The Katy Prairie Conservancy (now the Coastal Prairie Conservancy) has preserved prairies for more than 25 years to slow down and reduce floodwaters.
Tall-grass prairies and wetlands soak up, store and slow runoff from heavy rains, all of which decrease flooding for residents downstream.
The three main dimensions of natural flood reduction.
But how does that work in practice in specific locations? How MUCH do nature-based initiatives reduce flooding? And how can they complement traditional engineered solutions?
Multifaceted Plan Could Hold Back Harvey’s Excess Floodwater
Source: Katy Prairie Conservancy and Rice University SSPEED Center
The plan would absorb, slow, and store water in the Upper Cypress Creek Watershed. It also recommends detaining water near Cypress Creek by creating shallow detention on private lands with the help of willing landowners.
Likewise, by constructing retention and detention ponds in the Upper Addicks Watershed, even more floodwater could be stored and slowed down. The plan also includes the creation of retention corridors along Bear and South Mayde creeks. The retention corridors would serve as a buffer for floodwaters that threaten communities along the creeks. These projects will store up to 110,000 acre-feet of floodwater.
That’s the equivalent of a foot of rain falling over 172 square miles! And that’s 10% of Harris County!
Expand Addicks Reservoir Storage through Excavation
Addicks and Barker Reservoirs are valuable assets that need to be restored and enhanced. Storing additional floodwaters in Addicks Reservoir can keep homes upstream safe and prevent extreme releases that destroy downstream properties, according to the Conservancy and SSPEED.
Addicks Reservoir on May 20, 2021. Looking NW.
Put all these solutions together and the results look like the bar graph above.
The recommendations could easily hold back more water than Addicks had to release during Harvey.
Benefits Extend to Multiple Watersheds
During Harvey, so much water accumulated in the Cypress Creek watershed that it overflowed into the Addicks watershed. So, these recommendations could help reduce flood risk in superstorms along multiple streams, including Buffalo Bayou and Cypress Creek.
Plan includes excavation of additional capacity within Addicks with a goal of enhancing natural environment.
Other Interesting Statistics
The brochure also cites interesting statistics from other groups that touch on the plan. For instance, the Natural Resources Defense Council estimates that every 1% increase in soil organic matter results in the soil holding an additional 20,000 gallons of water per acre.
No One Solution
After studying flood reduction for almost five years now, I’ve concluded there is no silver bullet. No one solution will work for all situations. But every little bit helps. Multifaceted recommendations like these can ultimately reduce costs and increase effectiveness by harnessing the power of nature.
Natural solutions also provide numerous other benefits such as recreation and wildlife habitat.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/16/2022
1721 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/20210520-RJR_6640.jpg?fit=1200%2C725&ssl=17251200adminadmin2022-05-16 18:18:402022-05-16 18:28:37Coastal Prairie Conservancy Plan Shows How Preservation Can Help Reduce Flooding
About a month after it began, the developers of Royal Pines have cleared a swath of trees about 1,000 feet wide and a half mile long.
Photos Taken 5/15/22
Looking NNE from southern end of Royal Pines. West Lake Houston Parkway on right.Photo 5/15/22.Looking E from northern end of Royal Pines toward Triple PG Sand Mine.The trees between the foreground and mine will also be cleared.Photo 5/15/22.Looking S. West Lake Houston Parkway in upper left. The large cleared area in the top right is Woodridge Village which flooded hundreds of homes in Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest after it was clearcut and before the developer installed detention basins.Photo 5/15/22.
Note the dotted lines that snake their way through the top of the development. Those represent the 100- and 500-year floodplains.
Notice how a large part of the development is in “Zone X (Shaded).” That’s the area between the limits of the base flood (100-year or 1% annual chance) and the 0.2-percent-annual-chance (or 500-year) flood. I counted more than 80 homes in that zone. I also see six inside the 100-year zone.
