On Tuesday, 4/25/23, Harris County Commissioners gave Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) approval to incorporate almost $3 billion worth of studies and projects into the first State Flood Plan. The approval will make the studies and projects eligible for future funding from the State Flood Infrastructure Fund.
The San Jacinto Region 6 Flood Planning Group will first incorporate the requests into its regional flood plan. The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) will then compile a master list of projects throughout the state and rank order them.
TWDB is working toward a September 1, 2024, deadline
Being in the new state flood plan will now be a prerequisite for applying for Texas Flood Infrastructure Fund grants and loans. If you’re not in the plan, you will not even be eligible to submit an application until the next revision of the flood plan. That could take another five years. So this is a good and timely move by HCFCD.
Agenda Item 136 Contained 136 Requests
Harris County Commissioners Court Agenda Item #136 read, “Request for approval of the Flood Control District’s Flood Management Evaluations and Flood Mitigation Projects to be included in the Amended San Jacinto Regional Flood Plan, for incorporation into the Texas State Flood Plan.”
The backup states: “All identified FMEs and FMPs in the Regional Flood Plan will be incorporated into the State Flood Plan, which once adopted by the State of Texas, will enable the Flood Management Evaluations and Flood Mitigation Projects to become eligible for future TWDB Flood Infrastructure Funding.”
102 “evaluations” totaling $43,150,000. Flood Management Evaluations (FMEs) include such things as surveys, studies, preliminary engineering reports, etc.
34 projects totaling $2,928,966,000. Flood Management Projects (FMPs) include construction, which explains the much larger number.
All projects are technically in the San Jacinto watershed (see map below). However, Harris County breaks projects down even further by sub-watersheds. It calls one the San Jacinto, which creates some confusion. For clarity, HCFCD’s San Jacinto sub-watershed includes the East and West Forks, Lake Houston, and the main stem of the river down to Galveston Bay. HCFCD also recognizes 22 other sub-watersheds. All were included to some degree in the list of projects.
Of the 34 construction projects, HCFCD included two in the San Jacinto sub-watershed totaling $128.8 million out of the $2,928,966,000, or 4.4% of the total. They are the Kingwood Diversion Ditch ($82.3 million) and Taylor Gully ($46.5 million).
Deadlines Looming
The deadline for incorporating FMEs and FMPs into region flood plans is May 14, 2023. The 15 Regional Flood Planning Groups (RFPG) will submit their amended regional flood plans to TWDB by July 10, 2023. The TWDB must combine the approved regional flood plans into a single state flood plan and deliver it to the Legislature by September 1, 2024.
To keep with the bottom-up approach of the regional flood planning program, TWDB has elected to utilize only RFPG-reported data for ranking.
How TWDB Will Rank Items
TWDB has proposed a scoring matrix to rank FMEs and FMPs throughout the state. The criteria differ for the two categories. Proposed criteria in the:
FME category include flood-reduction benefits such as the number of structures, people, critical infrastructure, acres, miles of roadway removed from the floodplain, and cost projections.
FMP category also weighs factors such as social vulnerability; environmental benefits; flood severity; life and safety; and operations and maintenance costs.
Note, however, that the legislature may change the criteria. One flood expert said legislators are evaluating the fairness of the benefit/cost ratio, for instance.
The TWDB website contains this note. “While inclusion in the state flood plan is a requirement for eligibility for future FIF project funding, the associated rankings are not intended for allocating state funding. Future funding decisions will occur through a separate TWDB process if and when funds are appropriated by the Texas Legislature. How the state flood plan project ranking may be considered in future flood project funding prioritization and allocation processes remains to be determined although it is anticipated that the state flood plan ranking will be at least one of the considerations.”
Harris County’s prioritization framework includes many of the same factors proposed by TWDB. But the County’s weights vary radically. For instance, TWDB gives 2.5% weight to social vulnerability and Harris County gives social vulnerability 20% – eight times more. However, only TWDB criteria will affect the final statewide rankings.
Initial Funds No Longer Available
Texas initially funded the Flood Infrastructure Fund with $770 million after voters passed Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment, in 2019. All of that money has either been distributed or committed.
