Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) spending data on right-of-way acquisition and construction for the first half of 2022 shows that, once again, the San Jacinto watershed has been ignored. Thus, the largest watershed in the county received virtually no help in terms of flood-mitigation funding.
Brays, where Precinct One Commissioner Rodney Ellis lives, received $89.4 million for the completion of Project Brays. But the San Jacinto watershed and Kingwood, which he constantly berates for getting “all the money,” received only $200 thousand. Cedar Bayou, also in the northeastern part of the county, received only $160 thousand. Buffalo Bayou received only $230 thousand.
Thus, Ellis’s Brays received 389X more than Buffalo Bayou. 447X more than San Jacinto. And 559X more than Cedar. All in the name of equity.
Here’s the right-of-way and construction data from my FOIA Request in a bar graph. Do those blips on the right below make you feel ignored?
Harris County ROW and Construction dpending data obtained via a FOIA Requestfor Q1 and Q2 2022
Here’s the same data in a table, again arranged from highest to lowest.
If it weren’t for money contributed by Federal, State and City sources, virtually nothing would get done in this part of the county. So far, Harris County has mostly paid for studies. But the studies do no good without construction to back them up. They’re just yellowing paper on a bookshelf somewhere.
It looks like the Democrats are hoarding money hoping for a larger majority in November so they can move around – at will – the remaining money in the bond.
Hypocrisy of “Worst First”
Since 1979, floods have ravaged the northeastern part of the county more than most.
Historical flood-loss map of Harris County since 1979. From MAAPnext.
And during Harvey, we had the highest water above flood stage in the county – 20+ feet! Compare that to representative locations in watersheds getting the lion’s share of funding.
Chart showing feet above flood stage of 33 gages of misc. bayous in Harris County during Harvey.
It’s much more difficult to survive a 20′ flood than a flood that’s two or three feet.
When Will This Political Torture End?
The Democratic majority on Commissioners Court has proven that it won’t play fair. It’s up to voters to create a new majority in November and right this wrong. People’s lives are at risk.
Imagine being trapped in one of these as water rose during Harvey. Parts of other townhomes were swept away and now lie at the bottom of Lake Houston somewhere.
If you lump historical spending on top of first-half spending, the disparities become even more exaggerated. Get mad, people. Your silence only emboldens them. Demand fairness. Demand change.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/1/22
1829 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Jan-June-22-Spending-by-Watershed.png?fit=1490%2C968&ssl=19681490adminadmin2022-09-01 17:24:032022-09-01 22:34:02San Jacinto Watershed Still Virtually Ignored
Ever wonder why so many hurricanes track like boomerangs? They don’t all follow this pattern, of course, but when you look at the 1370 hurricanes between 1851 and 2006, a pattern clearly emerges.
In my research, I found several possible explanations for the pattern above.
Harris County Meteorologist Jeff Lindner provided this explanation. “Many of the storms that form in the eastern or central tropical Atlantic tend to get pulled northward by mid-latitude troughs over the western Atlantic as they attempt to move westward. Storms that make it all the way across tend to happen only when strong ridges of high pressure are in place.”
“Once a system is ‘captured’ by a mid-latitude trough, it will turn NW then N and then NE and E ahead of and along the trough axis. That’s why so many tracks are of this fashion over the open central and north Atlantic.”
Jeff Lindner, Harris County Meteorologist
Lindner added, “The further south a storm develops the less likely it is to be influenced by any sort of trough and a more westward track is then favored. Tracks into the Caribbean Sea from the east usually continue westward and those are what we tend to worry most about here along the Gulf Coast.”
“It is very rare for storms to cross central America or Mexico due to the high mountains in this area. The mountains quickly destroy the low-level circulations. A few in history have survived the trek, but they are few,” said Lindner.
Shifts in Bermuda High
The mother of all high-pressure ridges in the Atlantic is sometimes called the Bermuda or Azores high. NOAA defines it as “a semi-permanent, subtropical area of high pressure that migrates east and west between Bermuda and the Azores depending on the season.”
Red arrow added to NOAA Image indicating migration of high between Bermuda and the Azores.
