Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) says that, as of 10/31/22, Sprint Sand and Clay has hauled off 66,094 cubic yards of dirt from Woodridge Village. That means, despite the slowing real estate market, that the company has exceeded its Excavation and Removal contract minimum within nine months of the first year.
Objective of Excavation
The objective of the contract: to get a head start on the removal of up to 500,000 cubic yards of dirt from what will eventually become the sixth stormwater detention basin on the Woodridge Village property. Woodridge forms the headwaters of Taylor Gully.
Community Meeting Will Reveal Findings of Engineering Study
HCFCD is now planning a community meeting to share the results with affected residents before the end of the year.
It’s not clear yet exactly:
How much additional detention Woodridge will need
How much channel widening Taylor Gully will need
Whether any bridges need to be replaced
How upstream improvements will affect residents farther downstream.
The preliminary engineering report should address all those questions.
Photos from September and October
In the meantime, a parade of dump trucks visits the Woodridge site most days to haul off dirt from where the sixth basin will go. The sixth basin could double stormwater detention capacity on the site – if Sprint excavates all 500,000 CY.
Sprint’s contract calls for them to remove a minimum of 60,000 cubic yards per year or 5,000 per month.
The September and October pictures below show how far Sprint has come in the last six weeks.
End of September 2022End of October.Sprint has not gone much farther, but they have gone deeper.
See pictures taken below from the reverse angle. The majority of the work now takes place at the far end.
Extent of excavation on September 24.End of October 2022.
Groundwater appears to be seeping into excavated areas.
HCFCD did not confirm WHY Sprint appears to be digging shallower. Amy Stone, a HCFCD spokesperson, did say however that the site contains multiple types of soil. The volume removed in a particular location may relate to demand for a particular type.
More news about the community meeting and study findings when it becomes available.
Posted by Bob Rehak on November 1, 2022
1890 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/20221031-DJI_0038.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=17991200adminadmin2022-11-01 13:00:172022-11-02 14:38:13Woodridge Village Excavation, Taylor Gully Updates
This follows an approval on June 28 to spend $85 million on 16 projects. Two thirds of the benefit for those also went to Precincts 1 and 2.
Not one of the 20 projects approved to date is in the San Jacinto Watershed.
Where the Money Went
Of the four flood-mitigation projects approved for trust funding in October, three were in the Halls Bayou Watershed and one was in Sims.
In June, commissioners approved 16 other projects:
One in the Armand Bayou watershed
One in Brays
Two in White Oak
Three in Halls
Four in Greens
Four in Cypress and Little Cypress Creeks
One in Buffalo Bayou
Of the 16 projects, 14 benefited Precincts 1 and 2, but only 7 benefited Precincts 3 or 4. The totals for “projects” and “areas benefited” do not equal because sometimes benefits cross precinct boundaries.
Looking at both groups of expenditures, 20 benefited Precincts 1 and 2, while only 7 benefited Precincts 3 or 4. So about one quarter of the flood mitigation benefit has gone to the Republican-leaning half of the county.
Purpose of the Trust
The Flood Resilience Trust Fund was originally conceived to facilitate:
Acceptance of a grant that requires a local match exceeding secured local funds
Awarding construction projects that exceed the amount of secured funds
A change in contract for a construction project underway that exceeds the amount of secured funds
In all of the most recent cases, the expenditures avoided delays for projects already underway. In each, partnership funds did not materialize as expected. See below.
Polls are open from 7 A.M. to 7 P.M. Monday through Friday this week for early voting. Election Day is on November 8. It’s a long ballot. Make sure you vote all the way to the end, because several key races/proposals are hidden in the middle of all the judicial races. For instance, the race between Lina Hidalgo and Alexandra Mealer for County Judge comes after family court judges on the ballot.
All registered voters in Harris County may vote for County Judge. A heavy turnout in this area could swing the election. It’s close. As of this morning, however, fewer than 10,000 people in Kingwood have voted.
Also, Precincts 2 and 4 will elect Commissioners this year. (The Lake Houston Area is now in Precinct 3 and won’t vote for commissioner until 2024.)
There are also three county bond proposals on the ballot totaling $1.2 billion being pushed by Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia. Despite promises made by the County Administrator months ago, none has a defined project yet, so if you approve the Garcia Bonds, you’re writing a blank check.
