After writing about flooding daily for nearly four years, I have developed some beliefs about how to reduce future flooding. In the last 20+ years, Harris County has spent more than $2.6 billion on flood mitigation. And I know one engineer who claims it could take another $50-60 billion to fix all of the County’s flooding problems. That raises the question, “Why aren’t we focusing more on preventing them in the first place?”
Changing Landscape of Flood Mitigation
Flood-mitigation projects alone can’t prevent future flooding because the landscape constantly changes. As population density increases, so does housing density, impervious cover, and runoff. As areas build out and land prices escalate, people often build homes in places they shouldn’t (floodways and floodplains). That puts others at risk. But the allure of having a water view, dazzles potential buyers who may not understand the risk of future flooding.
I once bought a new house on Spring Creek in a Dallas suburb. The home was supposed to be two feet above the hundred-year floodplain. It looked out over the Richardson golf course. My wife and I were ecstatic…until pickup trucks started floating down the creek on minor rains.
I managed to get a three-city commission started to look into the causes. The City Engineers from Garland, Richardson and Plano petitioned the Army Corps to re-survey the creek. They found that…
Instead of being 2 feet above the hundred-year floodplain, we were now 10 feet below it.
They pointed to Plano upstream from us. It was the fastest growing city in America at the time. They also pointed to the development of an 80-acre shopping mall just upstream from us.
With two small babies at the time, we decided that the beauty of the location no longer justified the risk. We put the home on the market, disclosed the flood problems, took a $35,000 hit on the sale (about 20% of the purchase price in those days), and moved to (please don’t laugh) Houston!
Urban Sprawl Increases Future Flood Risk For People in Center
Houston has grown even faster than Dallas. We are now completing the third ring of highways around the City. Just as development of areas around Beltway 8 contributed to flooding woes inside Loop 610, now, the Grand Parkway will contribute to flooding woes farther out.
Grand Parkway extension in Liberty County, photographed May 26, 2019.A magnet for future development.
Look Outward, Not Just Inward, to Reduce Future Flooding
This continued expansion demands that we look outward, not just inward to reduce future flooding. The counties around Harris have an opportunity now encourage development practices that respect the property rights of others. Those include, but are not limited to:
Preservation of green space and wetlands, nature’s sponges.
Adequately sized detention and retention ponds
Lining channels with grass to reduce erosion and sediment deposition downstream
Control of housing density
Use of green technologies in home building
If every new home and development “retained its rain,” no one downstream would face increased flood risk.
The mantra of floodplain managers
But, alas, that costs money. And for every ten thousand dollars that you increase the price of a home, you also price X number of people out of the market. Not just the home buying market, but the Houston market.
Cost of Land Can Be 40% of New Home’s Cost
According to one homebuilder, land now accounts for 40% of the cost of a new home. So, we constantly see pushback from developers who hire engineers willing to find a way to make questionable projects happen. And that’s how we get places like Colony Ridge – a development that didn’t exist 10 years ago that is now larger than any city in Liberty County – built on wetlands.
A small part of the Colony Ridge expansion now underway. Photo taken at end of June, 2021.
Ironically, Colony Ridge is just upstream from Luce Bayou which has received the least flood-mitigation funding since 2000.
Pay Now or Pay Later
Harris County Flood Control Capital Improvement Spending since 2000.
The Colony Ridge expansion area above will drain into Luce which runs through Huffman downstream. One can only guess how long it take for flooding to strike there and how long it will take to find a solution now that a developer has permanently altered the landscape and destroying even more wetlands.
Sensible regulation and enforcement could reduce future flooding risk at no cost to the public. But upstream county commissioners are eager to experience the financial freedom that a larger tax base will bring. And their residents aren’t eager to pay for someone else’s flood mitigation.
And that is why fighting future flooding will always be a two-front war.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/8/2021
1409 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/2021/06/20210303-RJR_5778.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200adminadmin2021-07-08 14:52:052021-07-08 14:52:08To Reduce Future Flooding, We Need to Focus on BOTH Mitigation AND Root Causes
Members of the Northeast Action Collective (NAC) have falsely alleged “historic racism” in the allocation of flood-mitigation funds. And without evidence, the group also cited “a rising white supremacist movement” in Harris County as a reason to move money from high-income to low-income watersheds “as quickly as possible.”
Analysis of historical funding data obtained from Harris County via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request shows that minority and low-income watersheds have received the lion’s share of funds since 2000. Yet at the 6/29/21 Harris County Commissioners Court meeting, NAC members claimed the opposite.
