Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) will begin repairing the next section of Ben’s Branch on January 19. The repairs will take place in the channel between Kingwood Drive and the natural portion of Ben’s Branch at the end of Rocky Woods Drive.
Project limits for next phase of Ben’s Branch clean out. Kingwood High School in lower center of frame.
Project Purpose
Jose Predraza of Stuart Consulting is coordinating the project. He said, “The purpose of this project is to restore the conveyance of Ben’s Branch. It has been reduced over the years due to erosion and sedimentation. The project will include implementing erosion repairs, repairing side slope failures, repairing or replacing outfalls, rectifying flow lines, and removing excess sediment.”
Contractors will remove approximately 22,000 cubic yards of sediment deposited by floods over the years.
Continual cycles of deposition and erosion have clogged, deformed and narrowed the creek.
The Kingwood Area Drainage Analysis showed that Ben’s Branch had been reduced to a 2-year level of service in places. That means, it will flood in a 2-year rain.
The analysis did not specify whether this was one of those places, but outside the natural portion of the stream, this is currently the most constricted part. Other parts of the channel have already been restored, i.e., from Woodland Hills Drive to Northpark Drive and south of Kingwood Drive to the YMCA.
Red lines represent approximate outlines of original high banks near Rocky Woods. Area between red lines has filled with sediment and then the creek has eroded down through it again repeatedly. Photo 1/8/2021.
“Erosion repairs include the placement of fill material, placement of 3”x5” granular fill, and the placement of grade #1 riprap,” continued Pedraza. “Channel cross sections will be reconstructed with a maximum 5:1 (H:V) slope where necessary. This project will be conducted wholly within the existing channel right-of-way.”
Schedule
Pedraza estimates construction will last 145 days – not quite five months. If weather cooperates, contractors should complete the work in early June.
Then, geotechnical investigations led to additional design time.
Finally, getting approval to cross CenterPoint’s power-line easement took additional time.
Access Routes
Trucks do not have enough room to turn around within the work area, so one-way traffic will be the rule. Trucks will enter the work area by coming up Woods Estates Drive to Cedar Knolls and entering the greenbelt from there. They will then follow the Centerpoint easement to the work area. Finally, they will exit by going south toward Kingwood Drive, cutting across the ditch, and coming out behind the old H-E-B.
Contractors will then haul the excavated dirt to nearby TCEQ-approved landfill sites outside of the .02% annual chance (500-year) flood plain.
Daily schedules are being coordinated with Kingwood High School start/stop times to reduce traffic congestion and improve safety.
Benefitting Residents, Schools and Businesses
When complete, the creek will be able to handle much more water than before without coming out of its banks…as much as it could when Friendswood originally excavated it.
This will be a vast improvement, especially for those who live near the creek in Kings Forest and Bear Branch, many of whom flooded during Harvey.
The work should reduce the flood risk for Kingwood High School also. The school first flooded in 1994. During Harvey, the building flooded to the second floor. It suffered $67 million dollars in damages and lost another $10 million in contents. The Humble ISD had to close Kingwood High for seven months and bus kids to another high school where they alternated “shifts” with the students from that high school.
Kingwood High also flooded during Imelda, but had less damage.
Finally, the work will also benefit the shopping center on the northwest corner of Kingwood Drive and West Lake Houston Parkway. Every store in the center flooded badly during Harvey. Many businesses still have not returned. The center nearly flooded again during Imelda. Water flowed through the parking lot and was inches from coming into stores.
Paths along the high banks represent the original edges of the channel. Everything between them has filled in over time, reducing conveyance.Photo 1/8/2021.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/20210108-DJI_0030.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=19001200adminadmin2021-01-08 14:09:272021-01-08 14:09:30HCFCD Will Begin More Work on Ben’s Branch Starting January 19
On December 22, I received an email from a Montgomery County resident named Jody Binnion. He lives near the Hallett sand mine on the San Jacinto West Fork and can see the mine from his home. Binnion said that the level of a 170-acre pond had dropped at least 2-3 feet and maybe more – overnight. He went to investigate and found a giant repair at a corner of the pit near the West Fork. Hallett had already patched the breach, he said.
Photo Courtesy of Jody Binnion, 12/22/2020 at 9:56 am.Looking toward 170 acre Hallettpond that dropped several feet.
Here’s what the patched area looked like from the air ten days later on January 1, 2021.
Looking SE toward the West Fork and US59.The West Fork arcs through the frame on the right.
By the time I shot the scene above from the air, the pond had virtually refilled – either with process water, rainwater, or both.
