11/15/2025 – Today marks 3000 days since Hurricane Harvey – 8.2 years.
In that time, I’ve researched and written 2,941 articles about flooding that have been read 2,737,740 times.
Those articles contained 1,989,909 words (not counting this one). That roughly equals 25 novels.
I’ve also shot 63,526 photos to support that work.
Before I run out of Coke Zeros and power bars, I’d like to look back and ask:
What have we accomplished since Harvey?
What have we learned that can reduce future flooding?
What We Have Accomplished
I asked Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) for a table showing how many structures have been removed from floodplains since Harvey and where. I wanted to show how much we have gotten for our tax dollars.
Unfortunately, they didn’t provide me with exact information requested. Instead, they referred me to two pages on their website.
One showed general areas where they were buying out homes. It provided a round number for the number of buyouts to date: 3,000. But they have 5,000 remaining to close on. Total cost for 8,000: $1 billion dollars. Prorated cost for 3000: $375 million. They never did tell me how many were in each watershed.
The other link led to a list of completed mitigation projects. It showed we’ve spent $1.7 billion to date. But as far as I could see, only a couple of the project summaries linked to the spending page disclosed how many homes were removed from floodplains. That adds another 900 homes. Now, we’re up to 3,900.
So, for each reported home that HCFCD has removed from floodplains since Harvey, they’ve spent somewhere between $436,000 and $538,000.
In fairness, most of the projects completed to date do not involve construction. Said another way, we’ve spent a lot of money preparing for construction on other projects with preliminary studies and right-of-way acquisition. It could also be that the summaries of some projects simply did not list their benefits.
But of the 41 total projects completed to date, it appears that only a handful involved actual construction that removes homes from floodplains.
What Have We Learned?
So what can we deduce from those observations?
It costs far more to remove homes from floodplains than they are worth in most cases.
After floods, private profit turns into public cost. Wouldn’t it be much more cost effective to just:
Not build homes and businesses in risky floodplains or elevate them?
Teach people how to avoid flood risk and give them the tools to do so?
Unify floodplain standards throughout the region, so people downstream don’t bear the brunt of insufficient mitigation upstream?
Actually enforce those floodplain standards instead of looking the other way?
Turn those floodplains into parks that support recreation, healthier lifestyles and home values in adjacent neighborhoods?
Stay involved in mitigation efforts after a flood instead of pretending the next flood is a 100-years away?
So far, we’ve spent a little more than $2 billion to prevent another Harvey. But the storm cost $125 billion. Let’s not forget that. That’s the last lesson.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/15/25
3,000 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Harvey-Damage.jpg?fit=1100%2C733&ssl=17331100adminadmin2025-11-15 12:44:012025-11-15 12:44:02What Have We Accomplished and Learned in 3000 Days Since Harvey?
11/14/25 – Both Harris County Commissioners Court and the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group agreed yesterday to keep new, updated Harris County floodplain maps secret from the public. They accepted Harris County Flood Control District’s (HCFCD) explanation that they couldn’t release the maps until FEMA finished vetting them…a process that has gone years longer than scheduled and could drag on for years more. Neither group:
Asked for an explanation of what was taking FEMA so long
Asked how withholding the maps could negatively impact Harris County residents
Pointed to any FEMA regulations requiring that FEMA must release information first
Agreed to pressure FEMA to speed up the vetting process
Addressed why local authorities elsewhere are releasing updated maps before FEMA.
However, a spokesperson for HCFCD insisted after the meetings that HCFCD had a contract with FEMA that prohibited HCFCD from releasing maps paid for with taxpayer money. However, she could not immediately produce the contract for this post.
Other Areas in Texas Released Updated Maps Ahead of FEMA
Other authorities elsewhere seem to have no trouble releasing their updated maps based on Atlas 14. Take the San Antonio River Authority (SARA), for instance. They have posted a DRAFT floodplain viewer since 2022 with disclaimers, even though FEMA has not yet released its versions of the maps.
Screen capture on 11/14/25. Site also contains disclaimer.
The SARA maps even show the 30-year chance-of-flooding to help mortgage applicants understand their flood risk.
San Antonio River Authority Draft Floodplain Viewer showing 30-year flood risk.