From Baseless to Bizarre
“Historic racism” and “white supremacy” were just two of dozens of baseless and bizarre claims in the group’s manifesto.
NAC also claimed that:
It is “fighting for better drains and more regular drain upkeep.” NAC then blames the Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) for being insensitive to residents needs. Perhaps that’s because HCFCD is not responsible for street drainage; the City and (in unincorporated areas of Harris County) Precinct Commissioners are.
“The City won’t pay attention to neighborhoods where Black and Brown people live” … even as they complained to County Commissioners.
HCFCD has “underfunded” Greens and Halls Bayous for decades while ignoring the fact that the entirecounty was underfunded before the 2018 flood bond.
HCFCD needs more transparency, even though NAC ignored readily available information about HCFCD spending.
The flood bond was supposed to counteract historic racism, even though the language approved by voters never mentions race.
These claims deserve closer scrutiny. Let’s look at some of the most serious falsehoods.
Racial Equity Not in Flood-Bond Language
NAC claims the flood-bond promised racial equity in the distribution of funds; it didn’t. The text of the flood bond never mentions race, minorities, historic underinvestment, income, social justice, social vulnerability or any of the other things NAC says it does. Those concepts were all heaped onto the one mention of “equitable” in the bond language (paragraph 14G). It puts equity in a geographic context with a prefatory clause focused on politicalboundaries. (“Since flooding issues do not respect jurisdictional or political boundaries, the Commissioners Court shall provide a process for the equitable distribution of funds…).
Areas, such as Lake Houston, asked to include that because flood mitigation requires upstream detention in other counties. The inability to cross political boundaries for flood mitigation would handicap areas near the county line forever.
Historic Racism Not Evident in Funding
NAC claims “historic racism” in flood mitigation funding, but refuses to acknowledge historic advantages in funding:
Eight minority and low-income watersheds (out of 23 total) received 71% of all HCFCD capital funds between 2000 and Harvey. ($1.1 billion out of $1.5 billion.) The other 15 higher income watersheds split the remaining $400 million. So “historic racism” in funding does not exist, at least not in Harris County and not at HCFCD. See links to data and related articles below.
Out of 23 watersheds, Halls and Greens Bayou Watersheds alone received $222 million between 2000 and Harvey. That’s 15% of all funding during those years.
They also received another $200 million out of $1.1 billion spent since Harvey – 18%.
HCFCD Capital-Improvement Spending between 2000 and Harvey arranged by percentage of low-to-moderate income (LMI) residents. Halls has the highest LMI % and Little Cypress the lowest.The top eight watersheds (darker blue) have LMI percentages above 50%; the others below. Data obtained via FOIA request.
“Rising White Supremacist Movement” Not Seen in Funding or Evidence
NAC claims, “The most viable path to equity is to reallocate money for projects in wealthier watersheds to projects in watersheds with predominantly BIPOC and LMI residents.” (BI-POC stands for Black, Indigenous and People of Color. LMI stands for Low-to-Moderate Income.) But NAC doesn’t stop there.
Because of “a rising white supremacist movement in Texas and the county, and decades of underinvestment, the only strategy rooted in justice is to move as much money as quickly as possible to low-income watersheds.”
Northeast Action Coalition
Then NAC claims that its members do not believe that “current HCFCD leadership is actually committed to racial equity or justice.” I guess they don’t get out in the neighborhood much and look at all the flood-mitigation projects going in!
The NAC manifesto also demands, “full transparency on spending.” Yet:
HCFCD supplied historical funding data going back more than two decades. NAC and partner organizations ignored it.
All HCFCD spending is audited.
HCFCD’s website details spending and projects in each watershed.
It also shows – by watershed – all active construction and maintenance projects, and their value.
All HCFCD expenditures are approved by Commissioners in open, public meetings.
When Commissioners Ellis and Garcia claim that all the funding is going to rich watersheds and none to poor watersheds, they should know better. They approved all the money going to low-income areas!
The Real Problem
In the 18 years between 2000 and Harvey, the Flood Control District had only $1.5 billion to spend on capital improvement projects. Even with partner funding, that works out to only a little more than $80 million per year. According to multiple sources, for decades HCFCD had to save up money – sometimes for years – to afford construction projects. So, in some years, there were NO flood-mitigation projects at all, anywhere in the county.
Despite that, eight LMI watersheds received $1.1 billion out of $1.5 billion total dollars. That’s 71% of all capital spending – hardly “historic racism” or evidence of “white supremacy.” The other 15 more affluent watersheds combined got only 29%.