The Meteorology 101 blog says, “During the summer, [the Bermuda high] is located just off the east coast of the United States. The clockwise circulation around this high pressure area helps direct the path of hurricanes and helps determine where they will make landfall. … During the winter months, the Bermuda High is located farther east of the US towards the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
Depending on the Bermuda high’s location at any given time, it can block storms from going north. Or it can spin storms around in the boomerang pattern in the first image above. That’s because winds circulate in a clockwise fashion around high-pressure systems in the northern hemisphere.
Also note, sometimes gaps open in the high, letting storms slip north and get caught up in that clockwise circulation.
Highs Sometimes Block Storms from Curving North
HurricaneScience.org says, “Atlantic hurricanes typically propagate around the periphery of the subtropical ridge, riding along its strongest winds. If the high is positioned to the east, then hurricanes generally propagate around the high’s western edge into the open Atlantic Ocean without making landfall.”
“However, if the high is positioned to the west and extends far enough to the south, storms are blocked from curving north and forced to continue west, putting a large bulls-eye on Florida, Cuba, and the Gulf of Mexico.” This helps explain the wide spread of tracks on the left of the first image.
Influence of Trade Winds
This post from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) explains the relationship between the Sahara Desert and the formation of many hurricanes. Prevailing winds blowing from east to west (often called trade winds) come off the hot, dry Sahara Desert where they meet the cooler, wetter environment of the Atlantic Ocean west of Africa.
Prevailing global wind circulation patterns, courtesy of NASA
The prevailing winds in this latitude are so steady that in the days of sailing ships, mariners from Europe going to the Americas would first sail south to Africa. There, they would ride the reliable winds west to conduct commerce in the New World. Hence the name “trade winds.” The trade winds steer hurricanes, too.
In higher latitudes, the trade winds reverse direction. So sailors returning to Europe would sail north before returning to Europe and catch a tailwind home.
Opposing trade winds at least partially explain the boomerang pattern shown above.
If you ever get to Seville, Spain, make sure you visit the Archive of the Indies. There you will find the story of every Spanish treasure fleet that made the round trip between Europe and the Americas. I was struck by how many fleets sank in hurricanes while riding the trade winds.
Meteorology, or lack thereof, has influenced the fate of empires.
Coriolis Force
Many scientists also cite the Coriolis Force as a reason for why hurricanes try to drift north of dominant west-to-east winds. Frankly, the physics are beyond me. It has to do with the rotation of the earth at different speeds in different latitudes, and the rightward drift of objects (like hurricanes) not anchored to the earth while traveling over long distances. The Coriolis Force is also used to explain why hurricanes rotate in a counter-clockwise direction.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/31/2022with input from Jeff Lindner, HCFCD
1828 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/image001.png?fit=1152%2C862&ssl=18621152adminadmin2022-08-31 20:21:142022-08-31 20:58:38Why Hurricanes Often Track Like Boomerangs
This Friday, September 2, 2022, I will give a talk at Lone Star College Kingwood. It will summarize what I have learned since Hurricane Harvey about flooding and flood mitigation while researching more than 2000 articles. The title of the talk: How Far We’ve Come, What We Still Need to Do. And it will focus on the Lake Houston Area plus areas immediately upstream in Harris, Montgomery and Liberty Counties.
It begins at 12:30 pm in the Teaching Theater.
Directions
If you’re coming from Kingwood, take Kingwood Drive west until it dead ends at Sorters Road. Turn right. Go about 50 to 100 yards north, then turn into Student Parking Lot C on your left. Then walk across Sorters to the building marked 4 in the map below.
Talk will be in building circled in red.
Lonestar College Kingwood was one of the most heavily damaged facilities in the area. The college lost six of nine buildings, including the one where we will meet on Friday. Dr. Katherine Persson, president at the time, said in 2018 while cleanup was still in progress that she expected blackwater decontamination to cost $11 million and replacing contents to cost $19 million. With reconstruction, she estimated the total would come to $60 million. The parts of the campus I have seen since then have been beautifully restored.
Focus of Talk
The focus of my talk will be:
The mitigation objectives for the Lake Houston Area adopted after Harvey to help prevent a similar disaster in the future.
What we have accomplished since then.
What we still need to do.