Future projects will require a new infusion of cash from the state legislature. TWDB declined to say what that might be. However, an interested “legislature watcher” said appropriations ranging from $300 to $700 million have been discussed to cover projects throughout the state. He suspects the final total will be a compromise somewhere in the middle of that range.
Alternative Sources of Funding
Obviously, $300 million statewide won’t cover a $3 billion ask from Harris County, not to mention projects elsewhere.
So I asked HCFCD if it was pursuing alternative sources of funding for some of these projects. HCFCD answered “yes.”
A spokesperson said, “The Flood Control District is actively working to identify funding opportunities through grants, loans and other funding mechanisms, including for some projects included on the Region 6 Regional Flood Planning Group list. Including these projects on the State Flood Plan list serves to demonstrate the need for flood mitigation projects in the region, as well as to allow for future funding opportunities.”
The list of projects submitted by Harris County focused overwhelmingly on projects inside Harris county, though a few do have components that spill over county lines.
HCFCD and the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group have both tried to reach out to municipalities, neighboring counties and MUDs throughout the entire watershed. But many reportedly don’t have experts skilled in filling out the lengthy TWDB applications. Many also don’t have the seed money to attract matching funds for flood projects. Whether that disadvantages people at the edges of the county and beyond remains to be seen. It could take years to tell.
However, HCFCD says that at this time, “We are not aware of any major projects outside of Harris County that were not included on the State Flood Plan list. ”
Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/28/23
2068 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230428-Screenshot-2023-04-28-at-12.55.43-PM.jpg?fit=1040%2C1200&ssl=112001040adminadmin2023-04-28 15:50:072023-04-28 15:55:00HCFCD Incorporates $3 Billion of Studies, Projects into State Flood Plan
“Before” satellite photo from 2015. Note middle, greenish pond on right where road curves.File photo from February 2020 showing same pond, mostly filled. Townsendcurve in foreground.After dredging in 2021, the pond was completely filled.
A regular reader emailed me about a large volume of truck activity in the area recently. So I went there today to see what I could see. The pond was half empty again. The mystery deepened. Were they taking dirt out or putting it in?
Half empty pit photographed on 4/26/23.
Trucks Filling Pond Again, Not Emptying It
Closer inspection showed that dozens of dump trucks were depositing dirt. That deepened the mystery even more. How did the pond get half empty with trucks dumping more dirt into it?
Also photographed 4/26/23. Trucks offloading dirt and bulldozer spreading it into remainder of pond.
A gentleman drove up and engaged me in conversation as I was landing my drone. He introduced himself as the owner of the property and said that a private contractor bought the dirt left by the Corps, thus emptying the pit again.
No Intent to Build Here
I asked if he intended to build on the newly filled area and he said “no.” I also pumped him for information about where the dirt was coming from, but didn’t get anything definitive.
When I took these photos, it was the end of the workday. Trucks were scattering in all directions. The City did not immediately return calls or emails about next steps in its dredging program, if that’s where the dirt came from.
The good news for now: it appears we won’t have more building in the floodplain in this area. More news to follow when I get it.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/26/23with thanks for the heads up from Eric Hayes
2066 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230426-DJI_0652.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=17991200adminadmin2023-04-26 19:31:162023-04-27 17:30:39Placement Area #1 Gets New Life
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D. released the 2023 Texas Coastal Resiliency Master Plan (TCRMP) last month. It proposes a framework that addresses coastal hazards as well as investments that protect natural and man-made coastal environments. The plan includes 52 Tier 1 priority projects in the Houston/Galveston area including 4 in Harris County.
121 Projects along 367 Miles of Coastline
The beautifully written and art-directed 356-page plan recommends a total of 121 projects prioritized as Tier 1 by the Texas General Land Office (GLO). In developing the plan, the GLO collaborated closely with a Technical Advisory Committee to mitigate issues that negatively impact the Texas coast.
“Protecting our 367 miles of Texas coastline is vital to our state’s economy,” said Commissioner Buckingham. “The Texas Coastal Resiliency Master Plan provides a strategic path in prioritizing projects. It will ensure long-term resilience of our diverse coastal ecosystems and protect coastal resources for future generations. I want to thank the hundreds of members of the Technical Advisory Committee for the expertise and leadership they contributed to this comprehensive process.”