The sad fact is that no one in Harris County got enough flood-control dollars to prevent flooding before Harvey. It took Harvey to wake voters up to the need for better flood control.
In fairness, as I have shown in related articles below, minority, low-income watersheds did suffer a disproportionate share of damage in the last two decades. But dollars have flowed to that damage. Those damaged communities have received the vast majority of flood-mitigation funds.
Halls and Greens didn’t flood because of racism. And shouting racism from the rooftops won’t fix their flooding problems. It will only cloud issues and divide people.
For More Information
In early March, I submitted a FOIA request to Harris County for capital improvement funds by watershed dating back to 2000. Here is the county’s response: HCFCDs historical construction funding by watershed.
I then compiled a summary spreadsheet that includes related information, such as population and watershed size, also supplied by the County in response to my FOIA request.
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/2021/04/20210426-DJI_0567.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=19001200adminadmin2021-07-07 15:15:552021-07-07 21:20:05Baseless Claims of Historic Racism, White Supremacy in Allocation of Flood Funds
On Thursday, July 8, Mayor Pro Tem Dave Martin will host a pubic meeting to discuss the status of adding more floodgates to the Lake Houston Dam. Preliminary engineering finished earlier this year. In March, the Coastal Water Authority board approved Black & Veatch to begin final engineering.
Need for More Gates
The Lake Houston Area Task Force identified more and higher capacity floodgates as a key element in the area’s flood-mitigation strategy. The current gates have one-fifteenth the capacity of those at the Lake Conroe Dam. That makes it difficult to shed water from Lake Houston before people flood if Lake Conroe opens its gates as it did during Harvey.
Lake Houston Dam During Harvey. The proposed crest gates would go in the far upper left of the spillway.
Floodgate Meeting Details
See the meeting details below.
Thursday, July 8, 2021 At the Kingwood Community Center (4102 Rustic Woods) Doors Open 5:30 PM Dredging Update Starts 5:45 PM Gate Update Starts at 6 PM
Chief Recovery Officer, Stephen Costello, will provide a very brief update on Lake Houston Dredging operations at 5:45 p.m. before the Spillway Improvement Project program begins.
The main presentation by Black & Veatch, the project engineers, will be followed by a short Q&A session. The meeting will then transition into breakout sessions. Breakout tables will let residents engage with project management staff and engineers in small groups to ask more detailed questions.
Project Benefits
The Lake Houston Dam Spillway project will increase the outflow capacity of the Lake Houston Dam. The project proposes installing new crest gates in the existing uncontrolled spillway. This will allow for a rapid decrease of water levels in Lake Houston in advance of storm events to prevent or reduce upstream flooding. Engineers estimate the recommended alternative could help about 35,000 residents and 5,000 structures. It’s important for people to understand that if they flooded from streams or channels far from the lake during Harvey, this may not help them.
Funding
A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program provides $4.3 million for engineering and positions the city to receive another $42.7 million for construction.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/6/2021 based on info provided by Dave Martin’s Office
1407 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/LakeHoustonDamDuringHarvey.jpg?fit=1500%2C968&ssl=19681500adminadmin2021-07-05 23:31:172021-07-06 10:16:41Reminder: Floodgate Meeting at Kingwood Community Center on Thursday, July 8
To Reduce Future Flooding, We Need to Focus on BOTH Mitigation AND Root Causes
After writing about flooding daily for nearly four years, I have developed some beliefs about how to reduce future flooding. In the last 20+ years, Harris County has spent more than $2.6 billion on flood mitigation. And I know one engineer who claims it could take another $50-60 billion to fix all of the County’s flooding problems. That raises the question, “Why aren’t we focusing more on preventing them in the first place?”
Changing Landscape of Flood Mitigation
Flood-mitigation projects alone can’t prevent future flooding because the landscape constantly changes. As population density increases, so does housing density, impervious cover, and runoff. As areas build out and land prices escalate, people often build homes in places they shouldn’t (floodways and floodplains). That puts others at risk. But the allure of having a water view, dazzles potential buyers who may not understand the risk of future flooding.
When neighborhoods flood, community groups demand action. Someone commissions an engineering study. Years later, the engineers quote an often astronomical cost for flood-mitigation projects. Finding the money can take years longer. Or lead to a frustrating dead end and repeat flooding.
Unwitting Flood Victim: A Personal Story
I once bought a new house on Spring Creek in a Dallas suburb. The home was supposed to be two feet above the hundred-year floodplain. It looked out over the Richardson golf course. My wife and I were ecstatic…until pickup trucks started floating down the creek on minor rains.