Williamson County (Georgetown/Round Rock) also has released its Atlas-14-based floodplain maps ahead of FEMA. The maps feature a slider that lets you compare the extent of old and new floodplains.
11/14/25 Screen capture of old/new floodplain comparison in Williamson County’s draft viewer.
So, it is possible to release new maps ahead of FEMA. No regulations that I can find prohibit it. If Harris County’s contract prohibits it, I will do a followup post when HCFCD produces the contract.
San Jacinto River Flood Planning Group Decides Not to Press Map Update Issue
The San Jacinto River Flood Planning Group (RFPG) met yesterday. Among other things, they voted on a progress report for the Texas Water Development Board that showed their work to date on the next iteration of the state flood plan.
Their interim report identified floodplain expansion everywhere in the river basin except Harris County.
That’s because maps for Harris County were redacted at the request of HCFCD. And that generated a lot of discussion.
One member of the committee said, “We have omitted mapping within Harris County as part of this tech memo deliverable, since that’s posted to the public.” [Emphasis added.] That same member later added, “Not incorporating that maybe oversimplifies or otherwise misleads the general audience.” That member proposed updating the maps before submitting the report to TWDB.
However, instead, the committee decided to simply edit text to remove FEMA’s delivery date for the new maps which HCFCD claims FEMA has repeatedly missed.
“It’s not a change to technical content or substantive content, it’s just going to be how it narrates,” another member said.
The committee also discussed applying political pressure on FEMA to release the maps, but decided not to.
Harris County Commissioners Court Takes No Action on Map Updates
Harris County Commissioners Court on 11/13/25 also included a discussion of the status of flood map updates. (See Item 325 on the agenda.)
Commissioner Tom Ramsey kicked off the discussion by saying, “We have known that FEMA is going to, at some point, issue new floodplain maps for Harris County. And we sit here waiting for FEMA to release these.” Later, he said there would be a significant difference in the extent of floodplains. “The existing 500-year floodplain is now going to be the 100.”
Commissioner Adrian Garcia then said, “This is not my first rodeo related to maps.” He continued. “It’s going to be tough enough when FEMA releases the maps on us, because…
“We’re going to find … developers holding properties that now are going to potentially be un-developable.”
Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia
Garcia suggested that perhaps the National Association of Counties (NACo) “move this item along because it is in limbo.” Then he added, “The federal government needs to own this. They need to do their part. And then we can work it at the local level.”
Tina Petersen, executive director of HCFCD claimed, “The responsibilities of FEMA have always been clear. They are responsible for releasing the flood insurance rate maps.” While that’s a true statement, FEMA is moving away from basing NFIP insurance rates strictly on flood zones. However, the maps will remain critical for mandatory flood-insurance purchase requirements for federally backed mortgages.
Commissioner Rodney Ellis tried to pin Petersen down by asking if other places were releasing updated flood maps and adding disclaimers like “draft” or “preliminary.”
Petersen dodged the question. Her 55-second response boiled down to, “We believe we are close. We believe it is prudent to wait.”
Petersen also dodged Ellis questions relating to FOIA requests and how much the new maps cost the county.
Commissioner Leslie Briones asked for an update on what FEMA has accomplished in the second half of the year. Petersen replied, “Really, where FEMA is at now is all of the data that has been submitted from the flood control district has been reviewed, and they are currently working to develop the draft flood insurance rate maps.”
Briones concluded the discussion. “We are all in and making sure we’re supporting you so that we can get the information out and work in support as strongly as possible,” she said.
That concluded the discussion. Commissioners took no action. They just moved to the next agenda item.
No Good Answers
In the end, the recognition of higher flood risk could increase flood insurance premiums and make floodplain properties more difficult to develop.
Kicking the can down the road and pointing fingers at FEMA, an agency undergoing radical change, avoids difficult conversations now. But it also exposes Harris County residents to higher flood risk.
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/San-Antonio-River-Authority-30-year-map-scaled.png?fit=2560%2C1340&ssl=113402560adminadmin2025-11-14 12:46:272025-11-15 18:30:52New Floodplain Maps Remain Secret For Now – At Least in Harris County
11/12/25 – My weird nephew Izzy called this morning. He was all excited about what he thought would be a tax refund check from Harris County. He had just finished scanning through the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group’s latest report and had convinced himself that the check was in the mail.