It’s hard to say with certainty whether this breach was intentional. Binnion arrived after the hole had already been plugged. The TCEQ says it has opened an investigation.
History of Breach
The area had leaked several times before, starting in 2015 according to Google Earth imagery. But the leaks were all relatively minor. The forest between the pond and the river even survived Harvey.
But then, in early February of 2019, Binnion noticed a radical drop in the level of the pond for the first time. Binnion photographed the breach and reported it to TCEQ, but never heard back from the Commission. A Google Earth image taken a little more than 2 weeks later confirms that rapidly rushing water mowed down a 250-foot-wide swath of trees more than 600 feet long. Google Earth also shows fresh repairs in the area. See below.
The trees between the upper pond and the river survived Harvey, but were destroyed sometime the week of February 4, 2019. Note repairs to breach when this photo was taken on 2/23/2019.
The Harris County Flood Warning System shows that the HCFCD gage at US59 and the West Fork recorded only about a quarter inch of rain during that week (February 4, 2019).
A quarter inch of rain in a week makes a storm-induced breach unlikely.
Between 2/2/2019 and 2/8/2019, the gage at 59 and the West Fork registered only about a quarter inch of rain. Only an eighth of an inch fell before the breach.
Ironically, that week I was meeting with TACA, Hallett, other sand miners, the TCEQ, State Rep. Dan Huberty, and Lake Houston Area leaders in Austin that week. It was about greater setbacks from the river for sand mines! But I question whether setback was the issue in this case.
Area Started to Regrow
When I photographed the area on September 2020, vegetation was growing back in.
Photo taken 9/11/2020.Looking toward Hallett’s pit (the white one) with West Fork in foreground.
Aerial Photos of Latest Breach
But then on Jan. 1, 2021, I flew over the area again. This time, I saw – from the air – the blowout that Binnion photographed ten days earlier from the ground. See the pictures below.
Latest breach. Looking SE. Pit on left, West Fork on right.Pond in upper middle is an abandoned mine.Reverse angle. Looking NW, back toward Hallett Mine on upper level. River is behind helicopter.
Sedimentation from sand mines, along with natural erosion, has been linked to flooding in the Humble/Kingwood corridor where the West Fork lost much of its conveyance capacity after Harvey. It has cost taxpayers more than $100 million so far to remove the excess sediment. The dredging program continues after more than 3 years.
This sandbar formed on the West Fork of the San Jacinto during Harvey. The Army Corps of Engineers says it blocked the river by 90%. Note how shallow the river was in the areas where water was getting through. This picture was taken two weeks after Harvey. The Corps has since removed the bar as part of a larger effort to restore West Fork conveyance.
If we are ever to reduce the sedimentation problem, we must first get past the fiction that sand mines are not contributing to it. Hallett isn’t the only mine with these issues. The West Fork San Jacinto has 20 square miles of sand mines between I-45 and US59. I have photographed leaks at all but one of them during the last three years, including the New Year’s Day flight.
The photo below shows the confluence of the West Fork and Spring Creek at US59. Guess which way the sand mines are?
West Fork comes from the top of the frame and Spring Creek from the left. Water flows toward the right. Photo 1/1/2021.
This confluence looks this way most months, but not all.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/7/2021
1227 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/2021/01/20210101-RJR_4095.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200adminadmin2021-01-07 10:42:152021-01-07 12:10:24Giant Leak at Hallett Mine…Again
The Houston Parks Board announced Tuesday that it will begin construction of the San Jacinto Bayou Greenway along the West Fork of the San Jacinto. Construction will start “sometime in January.”
Project Scope
“The new 3-mile Bayou Greenway segment will run from Woodland Hills Drive to Ross Road,” said LisaKasianowitz of the Parks Board.
New off-street trails as well as use of existing residential streets for the trail system
Trail connection for Kingwood residents at Woodland Hills Drive to access the greenway trails
Parking for greenway users within the former Riverview Townhomes Community
Planting of native trees, meadows and wildflowers
Benches and seating areas
Interpretive and directional signage
Trash cans and recycling containers
Work Schedule, Precautions
Construction work will take place Monday through Friday between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. “Crews may work on Saturdays to make up for any weather delays,” said Kasianowitz. “We expect to minimize potential disruptions. But some noise and dust are associated with this project. So we appreciate the community’s patience.”
Construction should conclude in late 2021 to early 2022. The Parks Board urges residents to remain cautious around construction, intersections, and connecting streets. The Board also requests the public not to enter areas surrounded by orange construction fencing.