The Texas Coastal Resiliency Master Plan will help protect both coastal infrastructure and natural resources.
The plan’s recommended strategies and projects target areas in need of better protection and restoration.
Texas General Land Office
Plan Updated Every Four Years Addresses Variety of Threats
GLO updates the Coast Resiliency Master Plan every four years. It uses the most current storm surge and sea-level-rise models to illustrate the need and benefit of recommended projects. A list of high-priority coastal resiliency initiatives and projects was developed to address risks such as:
Storm surge
Inland flooding
Shoreline change
Degraded water quality and more.
Separate From, Yet Complementary to, Corps’ Plan
The TCRMP is separate from, yet complementary to, ongoing federal coastal protection efforts led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).
Federal efforts include the Coastal Texas Program and Sabine Pass to Galveston Bay Coastal Storm Risk Management (CSRM) Program, which focus on implementation of the Coastal Barrier System and other storm risk reduction projects.
The TCRMP provides a priority list of projects that could be funded through other federal, state, and local sources to work towards restoration and protection of areas not currently covered directly by the work of USACE.
While the TCRMP does not provide or guarantee funding to projects, it is designed to demonstrate funding need and cost estimates for proposed projects. Project initiatives range in status from conceptual to in progress, so actual costs may vary once implementation begins.
Technical Advisory Committee Helps Produce Broad Range of Materials
The Technical Advisory Committee included hundreds of:
Coastal planners
Community leaders and decision-makers
Coastal scientists and engineers
Ports and navigation professionals’
Technical experts
Resource agency and regulatory staff members
Other key stakeholders.
They assessed coastal vulnerabilities with cutting-edge science and data analysis to determine the vulnerability of natural systems to hazards such as floods, storms, and storm surge.
For more information, visit: www.glo.texas.gov/crmp. Components of the Texas Coastal Resiliency Master Plan include:
Story Map Provides Excellent Graphical Introduction
The Story Map gives you an excellent overview of the plan in an easy-to-digest graphical format.
Note the high level of extreme and imminent hazards along the upper Texas Coast. This area includes Galveston Bay.
Brown areas are in extreme danger. Red areas are under imminent threat.
Many of the recommended projects are in this area, including projects at Anahuac and McFadden National Wildlife Refuges.
To address the dangers, the report includes many different types of projects/solutions.
Recommendations span the gamut of green to gray.
See the Texas Coastal Resiliency Master Plan for descriptions of the actual recommended projects and their locations. Thirteen recommendations involve multiple regions. See the links below for more information on each.
HCFCD Incorporates $3 Billion of Studies, Projects into State Flood Plan
On Tuesday, 4/25/23, Harris County Commissioners gave Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) approval to incorporate almost $3 billion worth of studies and projects into the first State Flood Plan. The approval will make the studies and projects eligible for future funding from the State Flood Infrastructure Fund.
The San Jacinto Region 6 Flood Planning Group will first incorporate the requests into its regional flood plan. The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) will then compile a master list of projects throughout the state and rank order them.
TWDB is working toward a September 1, 2024, deadline
Being in the new state flood plan will now be a prerequisite for applying for Texas Flood Infrastructure Fund grants and loans. If you’re not in the plan, you will not even be eligible to submit an application until the next revision of the flood plan. That could take another five years. So this is a good and timely move by HCFCD.
Agenda Item 136 Contained 136 Requests
Harris County Commissioners Court Agenda Item #136 read, “Request for approval of the Flood Control District’s Flood Management Evaluations and Flood Mitigation Projects to be included in the Amended San Jacinto Regional Flood Plan, for incorporation into the Texas State Flood Plan.”
The backup states: “All identified FMEs and FMPs in the Regional Flood Plan will be incorporated into the State Flood Plan, which once adopted by the State of Texas, will enable the Flood Management Evaluations and Flood Mitigation Projects to become eligible for future TWDB Flood Infrastructure Funding.”