Keep in mind that these flood zones are based on pre-Atlas 14 estimates. FEMA shows this area was last mapped in 2014. When FEMA approves new flood maps in the next few years, those zones will expand to take in more of the subdivision.
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.
Flood Mitigation funds (MIT) go to projects that help communities reduce future flooding. They differ from Disaster Relief funds (DR). The latter help individuals recover from past floods.
GLO announced the $750 million allocation on March 18. HUD is NOT giving the money to Harris County outright. The County must first submit a plan of how and where it will use the money. Both HUD and GLO must approve that plan, called the Method of Distribution (MOD) before work can begin. Then, as vendors submit invoices, Harris County will submit them for reimbursement.
Notification of Planning Meeting For CDBG-MIT funding
Harris County wants your input on the plan. The Community Services Department will accept written and oral input regarding the use of funding and development of Harris County’s MOD at a planning meeting scheduled for:
Thursday, May 19, 2022
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm
Harris County Community Services Department (HCCSD) Office
9418 Jensen, Houston, Texas, 77093
Harris County will accept written input before May 30, 2022, 5:00 pm. via mail to Attn: HCCSD Planning Section, 13105 Northwest Freeway Suite 400, Houston, Texas 77040 or by email to DRplancomments@csd.hctx.net.
To Request Special Accommodations at Meeting
Harris County will provide for reasonable accommodations for persons attending Harris County functions. Requests from persons needing special accommodations should be received by Harris County staff 48-hours prior to the function. The public hearing will be conducted in English and requests for language interpreters or other special communication needs should be made at least 72 hours prior to a function.
Please call 832-927-4700 or email DRplancomments@csd.hctx.net for assistance or additional information about this posting.
Restrictions on Use of Money
The funds represent an opportunity to mitigate disaster risks and reduce future losses in areas impacted by Harvey.
HUD defines mitigation as: “Those activities that increase resilience to disasters and reduce or eliminate the long-term risk of loss of life, injury, damage to and loss of property, and suffering and hardship, by lessening the impact of future disasters.”
Eligible recipients include units of local government, special purpose districts, and port and river authorities.
The GLO encourages the prioritization of regional investments with regional impacts. Those include:
Projects that reduce risk from hurricanes, tropical storms and depressions, flooding, wind and other hazards
Disaster-resistant infrastructure
Upgrading water, sewer, solid waste, communications, energy, transportation, health and medical, and other public infrastructure
Multi-use infrastructure
Green or natural mitigation infrastructure.
Low-to-Moderate Income Requirement
At least fifty (50) percent of Harris County Mitigation MOD funds must benefit low-to-moderate income (LMI) persons.
Section 5.4.5.10 of Texas Action Plan Amendment 1
The table below shows the percentage of LMI Residents in each of Harris County’s 23 watersheds and the number of structures damaged in those watersheds by Harvey. Cross reference this information with the list of flood bond projects in making your recommendations for how to allocate the $750 million. And, of course, you don’t have to restrict yourself to flood bond projects.
Information obtained from Harris County Flood Control District Via FOIA Request.
Brittany Eck, GLO spokesperson, emphasized that the LMI requirement applies to “beneficiaries of a project.” She also said that GLO encouraged Harris County to look both upstream and downstream for beneficiaries. Not everybody in a watershed may benefit.
Just west of Keith Weiss Park along Halls Bayou, this new floodwater detention basin is taking shape.Detention basins, channel widening, and green infrastructure are all examples of types of projects the $750 million could help fund.
No less than 50% of the $750,000,000 CDBG-MIT allocated to Harris County must be expended by January 12, 2027, with the full balance expended by January 12, 2032.
While this may sound like plenty of time, remember that today almost five years have passed since Harvey. And only 45 of 181 projects originally in the flood bond have begun construction. The rest are in still in feasibility surveys, engineering, or right-of-way acquisition.
All flood bond projects have already started and passed through one or more of those preliminary phases.