Maintenance
After construction, the Houston Parks Board will implement its Conservation and Maintenance program. That includes:
Weekday visits from their Conservation and Maintenance team
Weekly trash pickup
Bi-weekly mowing of grass along the trail
Upkeep of the trail and amenities
And any necessary flood cleanup within the greenway.
Future Expansion
In the future, San Jacinto Bayou Greenway will connect into and through Harris County Precinct Four’s Edgewater Park, which is in development. It will also connect to Precinct 4’s Spring Creek and Cypress Creek trail systems.
San Jacinto Bayou Greenway is part of a citywide initiative called Bayou Greenways 2020. For this project, the Houston Parks Board has partnered with the City of Houston, Houston Parks and Recreation, and Harris County Flood Control District.
The Parks Board’s Bayou Greenways 2020 initiative will create a continuous park system along Houston’s major waterways. The program will transform more than 3,000 underutilized acres along the bayous into linear parks. It will also connect 150 miles of hike-and-bike trails.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/6/2021
1126 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Screen-Shot-2021-01-05-at-5.55.30-PM.jpg?fit=900%2C1189&ssl=11189900adminadmin2021-01-06 03:32:442021-01-06 03:35:13Houston Parks Board to Begin Construction of West Fork Greenway This Month
HCFCD Will Begin More Work on Ben’s Branch Starting January 19
Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) will begin repairing the next section of Ben’s Branch on January 19. The repairs will take place in the channel between Kingwood Drive and the natural portion of Ben’s Branch at the end of Rocky Woods Drive.
Project Purpose
Jose Predraza of Stuart Consulting is coordinating the project. He said, “The purpose of this project is to restore the conveyance of Ben’s Branch. It has been reduced over the years due to erosion and sedimentation. The project will include implementing erosion repairs, repairing side slope failures, repairing or replacing outfalls, rectifying flow lines, and removing excess sediment.”
Contractors will remove approximately 22,000 cubic yards of sediment deposited by floods over the years.
The Kingwood Area Drainage Analysis showed that Ben’s Branch had been reduced to a 2-year level of service in places. That means, it will flood in a 2-year rain.
The analysis did not specify whether this was one of those places, but outside the natural portion of the stream, this is currently the most constricted part. Other parts of the channel have already been restored, i.e., from Woodland Hills Drive to Northpark Drive and south of Kingwood Drive to the YMCA.
“Erosion repairs include the placement of fill material, placement of 3”x5” granular fill, and the placement of grade #1 riprap,” continued Pedraza. “Channel cross sections will be reconstructed with a maximum 5:1 (H:V) slope where necessary. This project will be conducted wholly within the existing channel right-of-way.”
Schedule
Pedraza estimates construction will last 145 days – not quite five months. If weather cooperates, contractors should complete the work in early June.
The project originally was scheduled to start in October 2020. But several delays occurred.
Access Routes
Trucks do not have enough room to turn around within the work area, so one-way traffic will be the rule. Trucks will enter the work area by coming up Woods Estates Drive to Cedar Knolls and entering the greenbelt from there. They will then follow the Centerpoint easement to the work area. Finally, they will exit by going south toward Kingwood Drive, cutting across the ditch, and coming out behind the old H-E-B.
Contractors will then haul the excavated dirt to nearby TCEQ-approved landfill sites outside of the .02% annual chance (500-year) flood plain.
Daily schedules are being coordinated with Kingwood High School start/stop times to reduce traffic congestion and improve safety.
Benefitting Residents, Schools and Businesses
When complete, the creek will be able to handle much more water than before without coming out of its banks…as much as it could when Friendswood originally excavated it.
This will be a vast improvement, especially for those who live near the creek in Kings Forest and Bear Branch, many of whom flooded during Harvey.
The work should reduce the flood risk for Kingwood High School also. The school first flooded in 1994. During Harvey, the building flooded to the second floor. It suffered $67 million dollars in damages and lost another $10 million in contents. The Humble ISD had to close Kingwood High for seven months and bus kids to another high school where they alternated “shifts” with the students from that high school.
Kingwood High also flooded during Imelda, but had less damage.
Finally, the work will also benefit the shopping center on the northwest corner of Kingwood Drive and West Lake Houston Parkway. Every store in the center flooded badly during Harvey. Many businesses still have not returned. The center nearly flooded again during Imelda. Water flowed through the parking lot and was inches from coming into stores.
Funding
The Ben’s Branch project will be funded through the HCFCD maintenance budget and a grant from USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/9/2021
1229 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Giant Leak at Hallett Mine…Again
On December 22, I received an email from a Montgomery County resident named Jody Binnion. He lives near the Hallett sand mine on the San Jacinto West Fork and can see the mine from his home. Binnion said that the level of a 170-acre pond had dropped at least 2-3 feet and maybe more – overnight. He went to investigate and found a giant repair at a corner of the pit near the West Fork. Hallett had already patched the breach, he said.
