Wayne Dolcefino announced this afternoon that Liberty County Judge Jay Knight has confirmed the county will launch a major investigation into the controversial Colony Ridge Development. Dolcefino is one of the country’s leading investigative journalists.
Flooding Concerns at Heart of Investigation
The massive housing development between the San Jacinto East Fork and Luce Bayou has sparked flooding concerns for tens of thousands of families both nearby in Plum Grove and downstream as far as Lake Houston.
The probe will focus on the accuracy of soil reports and drainage plans used to justify approval of the neighborhoods.
Wayne Dolcefino
Plum Grove hired Dolcefino to fight years of neglect by county officials as floods washed out roads and damaged most of the structures in the tiny town.
“Right before the new year, two inches of rain in Colony Ridge produced flooding. Creeks in Plum Grove were full to the brim. That’s raising alarm bells,” said Dolcefino.
Pictures of flooded lots WITHIN Colony Ridge also raised alarms. They show that water is not soaking in or running off the way it should.
Flooded lot 24 hours after a 2 inches of rain in two days. Resident keeps throwing sand into the ponds, but it’s not helping much.A newly developing portion of Colony Ridge.Another newly developing portionof Colony Ridge. Much of the area has been carved out of wetlands. See USGS map below.Note water surrounding the house.New lot next to drainage ditch won’t even drain.When water won’t soak in, people suffer.
So instead of water soaking into the ground, it runs off. The presence of so many wetlands in Colony Ridge before development should have been a tipoff.
Most of the wetlands in Colony Ridge before development are gone now, but the problems remain. This USGS map shows where they were.Some areas just should not be developed.
By misrepresenting soil types, LandPlan Engineering understated the amount of detention and drainage capacity needed by 6X to 9X, according to TXDoT guidelines.
Had LandPlan properly represented the soil, Colony Ridge would have had to put in more detention ponds and widen ditches to prevent flooding. But that would have been costly for the developer.
Harris County Flood Control officials worry the drainage problems in Colony Ridge increase flood risk in Harris County. So do downstream residents. I talked to one in Harris County today who has flooded repeatedly since Colony Ridge started clearing land. She is disabled and can’t afford to move. Neither can she afford to stay.
Liberty County Attorney Matthew Poston confirmed to Dolcefino that 19 missing reports will be part of the investigation.
Hopefully, the investigation will also explain why virtually all the surviving reports are labeled “preliminary.” The county could not supply ReduceFlooding.com with any documents showing changes to or final approvals of the plans.
“We want to see what Bergman signed, and if the investigation proves claims about the soil are untrue that could be a big problem,” Dolcefino said. The former county engineer has refused comment.
His daughter is the new District Attorney for Liberty County. One can only hope that she recuses herself from any part of this investigation.
If damning evidence exists in reports the county DID supply, one can only imagine what’s in those the County can’t or won’t produce.
How the Other Half Lives
Colony Ridge developers “owner financed” many of the lots in the sprawling neighborhood, in part, because many residents do not have driver’s licenses and Social Security numbers. Nearly 97 percent of the foreclosures in Liberty County last year came from Colony Ridge.
Said Dolcefino, “This is the first step in holding Liberty County officials accountable before another neighborhood is approved. We need to know why these documents are missing, and we are going to get to the bottom of this one way or the other.” I second that.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/4/2021 based in part on information from Wayne Dolcefino
1224 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_4712.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200adminadmin2021-01-04 19:06:382023-09-20 09:15:15Liberty County Launches Major Investigation into Colony Ridge Irregularities
Temperature and Rainfall Data for 2020 for the first-order climate sites:
BUSH IAH:
Average Temperature: 72.1 (2nd warmest year ever recorded, 2017 warmest)
Rainfall 44.77 (5.0 below average)
Hobby:
Temperature: 73.5 (warmest year ever recorded)
Rainfall: 60.25 (+5.96)
Galveston:
Temperature: 74.3 (second warmest year ever recorded, warmest was 2017)
Rainfall: 40.47 (-10.29)
College Station:
Temperature: 70.9 (5th warmest year on record, warmest was 2012)
Rainfall: 30.69 (-9.37)
January Events
January 10: EF-1 tornado in western Burleson County southwest of Caldwell. A trailer was thrown 40 yards and a shed destroyed
January 11: a large squall line moves across much of central and eastern TX producing pockets of damaging winds. 70mph recorded in Wehdem in Austin County. Numerous trees down across much of SE TX.
