restrict flood flows unless widened to accommodate the future expansion of the Kingwood Diversion Channel currently being designed by the Harris County Flood Control District. The purpose of the overall project is to route drainage from Montgomery County to Lake Houston and reduce flood damage to residents of Kingwood along Bens Branch. The funding is needed to construct improvements needed to facilitate the expansion of the Kingwood Diversion Ditch and rebuild the Walnut Lane Bridge.
6. FM1488 Area Street Rehabilitation and Drainage Improvement Project
Purpose: The project will fund roadway resurfacing, drainage improvements, and storm sewer upgrades of roadways connecting to FM1488 near IH-45 (southern part of Conroe). The City of Conroe has experienced severe weather and rainfall which causes considerable wear and tear on the roads and drainage network. The project will benefit residential areas, including the Arella Forrest at Woodland Senior Living Center and Stillwater neighborhood. It will also improve access to the WG Jones State Forest, which serves a community located in a Historically Disadvantaged Community Tract.
Purpose: The Tamina area is not served by modern street and stormwater management systems. The streets are in disrepair and the area drains very poorly, creating an elevated risk of flooding. The first phase of economic development planning, which this request would support, is to complete detailed engineering and environmental studies, provide new driveways and culverts, and re-grade all of the ditches to allow them to drain.
Purpose: Support Ford Road improvements from US 59 in Montgomery County to the Harris County line. The current road is undersized and serves as one of only three evacuation routes for the Kingwood area. All three routes have drainage issues and Ford Road is only a two-lane road. The proposed project would make Ford Road a four-lane road, improve local drainage, and improve driver and pedestrian safety in the corridor.
Purpose: Provide funding for five rural wooden bridges in Montgomery County that are past their design life and need to be replaced. The bridges were not built to current criteria and increase the risk of flooding by backing up water during large storms. One bridge serves as the only way in and out of a subdivision presenting a safety hazard. The funding request is for engineering, surveying, and permitting services to develop construction plans to replace five bridges.
Purpose: Purpose: To assist with the operations of our regional active shooter rapid response training facility by purchasing training supplies/aids, equiping graduates with medical response supplies, and ballistic equipment for actual threats. To date, graduates include 1,600 law enforcement personnel, fire and EMS first responders.
Next Steps
Being approved by a committee doesn’t mean the Crenshaw earmarks are “done deals” yet. The full House of Representatives and Senate must still approve them. And then the President must sign the Appropriations bill into law. So, things could change between now and the end of the year. Final amounts could vary. More news to follow on the Crenshaw earmarks.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/24/23
2155 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/CrenshawElmGrove-e1690218032150.jpg?fit=1100%2C825&ssl=18251100adminadmin2023-07-24 12:08:542023-07-24 12:08:55Nine Crenshaw Flood-Related Earmark Requests Approved by Various House Committees
At 2:00 PM EDT on 7/22/23, the National Hurricane Center announced that Tropical Storm Don became Hurricane Don, the first Atlantic storm to achieve hurricane-force winds this year. Not only did Don form earlier than usual, it formed farther north than usual – between New England and Europe. Hurricanes hardly ever form in that area this early in the Atlantic hurricane season.
Hurricane Don’s Current Location
Location of Hurricane Don on is parallel with New Jersey.NOAA gives the orange area a 60% chance of formation in the next 7 days.
Hurricane Don’s Expected Track
NHC expects Don to decrease in strength to a tropical storm on Sunday and a tropical depression on Monday as it turns toward Europe.
Higher than Normal Sea Surface Temps Contribute to Early Formation
Warmer than normal sea surface temperatures played a role in the intensification of Don. Note the dark brown to black areas off the coasts of New England and Newfoundland. Those colors indicate a whopping 4 to 5 degrees centigrade above normal. That equals 7-9 degrees Fahrenheit.
No Hurricanes Reported Forming That Far North This Early
NHC shows that in the 165 years between 1851 and 2015, no other hurricane formed as far north as Don during this 10-day period.
Don is no threat to the Houston area. But Don’s timing may give us a clue to the type of hurricane season this will be. Both Colorado State and NOAA predicted slightly above average hurricane seasons this year.
The fourth tropical storm of the year doesn’t usually happen until August 15. And the first hurricane doesn’t usually happen until August 11.
El Niño Not a Factor in Don’s Formation
It takes the alignment of seven ingredients to form tropical cyclone. NOAA lists warm seas as #2. And we certainly have that around the world this year year, as you can see in the anomaly map above.