This Money Could Fully Fund the Bond Program
This $750 million, together with the Flood Resilience Trust approved last year by Commissioners Court last year, should be enough to fully fund every project in the bond program.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220305-DJI_0556.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=17991200adminadmin2022-05-14 18:22:422022-05-14 18:27:33How Would You Spend $750 Million on Flood Mitigation?
Coastal Prairie Conservancy Plan Shows How Preservation Can Help Reduce Flooding
The Katy Prairie Conservancy (now the Coastal Prairie Conservancy) has preserved prairies for more than 25 years to slow down and reduce floodwaters.
Tall-grass prairies and wetlands soak up, store and slow runoff from heavy rains, all of which decrease flooding for residents downstream.
But how does that work in practice in specific locations? How MUCH do nature-based initiatives reduce flooding? And how can they complement traditional engineered solutions?
Multifaceted Plan Could Hold Back Harvey’s Excess Floodwater
Working with the SSPEED Center at Rice University, the Conservancy produced this brochure. It outlines a plan to expand currently protected lands to 50,000 acres and restore 21,000 of those.
The plan would absorb, slow, and store water in the Upper Cypress Creek Watershed. It also recommends detaining water near Cypress Creek by creating shallow detention on private lands with the help of willing landowners.
Likewise, by constructing retention and detention ponds in the Upper Addicks Watershed, even more floodwater could be stored and slowed down. The plan also includes the creation of retention corridors along Bear and South Mayde creeks. The retention corridors would serve as a buffer for floodwaters that threaten communities along the creeks. These projects will store up to 110,000 acre-feet of floodwater.
That’s the equivalent of a foot of rain falling over 172 square miles! And that’s 10% of Harris County!
Expand Addicks Reservoir Storage through Excavation
Addicks and Barker Reservoirs are valuable assets that need to be restored and enhanced. Storing additional floodwaters in Addicks Reservoir can keep homes upstream safe and prevent extreme releases that destroy downstream properties, according to the Conservancy and SSPEED.
Put all these solutions together and the results look like the bar graph above.
Benefits Extend to Multiple Watersheds
During Harvey, so much water accumulated in the Cypress Creek watershed that it overflowed into the Addicks watershed. So, these recommendations could help reduce flood risk in superstorms along multiple streams, including Buffalo Bayou and Cypress Creek.
Other Interesting Statistics
The brochure also cites interesting statistics from other groups that touch on the plan. For instance, the Natural Resources Defense Council estimates that every 1% increase in soil organic matter results in the soil holding an additional 20,000 gallons of water per acre.
No One Solution
After studying flood reduction for almost five years now, I’ve concluded there is no silver bullet. No one solution will work for all situations. But every little bit helps. Multifaceted recommendations like these can ultimately reduce costs and increase effectiveness by harnessing the power of nature.
Natural solutions also provide numerous other benefits such as recreation and wildlife habitat.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/16/2022
1721 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Royal Pines Goes Pineless
About a month after it began, the developers of Royal Pines have cleared a swath of trees about 1,000 feet wide and a half mile long.
Photos Taken 5/15/22
Clearing Started Before Permits Issued
Plans Show 80+ Homes in Pre-Atlas 14 Floodplain
The following links will show you the general plan and layouts for the first three sections:
Note the dotted lines that snake their way through the top of the development. Those represent the 100- and 500-year floodplains.
Notice how a large part of the development is in “Zone X (Shaded).” That’s the area between the limits of the base flood (100-year or 1% annual chance) and the 0.2-percent-annual-chance (or 500-year) flood. I counted more than 80 homes in that zone. I also see six inside the 100-year zone.
Keep in mind that these flood zones are based on pre-Atlas 14 estimates. FEMA shows this area was last mapped in 2014. When FEMA approves new flood maps in the next few years, those zones will expand to take in more of the subdivision.
The subdivision at buildout will comprise more than the three sections. Houston Business Journal said Royal Pines will ultimately feature between 350 and 450 homes targeted at first-time home buyers.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/15/2022
1720 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.