Here is the list of the 136 evaluations and projects added to the state flood plan. The categories include:
All projects are technically in the San Jacinto watershed (see map below). However, Harris County breaks projects down even further by sub-watersheds. It calls one the San Jacinto, which creates some confusion. For clarity, HCFCD’s San Jacinto sub-watershed includes the East and West Forks, Lake Houston, and the main stem of the river down to Galveston Bay. HCFCD also recognizes 22 other sub-watersheds. All were included to some degree in the list of projects.
Of the 34 construction projects, HCFCD included two in the San Jacinto sub-watershed totaling $128.8 million out of the $2,928,966,000, or 4.4% of the total. They are the Kingwood Diversion Ditch ($82.3 million) and Taylor Gully ($46.5 million).
Deadlines Looming
The deadline for incorporating FMEs and FMPs into region flood plans is May 14, 2023. The 15 Regional Flood Planning Groups (RFPG) will submit their amended regional flood plans to TWDB by July 10, 2023. The TWDB must combine the approved regional flood plans into a single state flood plan and deliver it to the Legislature by September 1, 2024.
To keep with the bottom-up approach of the regional flood planning program, TWDB has elected to utilize only RFPG-reported data for ranking.
How TWDB Will Rank Items
TWDB has proposed a scoring matrix to rank FMEs and FMPs throughout the state. The criteria differ for the two categories. Proposed criteria in the:
Note, however, that the legislature may change the criteria. One flood expert said legislators are evaluating the fairness of the benefit/cost ratio, for instance.
The TWDB website contains this note. “While inclusion in the state flood plan is a requirement for eligibility for future FIF project funding, the associated rankings are not intended for allocating state funding. Future funding decisions will occur through a separate TWDB process if and when funds are appropriated by the Texas Legislature. How the state flood plan project ranking may be considered in future flood project funding prioritization and allocation processes remains to be determined although it is anticipated that the state flood plan ranking will be at least one of the considerations.”
Harris County’s prioritization framework includes many of the same factors proposed by TWDB. But the County’s weights vary radically. For instance, TWDB gives 2.5% weight to social vulnerability and Harris County gives social vulnerability 20% – eight times more. However, only TWDB criteria will affect the final statewide rankings.
Initial Funds No Longer Available
Texas initially funded the Flood Infrastructure Fund with $770 million after voters passed Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment, in 2019. All of that money has either been distributed or committed.
Future projects will require a new infusion of cash from the state legislature. TWDB declined to say what that might be. However, an interested “legislature watcher” said appropriations ranging from $300 to $700 million have been discussed to cover projects throughout the state. He suspects the final total will be a compromise somewhere in the middle of that range.
Alternative Sources of Funding
Obviously, $300 million statewide won’t cover a $3 billion ask from Harris County, not to mention projects elsewhere.
So I asked HCFCD if it was pursuing alternative sources of funding for some of these projects. HCFCD answered “yes.”
A spokesperson said, “The Flood Control District is actively working to identify funding opportunities through grants, loans and other funding mechanisms, including for some projects included on the Region 6 Regional Flood Planning Group list. Including these projects on the State Flood Plan list serves to demonstrate the need for flood mitigation projects in the region, as well as to allow for future funding opportunities.”
Harris County Vs. Regional Projects
TWDB established 15 regional flood planning groups. Each represents a major river basin in Texas. Region 6 represents all or parts of 11 counties drained by the San Jacinto. See below.
The list of projects submitted by Harris County focused overwhelmingly on projects inside Harris county, though a few do have components that spill over county lines.
HCFCD and the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group have both tried to reach out to municipalities, neighboring counties and MUDs throughout the entire watershed. But many reportedly don’t have experts skilled in filling out the lengthy TWDB applications. Many also don’t have the seed money to attract matching funds for flood projects. Whether that disadvantages people at the edges of the county and beyond remains to be seen. It could take years to tell.
However, HCFCD says that at this time, “We are not aware of any major projects outside of Harris County that were not included on the State Flood Plan list. ”
Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/28/23
2068 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Placement Area #1 Gets New Life
After Hurricane Harvey, when the Army Corps established its San Jacinto West Fork dredging program, the Corps used an old sand pit off Hamblen Blvd. East in Humble to store the spoils.
Before, During, After, Now Photos
A regular reader emailed me about a large volume of truck activity in the area recently. So I went there today to see what I could see. The pond was half empty again. The mystery deepened. Were they taking dirt out or putting it in?