The Holiday Miracle
“Uncle Bob! Uncle Bob! Did you see what happened?”
“No Izzy. Calm down. What happened?”
“Harris County solved all its flooding problems and they didn’t even have to spend half the money in the flood bond!”
“Whoa there, Izzy. That sounds a little too good to be true. What makes you think that?”
(Flipping through a loose-leaf binder with hundreds of pages): “Lookee here, Uncle Bob. Every map in the book is like this. Yessiree.”
“Yep, Uncle Bob. Every county in the river basin has flooding problems ‘cept Harris County. We done solved all our problems! I’m going to get me a new motorcycle with my refund check.”
“What’s wrong with your old motorcycle, Izzy?”
“It got flooded out.”
“And why do you think the county would give you a refund, Izzy?”
“They solved all our problems but only spent half the money. They geniuses.”
Izzy Gets an Education
“But that’s not how bonds work, Izzy. They don’t borrow the money until they need it.”
(Suddenly deflated) “You got to be kidding me.”
“Sorry Iz. I could use a refund check, too.”
“Oh, man. I was going to splurge and get me some nacho cheese Doritos with the change.”
“I’ll treat you to Doritos, Izzy, but I want to figure out what’s going on here.”
Uncle Bob’s Shocking Discovery
(Flipping through the report) “See, Uncle Bob. Harris County has NO flooding problems anymore, anywhere, nohow. I’m going to drop my flood insurance. That’ll save me some serious bank.”
“I wouldn’t drop it just yet, Izzy.”
“Why not?”
“Did you read this explanation on page 14, Izzy?”
“Read? Who reads anymore, Uncle Bob? That’s so old school.”
“It says the flooding in Harris County is still bad. They just aren’t saying how bad.”
“Why?”
“They claim they’ve been trying to figure out how to dish up the bad news…for four years.”
“Damn straight. I just can’t believe they’d try to trick me like this. They ‘da govmint. They ain’t supposed to trick people. Lives depend on this.”
“What do you say we drown our sorrows in some nacho cheese Doritos while I explain about government, Izzy?”
Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/12/25
2997 Days since Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/No-Flooding-in-Harris-e1762992703859.png?fit=1100%2C809&ssl=18091100adminadmin2025-11-12 17:53:122025-11-12 20:27:29Izzy Finds Harris County Magically Solved All Its Flooding Problems Overnight
What Have We Accomplished and Learned in 3000 Days Since Harvey?
11/15/2025 – Today marks 3000 days since Hurricane Harvey – 8.2 years.
In that time, I’ve researched and written 2,941 articles about flooding that have been read 2,737,740 times.
Those articles contained 1,989,909 words (not counting this one). That roughly equals 25 novels.
I’ve also shot 63,526 photos to support that work.
Before I run out of Coke Zeros and power bars, I’d like to look back and ask:
What We Have Accomplished
I asked Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) for a table showing how many structures have been removed from floodplains since Harvey and where. I wanted to show how much we have gotten for our tax dollars.
Unfortunately, they didn’t provide me with exact information requested. Instead, they referred me to two pages on their website.
One showed general areas where they were buying out homes. It provided a round number for the number of buyouts to date: 3,000. But they have 5,000 remaining to close on. Total cost for 8,000: $1 billion dollars. Prorated cost for 3000: $375 million. They never did tell me how many were in each watershed.
The other link led to a list of completed mitigation projects. It showed we’ve spent $1.7 billion to date. But as far as I could see, only a couple of the project summaries linked to the spending page disclosed how many homes were removed from floodplains. That adds another 900 homes. Now, we’re up to 3,900.
But how much did we spend on them? They list conflicting information on different pages. The second page shows $400 million more than reported on the first page, for a total of $2.1 billion. Both are dated October, 2025.
So, for each reported home that HCFCD has removed from floodplains since Harvey, they’ve spent somewhere between $436,000 and $538,000.
In fairness, most of the projects completed to date do not involve construction. Said another way, we’ve spent a lot of money preparing for construction on other projects with preliminary studies and right-of-way acquisition. It could also be that the summaries of some projects simply did not list their benefits.