How Would You Spend $750 Million on Flood Mitigation?
Harris County’s Community Services Department wants to know how you would spend $750 million? The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Texas General Land Office (GLO) allocated that amount to the County for flood mitigation in the wake of Harvey.
Flood Mitigation funds (MIT) go to projects that help communities reduce future flooding. They differ from Disaster Relief funds (DR). The latter help individuals recover from past floods.
GLO announced the $750 million allocation on March 18. HUD is NOT giving the money to Harris County outright. The County must first submit a plan of how and where it will use the money. Both HUD and GLO must approve that plan, called the Method of Distribution (MOD) before work can begin. Then, as vendors submit invoices, Harris County will submit them for reimbursement.
Notification of Planning Meeting For CDBG-MIT funding
Harris County wants your input on the plan. The Community Services Department will accept written and oral input regarding the use of funding and development of Harris County’s MOD at a planning meeting scheduled for:
Thursday, May 19, 2022
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm
Harris County Community Services Department (HCCSD) Office
9418 Jensen, Houston, Texas, 77093
Harris County will accept written input before May 30, 2022, 5:00 pm. via mail to Attn: HCCSD Planning Section, 13105 Northwest Freeway Suite 400, Houston, Texas 77040 or by email to DRplancomments@csd.hctx.net.
To Request Special Accommodations at Meeting
Harris County will provide for reasonable accommodations for persons attending Harris County functions. Requests from persons needing special accommodations should be received by Harris County staff 48-hours prior to the function. The public hearing will be conducted in English and requests for language interpreters or other special communication needs should be made at least 72 hours prior to a function.
Please call 832-927-4700 or email DRplancomments@csd.hctx.net for assistance or additional information about this posting.
Restrictions on Use of Money
The funds represent an opportunity to mitigate disaster risks and reduce future losses in areas impacted by Harvey.
HUD defines mitigation as: “Those activities that increase resilience to disasters and reduce or eliminate the long-term risk of loss of life, injury, damage to and loss of property, and suffering and hardship, by lessening the impact of future disasters.”
Virtually all Harris County Flood Control District Bond Projects would qualify under that definition.
Eligible recipients include units of local government, special purpose districts, and port and river authorities.
The GLO encourages the prioritization of regional investments with regional impacts. Those include:
Low-to-Moderate Income Requirement
The table below shows the percentage of LMI Residents in each of Harris County’s 23 watersheds and the number of structures damaged in those watersheds by Harvey. Cross reference this information with the list of flood bond projects in making your recommendations for how to allocate the $750 million. And, of course, you don’t have to restrict yourself to flood bond projects.
Brittany Eck, GLO spokesperson, emphasized that the LMI requirement applies to “beneficiaries of a project.” She also said that GLO encouraged Harris County to look both upstream and downstream for beneficiaries. Not everybody in a watershed may benefit.
Pages 250-256 of the Action Plan contain the exact text of all requirements.
Time Limitation on Expenditure of Funds
No less than 50% of the $750,000,000 CDBG-MIT allocated to Harris County must be expended by January 12, 2027, with the full balance expended by January 12, 2032.
While this may sound like plenty of time, remember that today almost five years have passed since Harvey. And only 45 of 181 projects originally in the flood bond have begun construction. The rest are in still in feasibility surveys, engineering, or right-of-way acquisition.
All flood bond projects have already started and passed through one or more of those preliminary phases.
This Money Could Fully Fund the Bond Program
This $750 million, together with the Flood Resilience Trust approved last year by Commissioners Court last year, should be enough to fully fund every project in the bond program.
However, the County Administrator chose the Community Services Department (CSD) to recommend projects for the MOD. The thinking was that CSD was more in touch with the needs of LMI neighborhoods. Of course, CSD will consult with HCFCD on the final recommendations.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/14/2022
1719 Days since Hurricane Harvey