March
March 4: wind gust of 54kts in Brazos County from a line of thunderstorms.
April
April 9: numerous trees down across Walker and Montgomery Counties from 60-70mph winds from severe thunderstorms.
April 18: large hail falls over several areas of southeast Texas. 1.50 inches in Katy, 3.50 inches near Huntsville and Trinity. Golfball size hail near Crosby.
April 19: Tornado touch down off HWY 35 near West Columbia. Golfball size hail 3 miles NNE of Katy. Wind damage reported in Tarkington Prairie in Liberty County.
April 22: a devastating and long tracked tornado occurred across portions of Walker, San Jacinto and Polk Counties. 3 fatalities, 30 injuries, and 10 subdivisions impacted. The parent supercell thunderstorms developed near Giddings, TX around 1:30 pm and continued eastward for over 350 miles before dissipating in southwest Mississippi around 10:00 pm producing several tornadoes. The tornado was rated EF-3 with maximum winds of 140mph and a 30 miles track. 291 homes were damaged and 46 destroyed. This was the single deadliest tornado in SE TX since Nov 15, 1987 when 3 persons were killed in Madison County and is only the 8th multiple fatality tornado in SE TX since 1950.
April 28: rainfall of 3.5-5.5 inches fell over portions of western Fort Bend and eastern Wharton Counties in 2 hours from slow moving thunderstorms.
April 29: widespread damaging winds occurred over much of SE TX from a large and fast moving squall. A total of 817, 994 lightning strikes were recorded from 200pm on the 28th to 800am on the 29th or about 800 strikes per minute across Texas. 73mph wind gust at North Jetty, 60mph at Kemah, 61mph at Crystal beach, 71mph at Caldwell, 54mph at Jamaica Beach, 58mph at Texas City.
May
May 11: strong rip currents resulted in 1 fatality near Surfside in Brazoria County.
May 13: Flash flooding due to heavy rainfall over portions of Jackson County. Numerous roads impassable and some homes flooded in Ganado, TX.
May 14: excessive rainfall of 4-8 inches with a maximum isolated total of 10.35 inches over portions of Jefferson and Orange Counties leads to widespread and extensive flooding.
May 15: slow moving heavy rainfall occurred across portions of Harris and Fort Bend counties during the afternoon and early evening hours. 3.5-5.5 inches fell over portions of Sugar Land in 1-2 hours leading to extensive street flooding. 60-80 apartment units in Pasadena were flooded with 1-2 inches of water.
May 16: strong rip currents resulted in 1 fatality near Surfside in Brazoria County. This was the second rip current fatality in less than a week.
May 26: Water spout reported near the Bolivar-Galveston Ferry lasting 5 minutes.
May 27: a cluster of severe thunderstorms producing winds of 50-70mph moved across the western and central portions of SE TX. More than 300,000 residents lost power along with numerous downed trees. 71mph at Galveston Island and EF) tornado in Pasadena. Estimated winds of 90mph across portions of Waller County from an EF-1 tornado.
May 28: A large an long tracked waterspout moved southward along the western shore of Galveston Bay from near Shoreacres to just north of Galveston Island and was filmed by several residences, webcams, and law enforcement.
June
June 25: heavy rainfall of 4-8 inches with isolated totals of 10 inched from Colorado to northern Fort Bend to western Harris County. Numerous road flooded and impassable.
July
July 25: Hurricane Hanna makes landfall on the lower TX coast near Port Mansfield with sustained winds of 90mph. High tides occur along much of the upper Texas coast resulting in beach erosion.
August
August 27: category 4 hurricane Laura made landfall just east of Cameron, LA with sustained winds of 150mph and a storm surge of up to 18 feet at Grand Chenier. High tides impacted much of the upper TX coast and significant beach erosion. Cameron, LA observation site recorded sustained winds of 93g127mph and Lake Charles gusted to 133mph. Laura was the strongest hurricane to strike the southwest coast of Louisiana since records begin in 1850.
September
September 5-6: 2 fatalities due to rip currents off Galveston Island over the Labor Day weekend.
September 21-23: tropical storm Beta made landfall near Port O’Connor on 9-21 with sustained winds of 45mph. Prolonged coastal flood event along much of the upper Texas coast with tides 2.0-4.0 feet above normal levels for 2-3 days resulted in significant coastal flooding and beach erosion. Flooding rainfall of 8-12 inches of portions of Galveston, Brazoria, and southern Harris Counties. Clear Creek exceeded its banks along nearly the entire channel. 20-25 homes sustained flood damage in southern Harris and northern Brazoria Counties.