Wind shear from El Niño would not play a factor in deterring hurricane formation as far north as Don OR this early in the season, says Harris County’s meteorologist Jeff Lindner. “El Nino has little to no influence on our weather during the summer months (June-September),” says Lindner.
“The majority of El Nino’s influence on southern plains and Texas weather is during the fall, winter, and spring (October-May). This time of year we tend to be controlled by the sub-tropical highs around 30º N and/or the influences of the tropics from the Gulf of Mexico. This particular year the Sonoran sub-tropical high over the SW US and northern MX had thus far been the main controlling factor in our weather and El Nino has little impact on that.”
Lindner concluded, “The wind shear associated with El Niño is mainly across the southern Gulf of Mexico, much of the Caribbean Sea, and the western deep tropical Atlantic. However, wind shear thus far this hurricane season has not been overly impressive for an El Nino summer and there are some suggestions that the very warm Atlantic waters may be lessening the impacts of El Nino and its wind shear in the Atlantic basin.”
We’re into uncharted territory, so to speak. This is where it gets interesting.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/23/2023
2155 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/two_atl_7d0-1.png?fit=900%2C665&ssl=1665900adminadmin2023-07-22 17:35:042023-07-22 22:29:23Don Becomes First Hurricane of 2023 Atlantic Season
Northpark Drive Expansion Begins in Earnest
Note: This story was updated on 7/26/23 to include more information about phasing of the Northpark Drive expansion project.
After what turned out to be a ceremonial groundbreaking on 4/13/23, the Northpark Drive expansion project appears to have started in earnest on 7/25/2023. Northpark is a vital evacuation route for tens of thousands of Kingwood and Porter residents during floods.
Cones and Culvert Line Northpark Center Ditch
Traffic cones line the center ditch between Russell-Palmer and the Kingwood Diversion Ditch.
Contractors have also stacked what looks like six-foot reinforced-concrete pipe on the edge of the Northpark Drive ditch where it enters the Kingwood Diversion Ditch.
They have also begun excavating the Northpark center ditch.
Project Partners
Project partners include:
Plan Vs. Execution
In general, the project partners plan to widen Northpark by a lane in each direction (toward the middle). But instead of taking land and parking from merchants, the project partners plan to replace the center ditch with culvert then pave over it.
Early plans indicated that the area between US59 and Russell-Palmer would be Phase One and that Russell-Palmer to the Diversion Ditch and eventually beyond Woodland Hills would follow.
However, Ralph Deleon, a TIRZ engineer/project manager indicated that contractors are taking pieces of the phases out of order. Why? Contractors are ready to go. But not all the right-of-way and utility issues have been resolved.
So they’re approaching drainage first and starting at the downstream end – a best practice. In coming days, we should see additional activity on other portions of Northpark Drive. But Deleon emphasized that the public should have two lanes of traffic in both directions at all times.
The Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority (TIRZ 10) website contains a number of videos and construction docs that detail the ultimate vision for the project as well as next steps.
Will Culvert Convey as Much as Ditch?
The first thing that popped into my mind when I looked at the size of the culvert and the size of the ditch was that the culvert could not possibly convey all the water that the ditch used to.
Then I read this letter from Harris County Flood Control to the engineering company. It states, “The proposed improvement includes enlarging the proposed storm sewer system to provide inline detention and modeling the restrictors needed to meet allowable outflow requirements for both outfalls.”
The pipes shown above would definitely act as restrictors. I sure hope they don’t back water up into the street.
Having worked near Northpark for 22 years, I’ve seen the ditch overflow on multiple occasions. I’ve seen cars plunge to the bottom, emergency rescues, and stalled vehicles.
Here is the engineering company’s drainage impact analysis. And this presentation provides a project overview for the pre–bid conference for the western portion of the project. It shows a 32-month construction schedule for the western portion alone – even with a six day work week.
More Info to Follow
The TIRZ docs for the eastern portion of the project (Russell-Palmer to Diversion Ditch, Woodland Hills and beyond) are less comprehensive.
I’m meeting with the engineers and contractors tomorrow to learn more. Check back for more news and analysis.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/25/2023 and updated on 7/26/23
2156 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Nine Crenshaw Flood-Related Earmark Requests Approved by Various House Committees
U.S. Congressman Dan Crenshaw made nine flood-related earmark requests for 2024. And according to his office, several House of Representative Committees have approved all nine. They include:
A committee also approved a request by Crenshaw NOT related to flooding – $1.65M for the Montgomery County Active Shooter Defense Training Facility. That means all 10 of Representative Crenshaw’s 2024 requests received funding, although not all received the full amount requested.