Trucks Filling Pond Again, Not Emptying It
Closer inspection showed that dozens of dump trucks were depositing dirt. That deepened the mystery even more. How did the pond get half empty with trucks dumping more dirt into it?
A gentleman drove up and engaged me in conversation as I was landing my drone. He introduced himself as the owner of the property and said that a private contractor bought the dirt left by the Corps, thus emptying the pit again.
No Intent to Build Here
I asked if he intended to build on the newly filled area and he said “no.” I also pumped him for information about where the dirt was coming from, but didn’t get anything definitive.
When I took these photos, it was the end of the workday. Trucks were scattering in all directions. The City did not immediately return calls or emails about next steps in its dredging program, if that’s where the dirt came from.
The good news for now: it appears we won’t have more building in the floodplain in this area. More news to follow when I get it.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/26/23 with thanks for the heads up from Eric Hayes
2066 Days since Hurricane Harvey
GLO Releases Texas Coastal Resiliency Master Plan
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D. released the 2023 Texas Coastal Resiliency Master Plan (TCRMP) last month. It proposes a framework that addresses coastal hazards as well as investments that protect natural and man-made coastal environments. The plan includes 52 Tier 1 priority projects in the Houston/Galveston area including 4 in Harris County.
121 Projects along 367 Miles of Coastline
The beautifully written and art-directed 356-page plan recommends a total of 121 projects prioritized as Tier 1 by the Texas General Land Office (GLO). In developing the plan, the GLO collaborated closely with a Technical Advisory Committee to mitigate issues that negatively impact the Texas coast.
“Protecting our 367 miles of Texas coastline is vital to our state’s economy,” said Commissioner Buckingham. “The Texas Coastal Resiliency Master Plan provides a strategic path in prioritizing projects. It will ensure long-term resilience of our diverse coastal ecosystems and protect coastal resources for future generations. I want to thank the hundreds of members of the Technical Advisory Committee for the expertise and leadership they contributed to this comprehensive process.”
The Texas Coastal Resiliency Master Plan will help protect both coastal infrastructure and natural resources.
Plan Updated Every Four Years Addresses Variety of Threats
GLO updates the Coast Resiliency Master Plan every four years. It uses the most current storm surge and sea-level-rise models to illustrate the need and benefit of recommended projects. A list of high-priority coastal resiliency initiatives and projects was developed to address risks such as:
Separate From, Yet Complementary to, Corps’ Plan
The TCRMP is separate from, yet complementary to, ongoing federal coastal protection efforts led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).
Federal efforts include the Coastal Texas Program and Sabine Pass to Galveston Bay Coastal Storm Risk Management (CSRM) Program, which focus on implementation of the Coastal Barrier System and other storm risk reduction projects.
The TCRMP provides a priority list of projects that could be funded through other federal, state, and local sources to work towards restoration and protection of areas not currently covered directly by the work of USACE.
While the TCRMP does not provide or guarantee funding to projects, it is designed to demonstrate funding need and cost estimates for proposed projects. Project initiatives range in status from conceptual to in progress, so actual costs may vary once implementation begins.
Technical Advisory Committee Helps Produce Broad Range of Materials
The Technical Advisory Committee included hundreds of:
They assessed coastal vulnerabilities with cutting-edge science and data analysis to determine the vulnerability of natural systems to hazards such as floods, storms, and storm surge.
For more information, visit: www.glo.texas.gov/crmp. Components of the Texas Coastal Resiliency Master Plan include:
Story Map Provides Excellent Graphical Introduction
The Story Map gives you an excellent overview of the plan in an easy-to-digest graphical format.
Note the high level of extreme and imminent hazards along the upper Texas Coast. This area includes Galveston Bay.
Many of the recommended projects are in this area, including projects at Anahuac and McFadden National Wildlife Refuges.
To address the dangers, the report includes many different types of projects/solutions.
See the Texas Coastal Resiliency Master Plan for descriptions of the actual recommended projects and their locations. Thirteen recommendations involve multiple regions. See the links below for more information on each.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/24/2023 based on information provided by the Texas General Land Office
2064 Days since Hurricane Harvey