October
October 9: Hurricane Delta made landfall near Creola, LA or 12 miles east of the landfall point of Hurricane Laura 6 weeks earlier winds sustained winds of 100mph. Elevated tides and tropical storm force winds affected much of the upper TX coast. Wind gusts of 101mph at Texas Point, 51mph at UofH, 63mph at Anahuac, 48mph at Freeport, 53mph at Galveston, 47mph at Nassau Bay, 74mph at the buoy 20 miles east of Galveston Island. Delta was the 4th tropical system to make landfall in the state of Louisiana…the landfall of hurricane Zeta in late October over SE LA would be the 3rd hurricane to strike Louisiana in 2020.
November
November 30: The 2020 hurricane season ends with a record 30 named storms, 12 hurricanes, and 6 major hurricanes. A record total of 12 tropical storms made landfall on the US coastline surpassing the previous record of 9 from 1916 (Bertha, Cristobal, Hanna, Fay, Isaias, Laura, Marco, Sally, Beta, Delta, Zeta, Eta (2 FL landfalls)) The US Gulf coast experienced 9 of the 12 landfalls including 5 hurricanes (Hanna, Laura, Sally, Delta, Zeta). The states of TX and LA suffered 7 of the 9 landfalls with only Sally and Eta making landfall east of the Mississippi River. The state of Louisiana experienced the landfall of 5 tropical systems: 2 tropical storms (Cristobal and Marco) and 3 hurricanes (Laura, Delta, Zeta). Laura and Delta made landfall only 12 miles apart roughly 6 weeks apart in southwest Louisiana just east of Cameron. Portions of the state of LA spent a total of 3 weeks within the NHC error cone this hurricane season. The state of LA was under coastal watches or warnings due to a tropical cyclone for a total of 474 hours or 19.75 days.
December
December 30-31: A powerful storm system brought heavy rainfall of 3.5-5.5 inches from Fort Bend to Waller to western and central Montgomery County leading to minor flooding. Widespread and heavy snow developed on the backside of this system on the 31st with 24 inches reported at Big Bend National Park and a widespread area of 4-8 inches over much of SW/WC and NW TX.
Compiled by Jeff Lindner, Director Hydrologic Operations Division/Meteorologist, Harris County Flood Control District
1224 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Helicopter9.27_40.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200adminadmin2021-01-04 09:12:232021-01-04 09:15:082020 Weather Events in Review
The National Weather Service distinguishes between four major types of flooding: coastal, riverine, street and sheet flow. After flying over Colony Ridge on New Year’s Day, I would add a fifth: flooding by government neglect.
Despite dire predictions for the New Year’s Eve storm, the Plum Grove/Colony Ridge area in Liberty County only got about two inches of rain. Yet I saw hundreds of flooded lots. They were all in a development that:
Worst of all, when residents asked for help from their elected Liberty County officials, those officials berated and rebuffed them. They refused even to acknowledge problems in Colony Ridge.
Where It Starts
Irregularities that most banks would catch as part of a title search and survey during the mortgage application process never get caught here.
That’s because the developer targets a vulnerable population more likely to use Western Union money orders than banks. He offers them owner financing with low down payments and interest rates five times higher than the market.
These un-savvy buyers are so desperate to own a piece of the American dream that they wind up mired in one nightmare after another. Many speak English as a second language if they speak it at all.
A Two-Inch Rain
Trade those SVUs in for swamp buggies. Here’s what much of the development looked like 24 hours after two inches of rain fell on New Year’s Eve.
Note how the drainage stops in the middle foreground.Also note how it’s not infiltrating like the engineers said it would.Close up of home in first shot. At least the home didn’t flood although the four-wheelerand dining area did.Even if an owner builds up one part of his/her lot, it can flood another.Lot after lot flooded. Water would not sink in. The soils have a low rate of infiltration, not the high rate promised by LandPlan Engineering.Totally flooded lot. Note how drainage stops to left of driveway.Do-it-yourself repairs.But are they up to code?Former wetlands?
Targeting the Vulnerable
Most of these people never complain. The areas in Mexico and Central America where many came from may have conditions far worse. So what you see here may be an improvement for them.
Still, one can’t wonder whether – in its zeal to grow – Liberty County has turned a blind eye to conditions that violate its own regulations as well as human dignity.
Conditions such as these will take generations to improve. In the meantime, the County’s residents are in for decades of pain due to government neglect. Not just in Colony Ridge, but in neighboring communities such as Plum Grove and others farther downstream.