That echoes lopsided Flood Resilience Trust and 2018 Flood Bond spending to date. Don’t miss your chance to bring fiscal control and balance back to Commissioners Court. And some flood-mitigation benefits to the Lake Houston Area.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/31/22
1889 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/20221031-Screenshot-2022-10-31-at-11.07.25-AM.jpg?fit=1200%2C616&ssl=16161200adminadmin2022-10-31 11:42:432022-10-31 12:47:25County Approves Another $15 Million for Flood Mitigation in Precincts 1, 2
Ever wonder how to find the depth of flooding on a bayou, river or stream near you? Here’s a simple way. But this only works for those in and around Harris County, Texas, and those who live on streams with gages.
FWS stands for Flood Warning System. The main function of this website is to alert you when streams are in danger of coming out of their banks. But the site also shows historical information for dozens of gages that blanket Harris and surrounding counties. That information includes flood peaks and bank elevations. By subtracting the bank elevation from the peak, you can easily determine the height of a flood and compare the height in your area to other areas.
For this exercise, start by selecting ALL gages in the left column. Gages across the region will pop up. See below.
By default, the map shows how much rainfall all those gages received in the last 24 hours. But there’s much more information behind them. Next…
Click on Any Gage
Another box pops up that is the gateway to historical information about that location. In this example, I clicked on the gage at the San Jacinto West Fork and US59.
Click on the hyperlink that says, “More information and alert signup.” Then, in the next screen…
Click on the Stream Elevation Tab
Scroll Down
You should see a box that looks like the one below.
The red “Flooding Likely” line represents the top of bank in that area. They say “Likely” because bank heights may vary slightly around a gage. But for most locations in a flat area like ours, that’s the point at which water starts to come out of the banks. Near this gage, the river starts coming out at 49.33 feet above sea level.
Below that box, three more boxes show:
Gage readings during the current time period (or any historical time period if you specify one).
Flood frequency for that gage location. For instance, the height of a 10-, 50-, 100- or 500-year flood.
Historical records for major storms.
This last box contains the information you want (if you’re looking for the Harvey peak). For instance, you can see that at this location, the West Fork reached 69.6 feet.
Subtract Flooding-Likely Elevation from the Flood Height
Subtracting the flooding-likely elevation from the high-water mark tells you the depth of flooding, i.e., how high the water got above the banks. At this location, that was more than 20 feet! (69.6 minus 49.33)
Step and Repeat
To compare the depth of flooding at other locations, repeat the same process. To visualize the differences, it helps to develop a spreadsheet with four columns: Location, Flooding Likely, Peak, Difference. Then you can then easily create a graph that looks like the one below.
Chart showing feet above flood stage at 33 gages during Harvey.
In this case, you can see that the San Jacinto, Spring and Cypress Creeks had the deepest floodwaters in the northern part of the county during Harvey. Some gages at other locations show that water didn’t even come out of banks.
What About Minor Floods?
The Harris County Flood Warning System contains information about stream levels going back 20+ years. If you’re looking for information about a flood not shown in the Historical Record box, you can search for it by specifying a time period and date range above the stream elevation and rainfall tabs.
Caution
Usually, Harris County Flood Control District personnel manually verify the historical records. So, you can trust the information. But if you’re researching smaller floods by inputting your own dates and time periods in the search fields, you may run into a problem.
Before 2010, sometimes gages recorded faulty readings. Gages during that period used pressure transducers, which could clog with floating debris and report false information.
So, if you see a hundred-foot flood that lasted 15 minutes, you’re looking at error. Cross check such readings against rainfall at the same gage. Also, check the readings immediately up- and downstream to rule out spurious readings.
The graph above shows wide ranges in the depth of flooding on the same bayous. Don’t assume that because a flood was 20 feet deep at one location that it will be the same along the entire stream. The topography could narrow, widen, deepen or flatten. All could affect the depth of flooding. So could other factors, such as the amount of surrounding development or previous flood mitigation efforts in an area.
Identifying Causes of Flooding
Using information from the Flood Warning System, you can help narrow down the source of flooding. If a neighborhood flooded, but the channel didn’t come out of its banks, you’re looking at a street-flooding issue. Most storm sewers and roadside ditches in Harris County and Houston are sized to handle a two-year rain. But older ones may have only a one-year level of service. And many become clogged over time. See below.