I managed to get a three-city commission started to look into the causes. The City Engineers from Garland, Richardson and Plano petitioned the Army Corps to re-survey the creek. They found that…
They pointed to Plano upstream from us. It was the fastest growing city in America at the time. They also pointed to the development of an 80-acre shopping mall just upstream from us.
With two small babies at the time, we decided that the beauty of the location no longer justified the risk. We put the home on the market, disclosed the flood problems, took a $35,000 hit on the sale (about 20% of the purchase price in those days), and moved to (please don’t laugh) Houston!
Urban Sprawl Increases Future Flood Risk For People in Center
Houston has grown even faster than Dallas. We are now completing the third ring of highways around the City. Just as development of areas around Beltway 8 contributed to flooding woes inside Loop 610, now, the Grand Parkway will contribute to flooding woes farther out.
Look Outward, Not Just Inward, to Reduce Future Flooding
This continued expansion demands that we look outward, not just inward to reduce future flooding. The counties around Harris have an opportunity now encourage development practices that respect the property rights of others. Those include, but are not limited to:
But, alas, that costs money. And for every ten thousand dollars that you increase the price of a home, you also price X number of people out of the market. Not just the home buying market, but the Houston market.
Cost of Land Can Be 40% of New Home’s Cost
According to one homebuilder, land now accounts for 40% of the cost of a new home. So, we constantly see pushback from developers who hire engineers willing to find a way to make questionable projects happen. And that’s how we get places like Colony Ridge – a development that didn’t exist 10 years ago that is now larger than any city in Liberty County – built on wetlands.
Ironically, Colony Ridge is just upstream from Luce Bayou which has received the least flood-mitigation funding since 2000.
Pay Now or Pay Later
The Colony Ridge expansion area above will drain into Luce which runs through Huffman downstream. One can only guess how long it take for flooding to strike there and how long it will take to find a solution now that a developer has permanently altered the landscape and destroying even more wetlands.
Sensible regulation and enforcement could reduce future flooding risk at no cost to the public. But upstream county commissioners are eager to experience the financial freedom that a larger tax base will bring. And their residents aren’t eager to pay for someone else’s flood mitigation.
And that is why fighting future flooding will always be a two-front war.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/8/2021
1409 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.
Baseless Claims of Historic Racism, White Supremacy in Allocation of Flood Funds
Members of the Northeast Action Collective (NAC) have falsely alleged “historic racism” in the allocation of flood-mitigation funds. And without evidence, the group also cited “a rising white supremacist movement” in Harris County as a reason to move money from high-income to low-income watersheds “as quickly as possible.”
Analysis of historical funding data obtained from Harris County via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request shows that minority and low-income watersheds have received the lion’s share of funds since 2000. Yet at the 6/29/21 Harris County Commissioners Court meeting, NAC members claimed the opposite.
From Baseless to Bizarre
“Historic racism” and “white supremacy” were just two of dozens of baseless and bizarre claims in the group’s manifesto.
NAC also claimed that:
These claims deserve closer scrutiny. Let’s look at some of the most serious falsehoods.
Racial Equity Not in Flood-Bond Language
NAC claims the flood-bond promised racial equity in the distribution of funds; it didn’t. The text of the flood bond never mentions race, minorities, historic underinvestment, income, social justice, social vulnerability or any of the other things NAC says it does. Those concepts were all heaped onto the one mention of “equitable” in the bond language (paragraph 14G). It puts equity in a geographic context with a prefatory clause focused on political boundaries. (“Since flooding issues do not respect jurisdictional or political boundaries, the Commissioners Court shall provide a process for the equitable distribution of funds…).
Areas, such as Lake Houston, asked to include that because flood mitigation requires upstream detention in other counties. The inability to cross political boundaries for flood mitigation would handicap areas near the county line forever.
Historic Racism Not Evident in Funding
NAC claims “historic racism” in flood mitigation funding, but refuses to acknowledge historic advantages in funding:
“Rising White Supremacist Movement” Not Seen in Funding or Evidence
NAC claims, “The most viable path to equity is to reallocate money for projects in wealthier watersheds to projects in watersheds with predominantly BIPOC and LMI residents.” (BI-POC stands for Black, Indigenous and People of Color. LMI stands for Low-to-Moderate Income.) But NAC doesn’t stop there.
Then NAC claims that its members do not believe that “current HCFCD leadership is actually committed to racial equity or justice.” I guess they don’t get out in the neighborhood much and look at all the flood-mitigation projects going in!