This developer has permanently altered the hydrology of the watershed in a way that increases flood risk for everyone.
And the county has lowered its standards in a way that will likely discourage investment from quality developers.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/3/2021
1223 Days after Hurricane Harvey and 472 after Imelda
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_4809.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200adminadmin2021-01-02 20:55:332021-01-03 16:57:55Flooding of the Fifth Kind: By Government Neglect
Liberty County Launches Major Investigation into Colony Ridge Irregularities
Wayne Dolcefino announced this afternoon that Liberty County Judge Jay Knight has confirmed the county will launch a major investigation into the controversial Colony Ridge Development. Dolcefino is one of the country’s leading investigative journalists.
Flooding Concerns at Heart of Investigation
The massive housing development between the San Jacinto East Fork and Luce Bayou has sparked flooding concerns for tens of thousands of families both nearby in Plum Grove and downstream as far as Lake Houston.
Plum Grove hired Dolcefino to fight years of neglect by county officials as floods washed out roads and damaged most of the structures in the tiny town.
The investigation comes after a widening investigation by Dolcefino Consulting and one day after publication of a post in ReduceFlooding.com titled Flooding of the Fifth Kind: By Government Neglect.
“Right before the new year, two inches of rain in Colony Ridge produced flooding. Creeks in Plum Grove were full to the brim. That’s raising alarm bells,” said Dolcefino.
Pictures of flooded lots WITHIN Colony Ridge also raised alarms. They show that water is not soaking in or running off the way it should.
Soil Types Are Key Issue
There is evidence to suggest that LandPlan Engineering mischaracterized the type of soil in its drainage plans for Colony Ridge. Their calculations assumed the soil had a high rate of infiltration when it actually had a low rate.
So instead of water soaking into the ground, it runs off. The presence of so many wetlands in Colony Ridge before development should have been a tipoff.
By misrepresenting soil types, LandPlan Engineering understated the amount of detention and drainage capacity needed by 6X to 9X, according to TXDoT guidelines.
Had LandPlan properly represented the soil, Colony Ridge would have had to put in more detention ponds and widen ditches to prevent flooding. But that would have been costly for the developer.
Harris County Flood Control officials worry the drainage problems in Colony Ridge increase flood risk in Harris County. So do downstream residents. I talked to one in Harris County today who has flooded repeatedly since Colony Ridge started clearing land. She is disabled and can’t afford to move. Neither can she afford to stay.
Missing Reports Another Part of Investigation
Liberty County also admits that many of the drainage analysis reports – required by county ordinance – are missing. The county made the admission after Dolcefino Consulting filed formal requests to see the records used by former Liberty County engineer Louis Bergman to recommend approval of the large development.
Liberty County Attorney Matthew Poston confirmed to Dolcefino that 19 missing reports will be part of the investigation.
“We want to see what Bergman signed, and if the investigation proves claims about the soil are untrue that could be a big problem,” Dolcefino said. The former county engineer has refused comment.
His daughter is the new District Attorney for Liberty County. One can only hope that she recuses herself from any part of this investigation.
If damning evidence exists in reports the county DID supply, one can only imagine what’s in those the County can’t or won’t produce.
How the Other Half Lives
Colony Ridge developers “owner financed” many of the lots in the sprawling neighborhood, in part, because many residents do not have driver’s licenses and Social Security numbers. Nearly 97 percent of the foreclosures in Liberty County last year came from Colony Ridge.
Said Dolcefino, “This is the first step in holding Liberty County officials accountable before another neighborhood is approved. We need to know why these documents are missing, and we are going to get to the bottom of this one way or the other.” I second that.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/4/2021 based in part on information from Wayne Dolcefino
1224 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.
2020 Weather Events in Review
Temperature and Rainfall Data for 2020 for the first-order climate sites:
BUSH IAH:
Average Temperature: 72.1 (2nd warmest year ever recorded, 2017 warmest)
Rainfall 44.77 (5.0 below average)
Hobby:
Temperature: 73.5 (warmest year ever recorded)
Rainfall: 60.25 (+5.96)
Galveston:
Temperature: 74.3 (second warmest year ever recorded, warmest was 2017)
Rainfall: 40.47 (-10.29)
College Station:
Temperature: 70.9 (5th warmest year on record, warmest was 2012)
Rainfall: 30.69 (-9.37)
January Events
January 10: EF-1 tornado in western Burleson County southwest of Caldwell. A trailer was thrown 40 yards and a shed destroyed
January 11: a large squall line moves across much of central and eastern TX producing pockets of damaging winds. 70mph recorded in Wehdem in Austin County. Numerous trees down across much of SE TX.