For More Information
To learn how to find and verify other flood-related information, make sure you check out this post.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/29/22with thanks to the Harris County Flood Control District
1887 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/20221029-Screenshot-2022-10-29-at-8.22.46-PM.jpg?fit=1200%2C715&ssl=17151200adminadmin2022-10-29 21:19:072022-10-30 09:13:19Simple Way to Find Depth of Flooding Near You
Woodridge Village Excavation, Taylor Gully Updates
Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) says that, as of 10/31/22, Sprint Sand and Clay has hauled off 66,094 cubic yards of dirt from Woodridge Village. That means, despite the slowing real estate market, that the company has exceeded its Excavation and Removal contract minimum within nine months of the first year.
Objective of Excavation
The objective of the contract: to get a head start on the removal of up to 500,000 cubic yards of dirt from what will eventually become the sixth stormwater detention basin on the Woodridge Village property. Woodridge forms the headwaters of Taylor Gully.
The Woodridge property flooded up to 600 homes in Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest twice in 2019. That happened after the a developer clearcut the property before installing sufficient stormwater detention capacity.
Since then:
Community Meeting Will Reveal Findings of Engineering Study
HCFCD is now planning a community meeting to share the results with affected residents before the end of the year.
It’s not clear yet exactly:
The preliminary engineering report should address all those questions.
Photos from September and October
In the meantime, a parade of dump trucks visits the Woodridge site most days to haul off dirt from where the sixth basin will go. The sixth basin could double stormwater detention capacity on the site – if Sprint excavates all 500,000 CY.
As of mid-September 2022, Sprint Sand and Clay had removed 57,785 cubic yards (CY). Currently, they have removed a total of 66,094 CY. That means they removed 8,309 CY in the last 6 weeks. And that in turn means the current monthly rate is about 5500 CY.
Sprint’s contract calls for them to remove a minimum of 60,000 cubic yards per year or 5,000 per month.
The September and October pictures below show how far Sprint has come in the last six weeks.
See pictures taken below from the reverse angle. The majority of the work now takes place at the far end.
Groundwater appears to be seeping into excavated areas.
HCFCD did not confirm WHY Sprint appears to be digging shallower. Amy Stone, a HCFCD spokesperson, did say however that the site contains multiple types of soil. The volume removed in a particular location may relate to demand for a particular type.
More news about the community meeting and study findings when it becomes available.
Posted by Bob Rehak on November 1, 2022
1890 Days since Hurricane Harvey
County Approves Another $15 Million for Flood Mitigation in Precincts 1, 2
On October 25, 2022, the three Democrats on Harris County Commissioners Court approved the expenditure of another $15 million from the Flood Resilience Trust. All the money will be spent to avoid delays on flood mitigation projects in Precincts 1 and 2.
This follows an approval on June 28 to spend $85 million on 16 projects. Two thirds of the benefit for those also went to Precincts 1 and 2.
Where the Money Went
Of the four flood-mitigation projects approved for trust funding in October, three were in the Halls Bayou Watershed and one was in Sims.
In June, commissioners approved 16 other projects:
Of the 16 projects, 14 benefited Precincts 1 and 2, but only 7 benefited Precincts 3 or 4. The totals for “projects” and “areas benefited” do not equal because sometimes benefits cross precinct boundaries.
Looking at both groups of expenditures, 20 benefited Precincts 1 and 2, while only 7 benefited Precincts 3 or 4. So about one quarter of the flood mitigation benefit has gone to the Republican-leaning half of the county.
Purpose of the Trust
The Flood Resilience Trust Fund was originally conceived to facilitate:
In all of the most recent cases, the expenditures avoided delays for projects already underway. In each, partnership funds did not materialize as expected. See below.
The $100 million dollars in Trust Fund expenditures approved to date leaves a balance of only $28 million in the fund. So…
To see the full report on June projects, click here.
For the full October report, click here.
Fix This Discrimination
Polls are open from 7 A.M. to 7 P.M. Monday through Friday this week for early voting. Election Day is on November 8. It’s a long ballot. Make sure you vote all the way to the end, because several key races/proposals are hidden in the middle of all the judicial races. For instance, the race between Lina Hidalgo and Alexandra Mealer for County Judge comes after family court judges on the ballot.
All registered voters in Harris County may vote for County Judge. A heavy turnout in this area could swing the election. It’s close. As of this morning, however, fewer than 10,000 people in Kingwood have voted.
Also, Precincts 2 and 4 will elect Commissioners this year. (The Lake Houston Area is now in Precinct 3 and won’t vote for commissioner until 2024.)
There are also three county bond proposals on the ballot totaling $1.2 billion being pushed by Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia. Despite promises made by the County Administrator months ago, none has a defined project yet, so if you approve the Garcia Bonds, you’re writing a blank check.