But of the 41 total projects completed to date, it appears that only a handful involved actual construction that removes homes from floodplains.
What Have We Learned?
So what can we deduce from those observations?
After floods, private profit turns into public cost. Wouldn’t it be much more cost effective to just:
So far, we’ve spent a little more than $2 billion to prevent another Harvey. But the storm cost $125 billion. Let’s not forget that. That’s the last lesson.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/15/25
3,000 Days since Hurricane Harvey
New Floodplain Maps Remain Secret For Now – At Least in Harris County
11/14/25 – Both Harris County Commissioners Court and the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group agreed yesterday to keep new, updated Harris County floodplain maps secret from the public. They accepted Harris County Flood Control District’s (HCFCD) explanation that they couldn’t release the maps until FEMA finished vetting them…a process that has gone years longer than scheduled and could drag on for years more. Neither group:
However, a spokesperson for HCFCD insisted after the meetings that HCFCD had a contract with FEMA that prohibited HCFCD from releasing maps paid for with taxpayer money. However, she could not immediately produce the contract for this post.
Other Areas in Texas Released Updated Maps Ahead of FEMA
Other authorities elsewhere seem to have no trouble releasing their updated maps based on Atlas 14. Take the San Antonio River Authority (SARA), for instance. They have posted a DRAFT floodplain viewer since 2022 with disclaimers, even though FEMA has not yet released its versions of the maps.
The SARA maps even show the 30-year chance-of-flooding to help mortgage applicants understand their flood risk.
Williamson County (Georgetown/Round Rock) also has released its Atlas-14-based floodplain maps ahead of FEMA. The maps feature a slider that lets you compare the extent of old and new floodplains.
So, it is possible to release new maps ahead of FEMA. No regulations that I can find prohibit it. If Harris County’s contract prohibits it, I will do a followup post when HCFCD produces the contract.
San Jacinto River Flood Planning Group Decides Not to Press Map Update Issue
The San Jacinto River Flood Planning Group (RFPG) met yesterday. Among other things, they voted on a progress report for the Texas Water Development Board that showed their work to date on the next iteration of the state flood plan.
Their interim report identified floodplain expansion everywhere in the river basin except Harris County.
That’s because maps for Harris County were redacted at the request of HCFCD. And that generated a lot of discussion.
One member of the committee said, “We have omitted mapping within Harris County as part of this tech memo deliverable, since that’s posted to the public.” [Emphasis added.] That same member later added, “Not incorporating that maybe oversimplifies or otherwise misleads the general audience.” That member proposed updating the maps before submitting the report to TWDB.
However, instead, the committee decided to simply edit text to remove FEMA’s delivery date for the new maps which HCFCD claims FEMA has repeatedly missed.
“It’s not a change to technical content or substantive content, it’s just going to be how it narrates,” another member said.
The committee also discussed applying political pressure on FEMA to release the maps, but decided not to.
Harris County Commissioners Court Takes No Action on Map Updates
Harris County Commissioners Court on 11/13/25 also included a discussion of the status of flood map updates. (See Item 325 on the agenda.)
Commissioner Tom Ramsey kicked off the discussion by saying, “We have known that FEMA is going to, at some point, issue new floodplain maps for Harris County. And we sit here waiting for FEMA to release these.” Later, he said there would be a significant difference in the extent of floodplains. “The existing 500-year floodplain is now going to be the 100.”
Commissioner Adrian Garcia then said, “This is not my first rodeo related to maps.” He continued. “It’s going to be tough enough when FEMA releases the maps on us, because…
Garcia suggested that perhaps the National Association of Counties (NACo) “move this item along because it is in limbo.” Then he added, “The federal government needs to own this. They need to do their part. And then we can work it at the local level.”
Tina Petersen, executive director of HCFCD claimed, “The responsibilities of FEMA have always been clear. They are responsible for releasing the flood insurance rate maps.” While that’s a true statement, FEMA is moving away from basing NFIP insurance rates strictly on flood zones. However, the maps will remain critical for mandatory flood-insurance purchase requirements for federally backed mortgages.
Commissioner Rodney Ellis tried to pin Petersen down by asking if other places were releasing updated flood maps and adding disclaimers like “draft” or “preliminary.”