March
March 4: wind gust of 54kts in Brazos County from a line of thunderstorms.
April
April 9: numerous trees down across Walker and Montgomery Counties from 60-70mph winds from severe thunderstorms.
April 18: large hail falls over several areas of southeast Texas. 1.50 inches in Katy, 3.50 inches near Huntsville and Trinity. Golfball size hail near Crosby.
April 19: Tornado touch down off HWY 35 near West Columbia. Golfball size hail 3 miles NNE of Katy. Wind damage reported in Tarkington Prairie in Liberty County.
April 22: a devastating and long tracked tornado occurred across portions of Walker, San Jacinto and Polk Counties. 3 fatalities, 30 injuries, and 10 subdivisions impacted. The parent supercell thunderstorms developed near Giddings, TX around 1:30 pm and continued eastward for over 350 miles before dissipating in southwest Mississippi around 10:00 pm producing several tornadoes. The tornado was rated EF-3 with maximum winds of 140mph and a 30 miles track. 291 homes were damaged and 46 destroyed. This was the single deadliest tornado in SE TX since Nov 15, 1987 when 3 persons were killed in Madison County and is only the 8th multiple fatality tornado in SE TX since 1950.
April 28: rainfall of 3.5-5.5 inches fell over portions of western Fort Bend and eastern Wharton Counties in 2 hours from slow moving thunderstorms.
April 29: widespread damaging winds occurred over much of SE TX from a large and fast moving squall. A total of 817, 994 lightning strikes were recorded from 200pm on the 28th to 800am on the 29th or about 800 strikes per minute across Texas. 73mph wind gust at North Jetty, 60mph at Kemah, 61mph at Crystal beach, 71mph at Caldwell, 54mph at Jamaica Beach, 58mph at Texas City.
May
May 11: strong rip currents resulted in 1 fatality near Surfside in Brazoria County.
May 13: Flash flooding due to heavy rainfall over portions of Jackson County. Numerous roads impassable and some homes flooded in Ganado, TX.
May 14: excessive rainfall of 4-8 inches with a maximum isolated total of 10.35 inches over portions of Jefferson and Orange Counties leads to widespread and extensive flooding.
May 15: slow moving heavy rainfall occurred across portions of Harris and Fort Bend counties during the afternoon and early evening hours. 3.5-5.5 inches fell over portions of Sugar Land in 1-2 hours leading to extensive street flooding. 60-80 apartment units in Pasadena were flooded with 1-2 inches of water.
May 16: strong rip currents resulted in 1 fatality near Surfside in Brazoria County. This was the second rip current fatality in less than a week.
May 26: Water spout reported near the Bolivar-Galveston Ferry lasting 5 minutes.
May 27: a cluster of severe thunderstorms producing winds of 50-70mph moved across the western and central portions of SE TX. More than 300,000 residents lost power along with numerous downed trees. 71mph at Galveston Island and EF) tornado in Pasadena. Estimated winds of 90mph across portions of Waller County from an EF-1 tornado.
May 28: A large an long tracked waterspout moved southward along the western shore of Galveston Bay from near Shoreacres to just north of Galveston Island and was filmed by several residences, webcams, and law enforcement.
June
June 25: heavy rainfall of 4-8 inches with isolated totals of 10 inched from Colorado to northern Fort Bend to western Harris County. Numerous road flooded and impassable.
July
July 25: Hurricane Hanna makes landfall on the lower TX coast near Port Mansfield with sustained winds of 90mph. High tides occur along much of the upper Texas coast resulting in beach erosion.
August
August 27: category 4 hurricane Laura made landfall just east of Cameron, LA with sustained winds of 150mph and a storm surge of up to 18 feet at Grand Chenier. High tides impacted much of the upper TX coast and significant beach erosion. Cameron, LA observation site recorded sustained winds of 93g127mph and Lake Charles gusted to 133mph. Laura was the strongest hurricane to strike the southwest coast of Louisiana since records begin in 1850.
September
September 5-6: 2 fatalities due to rip currents off Galveston Island over the Labor Day weekend.