Also, the three Democrats on Commissioners Court have announced their intention to distribute the $1.2 billion unequally. The two Republican Precincts would get only $220 million each or a total of $440 million. So Republican Precincts would get 36% while Democrat Precincts would get 63%.
That echoes lopsided Flood Resilience Trust and 2018 Flood Bond spending to date. Don’t miss your chance to bring fiscal control and balance back to Commissioners Court. And some flood-mitigation benefits to the Lake Houston Area.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/31/22
1889 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Simple Way to Find Depth of Flooding Near You
Ever wonder how to find the depth of flooding on a bayou, river or stream near you? Here’s a simple way. But this only works for those in and around Harris County, Texas, and those who live on streams with gages.
Step-By-Step Guide
Go to HarrisCountyFWS.org.
FWS stands for Flood Warning System. The main function of this website is to alert you when streams are in danger of coming out of their banks. But the site also shows historical information for dozens of gages that blanket Harris and surrounding counties. That information includes flood peaks and bank elevations. By subtracting the bank elevation from the peak, you can easily determine the height of a flood and compare the height in your area to other areas.
For this exercise, start by selecting ALL gages in the left column. Gages across the region will pop up. See below.
By default, the map shows how much rainfall all those gages received in the last 24 hours. But there’s much more information behind them. Next…
Click on Any Gage
Another box pops up that is the gateway to historical information about that location. In this example, I clicked on the gage at the San Jacinto West Fork and US59.
Click on the hyperlink that says, “More information and alert signup.” Then, in the next screen…
Click on the Stream Elevation Tab
Scroll Down
You should see a box that looks like the one below.
The red “Flooding Likely” line represents the top of bank in that area. They say “Likely” because bank heights may vary slightly around a gage. But for most locations in a flat area like ours, that’s the point at which water starts to come out of the banks. Near this gage, the river starts coming out at 49.33 feet above sea level.
Below that box, three more boxes show:
This last box contains the information you want (if you’re looking for the Harvey peak). For instance, you can see that at this location, the West Fork reached 69.6 feet.
Subtract Flooding-Likely Elevation from the Flood Height
Subtracting the flooding-likely elevation from the high-water mark tells you the depth of flooding, i.e., how high the water got above the banks. At this location, that was more than 20 feet! (69.6 minus 49.33)
Step and Repeat
To compare the depth of flooding at other locations, repeat the same process. To visualize the differences, it helps to develop a spreadsheet with four columns: Location, Flooding Likely, Peak, Difference. Then you can then easily create a graph that looks like the one below.
In this case, you can see that the San Jacinto, Spring and Cypress Creeks had the deepest floodwaters in the northern part of the county during Harvey. Some gages at other locations show that water didn’t even come out of banks.
What About Minor Floods?
The Harris County Flood Warning System contains information about stream levels going back 20+ years. If you’re looking for information about a flood not shown in the Historical Record box, you can search for it by specifying a time period and date range above the stream elevation and rainfall tabs.
Caution
Usually, Harris County Flood Control District personnel manually verify the historical records. So, you can trust the information. But if you’re researching smaller floods by inputting your own dates and time periods in the search fields, you may run into a problem.
Before 2010, sometimes gages recorded faulty readings. Gages during that period used pressure transducers, which could clog with floating debris and report false information.
So, if you see a hundred-foot flood that lasted 15 minutes, you’re looking at error. Cross check such readings against rainfall at the same gage. Also, check the readings immediately up- and downstream to rule out spurious readings.
The graph above shows wide ranges in the depth of flooding on the same bayous. Don’t assume that because a flood was 20 feet deep at one location that it will be the same along the entire stream. The topography could narrow, widen, deepen or flatten. All could affect the depth of flooding. So could other factors, such as the amount of surrounding development or previous flood mitigation efforts in an area.
Identifying Causes of Flooding
Using information from the Flood Warning System, you can help narrow down the source of flooding. If a neighborhood flooded, but the channel didn’t come out of its banks, you’re looking at a street-flooding issue. Most storm sewers and roadside ditches in Harris County and Houston are sized to handle a two-year rain. But older ones may have only a one-year level of service. And many become clogged over time. See below.
For More Information
To learn how to find and verify other flood-related information, make sure you check out this post.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/29/22 with thanks to the Harris County Flood Control District
1887 Days since Hurricane Harvey