Project Descriptions
For descriptions of all 10 earmarks requested by Crenshaw, see below.
1. Taylor Gully Flood Mitigation Project
Recipient: Harris County Flood Control District
Requested: $8 million
Committee Approved: $1.75 million. See Interior List.
Purpose: To reduce flood risk in the Kingwood area. This area experienced widespread flooding from recent storm events, including Hurricane Harvey and Tropical Storm Imelda. This project will create a detention basin and improve stormwater conveyance to minimize flood risks. Engineering studies show that completion of this project will result in substantial reductions in flooding along Taylor Gully. The studies show that this project will remove the 100-year floodplain from more than 276 structures and 115 acres of flood area.
2. Goose Creek Channel Conveyance Improvements and Stormwater Detention Project
Recipient: Harris County Flood Control District
Requested: $8 million
Committee Approved: $1.75 million. See Interior List.
Purpose: This project is designed to reduce flood risk within the Goose Creek Watershed by creating a detention basin and improving stormwater conveyance. The project is estimated to remove approximately 28 acres of inundated land, up to 77 structures, and 1.44 miles of inundated roadways from the 100-year event. Preventing flooding will avoid the need for more costly recovery efforts after flooding events.
3. Highland / Huffman / Crosby Roadway & Drainage Improvement
Recipient: Harris County, Texas
Requested: $3.6 million
Committee approved $3.6 million. See Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development List.
Purpose: Reconstruction of multiple poorly paved roads in subdivisions throughout the Highlands, Crosby, and Huffman areas of northeast Harris County. Existing gravel roads and inadequate drainage will be replaced with asphalt pavement, driveway culverts, and roadside ditches that will greatly improve residents’ quality of life. The projects will also improve accessibility for law enforcement and emergency services, reduce flood risk, and bring the local infrastructure to a standard acceptable for long-term County maintenance.
4. San Jacinto River Wastewater System Replacement Project
Recipient: Army Corps of Engineers
Requested: $1.8 million
Committee Approved: $1.83 million. See Energy and Water List.
Purpose: To increase the reliability of the San Jacinto River Authority Woodlands Division wastewater conveyance system and repair damage from recent storms. List stations were damaged by flooding during Hurricane Harvey and have yet to be repaired. Both on-site lift stations, the control building, and the emergency generator were flooded and need to be replaced. This request would fund the demolition of the existing structure and build new systems.
5. Kingwood Diversion Channel – Walnut Lane Bridge Project
Recipient: City of Houston
Requested: $4 million
Committee Approved: $4 million. See Homeland Security List.
Purpose: The project includes the widening and reconstruction of Walnut Lane Bridge in Kingwood. This bridge, in its current configuration, will restrict flood flows unless widened to accommodate the future expansion of the Kingwood Diversion Channel currently being designed by the Harris County Flood Control District. The purpose of the overall project is to route drainage from Montgomery County to Lake Houston and reduce flood damage to residents of Kingwood along Bens Branch. The funding is needed to construct improvements needed to facilitate the expansion of the Kingwood Diversion Ditch and rebuild the Walnut Lane Bridge.
6. FM1488 Area Street Rehabilitation and Drainage Improvement Project
Recipient: City of Conroe
Requested: $1.12 million
Committee Approved: $1.12 million. See Transportation, and Housing and Urban Develop List.
Purpose: The project will fund roadway resurfacing, drainage improvements, and storm sewer upgrades of roadways connecting to FM1488 near IH-45 (southern part of Conroe). The City of Conroe has experienced severe weather and rainfall which causes considerable wear and tear on the roads and drainage network. The project will benefit residential areas, including the Arella Forrest at Woodland Senior Living Center and Stillwater neighborhood. It will also improve access to the WG Jones State Forest, which serves a community located in a Historically Disadvantaged Community Tract.
7. Tamina Economic Development Planning Project
Recipient: Montgomery County
Requested: $3 million
Committee Approved: $3 million. See Transportation and Housing and Urban Development List.
Purpose: The Tamina area is not served by modern street and stormwater management systems. The streets are in disrepair and the area drains very poorly, creating an elevated risk of flooding. The first phase of economic development planning, which this request would support, is to complete detailed engineering and environmental studies, provide new driveways and culverts, and re-grade all of the ditches to allow them to drain.
8. Ford Road Improvement Project
Recipient: Montgomery County
Requested: $12 million
Committee Approved: $7 million. See Transportation List.