September 21-23: tropical storm Beta made landfall near Port O’Connor on 9-21 with sustained winds of 45mph. Prolonged coastal flood event along much of the upper Texas coast with tides 2.0-4.0 feet above normal levels for 2-3 days resulted in significant coastal flooding and beach erosion. Flooding rainfall of 8-12 inches of portions of Galveston, Brazoria, and southern Harris Counties. Clear Creek exceeded its banks along nearly the entire channel. 20-25 homes sustained flood damage in southern Harris and northern Brazoria Counties.
October
October 9: Hurricane Delta made landfall near Creola, LA or 12 miles east of the landfall point of Hurricane Laura 6 weeks earlier winds sustained winds of 100mph. Elevated tides and tropical storm force winds affected much of the upper TX coast. Wind gusts of 101mph at Texas Point, 51mph at UofH, 63mph at Anahuac, 48mph at Freeport, 53mph at Galveston, 47mph at Nassau Bay, 74mph at the buoy 20 miles east of Galveston Island. Delta was the 4th tropical system to make landfall in the state of Louisiana…the landfall of hurricane Zeta in late October over SE LA would be the 3rd hurricane to strike Louisiana in 2020.
November
November 30: The 2020 hurricane season ends with a record 30 named storms, 12 hurricanes, and 6 major hurricanes. A record total of 12 tropical storms made landfall on the US coastline surpassing the previous record of 9 from 1916 (Bertha, Cristobal, Hanna, Fay, Isaias, Laura, Marco, Sally, Beta, Delta, Zeta, Eta (2 FL landfalls)) The US Gulf coast experienced 9 of the 12 landfalls including 5 hurricanes (Hanna, Laura, Sally, Delta, Zeta). The states of TX and LA suffered 7 of the 9 landfalls with only Sally and Eta making landfall east of the Mississippi River. The state of Louisiana experienced the landfall of 5 tropical systems: 2 tropical storms (Cristobal and Marco) and 3 hurricanes (Laura, Delta, Zeta). Laura and Delta made landfall only 12 miles apart roughly 6 weeks apart in southwest Louisiana just east of Cameron. Portions of the state of LA spent a total of 3 weeks within the NHC error cone this hurricane season. The state of LA was under coastal watches or warnings due to a tropical cyclone for a total of 474 hours or 19.75 days.
December
December 30-31: A powerful storm system brought heavy rainfall of 3.5-5.5 inches from Fort Bend to Waller to western and central Montgomery County leading to minor flooding. Widespread and heavy snow developed on the backside of this system on the 31st with 24 inches reported at Big Bend National Park and a widespread area of 4-8 inches over much of SW/WC and NW TX.
Compiled by Jeff Lindner, Director Hydrologic Operations Division/Meteorologist, Harris County Flood Control District
1224 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Flooding of the Fifth Kind: By Government Neglect
The National Weather Service distinguishes between four major types of flooding: coastal, riverine, street and sheet flow. After flying over Colony Ridge on New Year’s Day, I would add a fifth: flooding by government neglect.
Despite dire predictions for the New Year’s Eve storm, the Plum Grove/Colony Ridge area in Liberty County only got about two inches of rain. Yet I saw hundreds of flooded lots. They were all in a development that:
Those residents also live in a county that:
Worst of all, when residents asked for help from their elected Liberty County officials, those officials berated and rebuffed them. They refused even to acknowledge problems in Colony Ridge.
Where It Starts
Irregularities that most banks would catch as part of a title search and survey during the mortgage application process never get caught here.
That’s because the developer targets a vulnerable population more likely to use Western Union money orders than banks. He offers them owner financing with low down payments and interest rates five times higher than the market.
These un-savvy buyers are so desperate to own a piece of the American dream that they wind up mired in one nightmare after another. Many speak English as a second language if they speak it at all.
A Two-Inch Rain
Trade those SVUs in for swamp buggies. Here’s what much of the development looked like 24 hours after two inches of rain fell on New Year’s Eve.
Targeting the Vulnerable
Most of these people never complain. The areas in Mexico and Central America where many came from may have conditions far worse. So what you see here may be an improvement for them.
Still, one can’t wonder whether – in its zeal to grow – Liberty County has turned a blind eye to conditions that violate its own regulations as well as human dignity.
Conditions such as these will take generations to improve. In the meantime, the County’s residents are in for decades of pain due to government neglect. Not just in Colony Ridge, but in neighboring communities such as Plum Grove and others farther downstream.
This developer has permanently altered the hydrology of the watershed in a way that increases flood risk for everyone.
And the county has lowered its standards in a way that will likely discourage investment from quality developers.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/3/2021
1223 Days after Hurricane Harvey and 472 after Imelda
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.