I hope to provide a big picture for those who haven’t been able to read ReduceFlooding.com every day. Sometimes the volume of material in a subject this wide-ranging can be overwhelming.
It will be an excellent opportunity to ask any questions on your mind and get clarification. Please spread the word and bring a friend. Hope to see you Friday, 12:30 PM at Lone Star College Kingwood.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/30/2022
1827 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/LoneStarTalk.jpeg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=110801080adminadmin2022-08-30 18:04:112022-08-30 18:11:10Public Invited: Rehak Talk at Lone Star College Kingwood, Friday 12:30 PM
San Jacinto Watershed Still Virtually Ignored
Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) spending data on right-of-way acquisition and construction for the first half of 2022 shows that, once again, the San Jacinto watershed has been ignored. Thus, the largest watershed in the county received virtually no help in terms of flood-mitigation funding.
Brays, where Precinct One Commissioner Rodney Ellis lives, received $89.4 million for the completion of Project Brays. But the San Jacinto watershed and Kingwood, which he constantly berates for getting “all the money,” received only $200 thousand. Cedar Bayou, also in the northeastern part of the county, received only $160 thousand. Buffalo Bayou received only $230 thousand.
Oh, and don’t forget that Adrian Garcia tried to move $190 million designated for Cedar Bayou in the 2018 Flood Bond to his newly redistricted Precinct 2. I’m convinced that that’s what poker players call a “tell.” See more below. But first…
FOIA Data in Graph and Table Formats
Here’s the right-of-way and construction data from my FOIA Request in a bar graph. Do those blips on the right below make you feel ignored?
Here’s the same data in a table, again arranged from highest to lowest.
If it weren’t for money contributed by Federal, State and City sources, virtually nothing would get done in this part of the county. So far, Harris County has mostly paid for studies. But the studies do no good without construction to back them up. They’re just yellowing paper on a bookshelf somewhere.
It looks like the Democrats are hoarding money hoping for a larger majority in November so they can move around – at will – the remaining money in the bond.
Hypocrisy of “Worst First”
Since 1979, floods have ravaged the northeastern part of the county more than most.
And during Harvey, we had the highest water above flood stage in the county – 20+ feet! Compare that to representative locations in watersheds getting the lion’s share of funding.
It’s much more difficult to survive a 20′ flood than a flood that’s two or three feet.
When Will This Political Torture End?
The Democratic majority on Commissioners Court has proven that it won’t play fair. It’s up to voters to create a new majority in November and right this wrong. People’s lives are at risk.
Just yesterday, we were treated to more political theater in Commissioners Court by members of the Northeast Action Collective whining about how they don’t get any money. Their watersheds netted approximately $78 million in the first half of this year alone! And they want to take money from Kingwood!
If you lump historical spending on top of first-half spending, the disparities become even more exaggerated. Get mad, people. Your silence only emboldens them. Demand fairness. Demand change.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/1/22
1829 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Why Hurricanes Often Track Like Boomerangs
Ever wonder why so many hurricanes track like boomerangs? They don’t all follow this pattern, of course, but when you look at the 1370 hurricanes between 1851 and 2006, a pattern clearly emerges.
Interaction of Complex Systems
In my research, I found several possible explanations for the pattern above.
Harris County Meteorologist Jeff Lindner provided this explanation. “Many of the storms that form in the eastern or central tropical Atlantic tend to get pulled northward by mid-latitude troughs over the western Atlantic as they attempt to move westward. Storms that make it all the way across tend to happen only when strong ridges of high pressure are in place.”
Lindner added, “The further south a storm develops the less likely it is to be influenced by any sort of trough and a more westward track is then favored. Tracks into the Caribbean Sea from the east usually continue westward and those are what we tend to worry most about here along the Gulf Coast.”
“It is very rare for storms to cross central America or Mexico due to the high mountains in this area. The mountains quickly destroy the low-level circulations. A few in history have survived the trek, but they are few,” said Lindner.
Shifts in Bermuda High
The mother of all high-pressure ridges in the Atlantic is sometimes called the Bermuda or Azores high. NOAA defines it as “a semi-permanent, subtropical area of high pressure that migrates east and west between Bermuda and the Azores depending on the season.”