Purpose: Support Ford Road improvements from US 59 in Montgomery County to the Harris County line. The current road is undersized and serves as one of only three evacuation routes for the Kingwood area. All three routes have drainage issues and Ford Road is only a two-lane road. The proposed project would make Ford Road a four-lane road, improve local drainage, and improve driver and pedestrian safety in the corridor.
9. Montgomery County Bridge Project
Recipient: Montgomery County
Requested: $900,000
Committee Approved: $700,000. See Transportation List.
Purpose: Provide funding for five rural wooden bridges in Montgomery County that are past their design life and need to be replaced. The bridges were not built to current criteria and increase the risk of flooding by backing up water during large storms. One bridge serves as the only way in and out of a subdivision presenting a safety hazard. The funding request is for engineering, surveying, and permitting services to develop construction plans to replace five bridges.
10. Active Shooter Defense Training Facility
Recipient: Montgomery County
Requested: $2.3 million
Committee Approved: $1.65 million. See Commerce, Justice, Science List.
Purpose: Purpose: To assist with the operations of our regional active shooter rapid response training facility by purchasing training supplies/aids, equiping graduates with medical response supplies, and ballistic equipment for actual threats. To date, graduates include 1,600 law enforcement personnel, fire and EMS first responders.
Next Steps
Being approved by a committee doesn’t mean the Crenshaw earmarks are “done deals” yet. The full House of Representatives and Senate must still approve them. And then the President must sign the Appropriations bill into law. So, things could change between now and the end of the year. Final amounts could vary. More news to follow on the Crenshaw earmarks.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/24/23
2155 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Don Becomes First Hurricane of 2023 Atlantic Season
At 2:00 PM EDT on 7/22/23, the National Hurricane Center announced that Tropical Storm Don became Hurricane Don, the first Atlantic storm to achieve hurricane-force winds this year. Not only did Don form earlier than usual, it formed farther north than usual – between New England and Europe. Hurricanes hardly ever form in that area this early in the Atlantic hurricane season.
Hurricane Don’s Current Location
Hurricane Don’s Expected Track
NHC expects Don to decrease in strength to a tropical storm on Sunday and a tropical depression on Monday as it turns toward Europe.
Higher than Normal Sea Surface Temps Contribute to Early Formation
Warmer than normal sea surface temperatures played a role in the intensification of Don. Note the dark brown to black areas off the coasts of New England and Newfoundland. Those colors indicate a whopping 4 to 5 degrees centigrade above normal. That equals 7-9 degrees Fahrenheit.
No Hurricanes Reported Forming That Far North This Early
NHC shows that in the 165 years between 1851 and 2015, no other hurricane formed as far north as Don during this 10-day period.
Average Dates of Formation for Named Storms
Usually, the Atlantic Basin doesn’t see its first named hurricane until August 11. So Don is a month ahead of schedule on that count.
Don is no threat to the Houston area. But Don’s timing may give us a clue to the type of hurricane season this will be. Both Colorado State and NOAA predicted slightly above average hurricane seasons this year.
The fourth tropical storm of the year doesn’t usually happen until August 15. And the first hurricane doesn’t usually happen until August 11.
El Niño Not a Factor in Don’s Formation
It takes the alignment of seven ingredients to form tropical cyclone. NOAA lists warm seas as #2. And we certainly have that around the world this year year, as you can see in the anomaly map above.
Wind shear from El Niño would not play a factor in deterring hurricane formation as far north as Don OR this early in the season, says Harris County’s meteorologist Jeff Lindner. “El Nino has little to no influence on our weather during the summer months (June-September),” says Lindner.
“The majority of El Nino’s influence on southern plains and Texas weather is during the fall, winter, and spring (October-May). This time of year we tend to be controlled by the sub-tropical highs around 30º N and/or the influences of the tropics from the Gulf of Mexico. This particular year the Sonoran sub-tropical high over the SW US and northern MX had thus far been the main controlling factor in our weather and El Nino has little impact on that.”
Lindner concluded, “The wind shear associated with El Niño is mainly across the southern Gulf of Mexico, much of the Caribbean Sea, and the western deep tropical Atlantic. However, wind shear thus far this hurricane season has not been overly impressive for an El Nino summer and there are some suggestions that the very warm Atlantic waters may be lessening the impacts of El Nino and its wind shear in the Atlantic basin.”
We’re into uncharted territory, so to speak. This is where it gets interesting.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/23/2023
2155 Days since Hurricane Harvey