Petersen dodged the question. Her 55-second response boiled down to, “We believe we are close. We believe it is prudent to wait.”
Petersen also dodged Ellis questions relating to FOIA requests and how much the new maps cost the county.
Commissioner Leslie Briones asked for an update on what FEMA has accomplished in the second half of the year. Petersen replied, “Really, where FEMA is at now is all of the data that has been submitted from the flood control district has been reviewed, and they are currently working to develop the draft flood insurance rate maps.”
Briones concluded the discussion. “We are all in and making sure we’re supporting you so that we can get the information out and work in support as strongly as possible,” she said.
That concluded the discussion. Commissioners took no action. They just moved to the next agenda item.
No Good Answers
In the end, the recognition of higher flood risk could increase flood insurance premiums and make floodplain properties more difficult to develop.
Kicking the can down the road and pointing fingers at FEMA, an agency undergoing radical change, avoids difficult conversations now. But it also exposes Harris County residents to higher flood risk.
See the Harris County Commissioners Court discussion of flood maps at 3:13:36 of this video. The San Jacinto River Flood Planning Group does not publish video of its meetings.
FEMA’s Region 6 Map Division would not confirm when they will release new flood maps for Harris County. They referred me back to HCFCD.
HCFCD has refused to share flood risk information with the County’s own Community Flood Resilience Task Force despite repeated requests since 2021.
And partially as a result, people are building and buying tens of thousands of homes in Harris County floodplains that could flood in the next big storm.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/14/25
2999 Days since Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
Izzy Finds Harris County Magically Solved All Its Flooding Problems Overnight
11/12/25 – My weird nephew Izzy called this morning. He was all excited about what he thought would be a tax refund check from Harris County. He had just finished scanning through the San Jacinto Regional Flood Planning Group’s latest report and had convinced himself that the check was in the mail.
The Holiday Miracle
“Uncle Bob! Uncle Bob! Did you see what happened?”
“No Izzy. Calm down. What happened?”
“Harris County solved all its flooding problems and they didn’t even have to spend half the money in the flood bond!”
“Whoa there, Izzy. That sounds a little too good to be true. What makes you think that?”
(Flipping through a loose-leaf binder with hundreds of pages): “Lookee here, Uncle Bob. Every map in the book is like this. Yessiree.”
“Yep, Uncle Bob. Every county in the river basin has flooding problems ‘cept Harris County. We done solved all our problems! I’m going to get me a new motorcycle with my refund check.”
“What’s wrong with your old motorcycle, Izzy?”
“It got flooded out.”
“And why do you think the county would give you a refund, Izzy?”
“They solved all our problems but only spent half the money. They geniuses.”
Izzy Gets an Education
“But that’s not how bonds work, Izzy. They don’t borrow the money until they need it.”
(Suddenly deflated) “You got to be kidding me.”
“Sorry Iz. I could use a refund check, too.”
“Oh, man. I was going to splurge and get me some nacho cheese Doritos with the change.”
“I’ll treat you to Doritos, Izzy, but I want to figure out what’s going on here.”
Uncle Bob’s Shocking Discovery
(Flipping through the report) “See, Uncle Bob. Harris County has NO flooding problems anymore, anywhere, nohow. I’m going to drop my flood insurance. That’ll save me some serious bank.”
“I wouldn’t drop it just yet, Izzy.”
“Why not?”
“Did you read this explanation on page 14, Izzy?”
“Read? Who reads anymore, Uncle Bob? That’s so old school.”
“It says the flooding in Harris County is still bad. They just aren’t saying how bad.”
“Why?”
“They claim they’ve been trying to figure out how to dish up the bad news…for four years.”
“Seriously?”
“I’m sorry, Izzy. They shoulda hired you to run Flood Control.”
“I got me a calculator that goes to 15 digits.”
“I’m sure you could have helped, Izzy.”
“Damn straight. I just can’t believe they’d try to trick me like this. They ‘da govmint. They ain’t supposed to trick people. Lives depend on this.”
“What do you say we drown our sorrows in some nacho cheese Doritos while I explain about government, Izzy?”
Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/12/25
2997 Days since Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.