Demand for Transparency That Already Exists
The NAC manifesto also demands, “full transparency on spending.” Yet:
When Commissioners Ellis and Garcia claim that all the funding is going to rich watersheds and none to poor watersheds, they should know better. They approved all the money going to low-income areas!
The Real Problem
In the 18 years between 2000 and Harvey, the Flood Control District had only $1.5 billion to spend on capital improvement projects. Even with partner funding, that works out to only a little more than $80 million per year. According to multiple sources, for decades HCFCD had to save up money – sometimes for years – to afford construction projects. So, in some years, there were NO flood-mitigation projects at all, anywhere in the county.
Despite that, eight LMI watersheds received $1.1 billion out of $1.5 billion total dollars. That’s 71% of all capital spending – hardly “historic racism” or evidence of “white supremacy.” The other 15 more affluent watersheds combined got only 29%.
In fairness, as I have shown in related articles below, minority, low-income watersheds did suffer a disproportionate share of damage in the last two decades. But dollars have flowed to that damage. Those damaged communities have received the vast majority of flood-mitigation funds.
Halls and Greens didn’t flood because of racism. And shouting racism from the rooftops won’t fix their flooding problems. It will only cloud issues and divide people.
For More Information
In early March, I submitted a FOIA request to Harris County for capital improvement funds by watershed dating back to 2000. Here is the county’s response: HCFCDs historical construction funding by watershed.
I then compiled a summary spreadsheet that includes related information, such as population and watershed size, also supplied by the County in response to my FOIA request.
After analysis, I published these findings:
Also, here are several articles with aerial photos that show what the money bought.
Finally, here’s an article about how Commissioner’s filled a potential shortfall in partnership funds to prevent possible delays in construction of flood mitigation projects. Trust To Fully Fund Flood Mitigation Projects Without Partner Assistance For At Least Next Six Years.
Posted by Bob Rehak on July 7, 2021
1408 Days after 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.
Reminder: Floodgate Meeting at Kingwood Community Center on Thursday, July 8
On Thursday, July 8, Mayor Pro Tem Dave Martin will host a pubic meeting to discuss the status of adding more floodgates to the Lake Houston Dam. Preliminary engineering finished earlier this year. In March, the Coastal Water Authority board approved Black & Veatch to begin final engineering.
Need for More Gates
The Lake Houston Area Task Force identified more and higher capacity floodgates as a key element in the area’s flood-mitigation strategy. The current gates have one-fifteenth the capacity of those at the Lake Conroe Dam. That makes it difficult to shed water from Lake Houston before people flood if Lake Conroe opens its gates as it did during Harvey.
During Harvey, Conroe released 79,000 cubic feet per second. That was one third of all the water coming down the West Fork between Humble and Kingwood. All by itself, that 79,000 CFS would have been the ninth largest flood in West Fork history. And that made the difference between flooding and not flooding for thousands of homes and businesses near the lake.
During Harvey, the peak flow over the spillway was five times the average flow over Niagra Falls. A wall of water 11 feet tall cascaded over the spillway above. Enough to fill NRG stadium in 3.5 minutes.
Floodgate Meeting Details
See the meeting details below.
Thursday, July 8, 2021
At the Kingwood Community Center (4102 Rustic Woods)
Doors Open 5:30 PM
Dredging Update Starts 5:45 PM
Gate Update Starts at 6 PM
Chief Recovery Officer, Stephen Costello, will provide a very brief update on Lake Houston Dredging operations at 5:45 p.m. before the Spillway Improvement Project program begins.
The program to discuss the Lake Houston Dam Spillway Improvement Project will start at 6:00 p.m. and conclude at 7:45 p.m. But don’t worry about sitting through a 2 hour meeting.
The main presentation by Black & Veatch, the project engineers, will be followed by a short Q&A session. The meeting will then transition into breakout sessions. Breakout tables will let residents engage with project management staff and engineers in small groups to ask more detailed questions.
Project Benefits
The Lake Houston Dam Spillway project will increase the outflow capacity of the Lake Houston Dam. The project proposes installing new crest gates in the existing uncontrolled spillway. This will allow for a rapid decrease of water levels in Lake Houston in advance of storm events to prevent or reduce upstream flooding. Engineers estimate the recommended alternative could help about 35,000 residents and 5,000 structures. It’s important for people to understand that if they flooded from streams or channels far from the lake during Harvey, this may not help them.
Funding
A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program provides $4.3 million for engineering and positions the city to receive another $42.7 million for construction.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/6/2021 based on info provided by Dave Martin’s Office
1407 Days since Hurricane Harvey