The Meteorology 101 blog says, “During the summer, [the Bermuda high] is located just off the east coast of the United States. The clockwise circulation around this high pressure area helps direct the path of hurricanes and helps determine where they will make landfall. … During the winter months, the Bermuda High is located farther east of the US towards the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
Depending on the Bermuda high’s location at any given time, it can block storms from going north. Or it can spin storms around in the boomerang pattern in the first image above. That’s because winds circulate in a clockwise fashion around high-pressure systems in the northern hemisphere.
Also note, sometimes gaps open in the high, letting storms slip north and get caught up in that clockwise circulation.
Highs Sometimes Block Storms from Curving North
HurricaneScience.org says, “Atlantic hurricanes typically propagate around the periphery of the subtropical ridge, riding along its strongest winds. If the high is positioned to the east, then hurricanes generally propagate around the high’s western edge into the open Atlantic Ocean without making landfall.”
“However, if the high is positioned to the west and extends far enough to the south, storms are blocked from curving north and forced to continue west, putting a large bulls-eye on Florida, Cuba, and the Gulf of Mexico.” This helps explain the wide spread of tracks on the left of the first image.
Influence of Trade Winds
This post from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) explains the relationship between the Sahara Desert and the formation of many hurricanes. Prevailing winds blowing from east to west (often called trade winds) come off the hot, dry Sahara Desert where they meet the cooler, wetter environment of the Atlantic Ocean west of Africa.
The prevailing winds in this latitude are so steady that in the days of sailing ships, mariners from Europe going to the Americas would first sail south to Africa. There, they would ride the reliable winds west to conduct commerce in the New World. Hence the name “trade winds.” The trade winds steer hurricanes, too.
In higher latitudes, the trade winds reverse direction. So sailors returning to Europe would sail north before returning to Europe and catch a tailwind home.
Opposing trade winds at least partially explain the boomerang pattern shown above.
If you ever get to Seville, Spain, make sure you visit the Archive of the Indies. There you will find the story of every Spanish treasure fleet that made the round trip between Europe and the Americas. I was struck by how many fleets sank in hurricanes while riding the trade winds.
Meteorology, or lack thereof, has influenced the fate of empires.
Coriolis Force
Many scientists also cite the Coriolis Force as a reason for why hurricanes try to drift north of dominant west-to-east winds. Frankly, the physics are beyond me. It has to do with the rotation of the earth at different speeds in different latitudes, and the rightward drift of objects (like hurricanes) not anchored to the earth while traveling over long distances. The Coriolis Force is also used to explain why hurricanes rotate in a counter-clockwise direction.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/31/2022 with input from Jeff Lindner, HCFCD
1828 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Public Invited: Rehak Talk at Lone Star College Kingwood, Friday 12:30 PM
This Friday, September 2, 2022, I will give a talk at Lone Star College Kingwood. It will summarize what I have learned since Hurricane Harvey about flooding and flood mitigation while researching more than 2000 articles. The title of the talk: How Far We’ve Come, What We Still Need to Do. And it will focus on the Lake Houston Area plus areas immediately upstream in Harris, Montgomery and Liberty Counties.
It begins at 12:30 pm in the Teaching Theater.
Directions
If you’re coming from Kingwood, take Kingwood Drive west until it dead ends at Sorters Road. Turn right. Go about 50 to 100 yards north, then turn into Student Parking Lot C on your left. Then walk across Sorters to the building marked 4 in the map below.
Lonestar College Kingwood was one of the most heavily damaged facilities in the area. The college lost six of nine buildings, including the one where we will meet on Friday. Dr. Katherine Persson, president at the time, said in 2018 while cleanup was still in progress that she expected blackwater decontamination to cost $11 million and replacing contents to cost $19 million. With reconstruction, she estimated the total would come to $60 million. The parts of the campus I have seen since then have been beautifully restored.
Focus of Talk
The focus of my talk will be:
I hope to provide a big picture for those who haven’t been able to read ReduceFlooding.com every day. Sometimes the volume of material in a subject this wide-ranging can be overwhelming.
It will be an excellent opportunity to ask any questions on your mind and get clarification. Please spread the word and bring a friend. Hope to see you Friday, 12:30 PM at Lone Star College Kingwood.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/30/2022
1827 Days since Hurricane Harvey