Here’s what the patched area looked like from the air ten days later on January 1, 2021.
By the time I shot the scene above from the air, the pond had virtually refilled – either with process water, rainwater, or both.
It’s hard to say with certainty whether this breach was intentional. Binnion arrived after the hole had already been plugged. The TCEQ says it has opened an investigation.
History of Breach
The area had leaked several times before, starting in 2015 according to Google Earth imagery. But the leaks were all relatively minor. The forest between the pond and the river even survived Harvey.
But then, in early February of 2019, Binnion noticed a radical drop in the level of the pond for the first time. Binnion photographed the breach and reported it to TCEQ, but never heard back from the Commission. A Google Earth image taken a little more than 2 weeks later confirms that rapidly rushing water mowed down a 250-foot-wide swath of trees more than 600 feet long. Google Earth also shows fresh repairs in the area. See below.
The Harris County Flood Warning System shows that the HCFCD gage at US59 and the West Fork recorded only about a quarter inch of rain during that week (February 4, 2019).
Ironically, that week I was meeting with TACA, Hallett, other sand miners, the TCEQ, State Rep. Dan Huberty, and Lake Houston Area leaders in Austin that week. It was about greater setbacks from the river for sand mines! But I question whether setback was the issue in this case.
Area Started to Regrow
When I photographed the area on September 2020, vegetation was growing back in.
Aerial Photos of Latest Breach
But then on Jan. 1, 2021, I flew over the area again. This time, I saw – from the air – the blowout that Binnion photographed ten days earlier from the ground. See the pictures below.
It’s unclear whether all of this happened at once. It rained 1.04 inches in the week before Binnion photographed the breach just before Christmas. It rained another 1.44 inches in the two days before January 1. I took the aerial photos above on New Year’s Day, with the exception of the one taken last September.
Excess Sedimentation Can Lead to Flooding
Sedimentation from sand mines, along with natural erosion, has been linked to flooding in the Humble/Kingwood corridor where the West Fork lost much of its conveyance capacity after Harvey. It has cost taxpayers more than $100 million so far to remove the excess sediment. The dredging program continues after more than 3 years.
If we are ever to reduce the sedimentation problem, we must first get past the fiction that sand mines are not contributing to it. Hallett isn’t the only mine with these issues. The West Fork San Jacinto has 20 square miles of sand mines between I-45 and US59. I have photographed leaks at all but one of them during the last three years, including the New Year’s Day flight.
The photo below shows the confluence of the West Fork and Spring Creek at US59. Guess which way the sand mines are?
This confluence looks this way most months, but not all.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/7/2021
1227 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.
Houston Parks Board to Begin Construction of West Fork Greenway This Month
The Houston Parks Board announced Tuesday that it will begin construction of the San Jacinto Bayou Greenway along the West Fork of the San Jacinto. Construction will start “sometime in January.”
Project Scope
“The new 3-mile Bayou Greenway segment will run from Woodland Hills Drive to Ross Road,” said Lisa Kasianowitz of the Parks Board.
The San Jacinto Greenway project will include:
Work Schedule, Precautions
Construction work will take place Monday through Friday between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. “Crews may work on Saturdays to make up for any weather delays,” said Kasianowitz. “We expect to minimize potential disruptions. But some noise and dust are associated with this project. So we appreciate the community’s patience.”
Construction should conclude in late 2021 to early 2022. The Parks Board urges residents to remain cautious around construction, intersections, and connecting streets. The Board also requests the public not to enter areas surrounded by orange construction fencing.
Maintenance
After construction, the Houston Parks Board will implement its Conservation and Maintenance program. That includes:
Future Expansion
In the future, San Jacinto Bayou Greenway will connect into and through Harris County Precinct Four’s Edgewater Park, which is in development. It will also connect to Precinct 4’s Spring Creek and Cypress Creek trail systems.
San Jacinto Bayou Greenway is part of a citywide initiative called Bayou Greenways 2020. For this project, the Houston Parks Board has partnered with the City of Houston, Houston Parks and Recreation, and Harris County Flood Control District.
The Parks Board’s Bayou Greenways 2020 initiative will create a continuous park system along Houston’s major waterways. The program will transform more than 3,000 underutilized acres along the bayous into linear parks. It will also connect 150 miles of hike-and-bike trails.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/6/2021
1126 Days since Hurricane Harvey