Index Page Added to ReduceFlooding.com

ReduceFlooding.com has added an index page to make it easier to find old content. The new index page actually contains two indexes. The first: by keyword, the second by post title.

Today marks the 943 days since Hurricane Harvey. During that time, I and guests have posted 1099 items to the news page. Unless long-time readers remembered how to search for those posts, many became lost or forgotten over time. And new readers simply were never aware of of the wealth of material found in thousands of pages on the site.

I’m hoping the new index page will make it easier for both readers and researchers to find helpful material they need.

  • Each term or title on the index page is hyperlinked.
  • Clicking on a key word pulls up ALL the posts with that term. Scroll down to see them all. They are stacked on top of each other in REVERSE chronological order (most recent first).
  • Below the list of key words, you will find another list of post titles in alphabetical order.
  • Each index list has an alphabet bar at the top that will take you directly to links starting with a particular letter, to help reduce scrolling.
  • Terms and posts based on numbers fall at the bottom of each list.

Hint: If you browse the index by key word, you may also want to search the site by the same keyword.

Here’s why. The programming for the key word index works off of WordPress “tags.” Tags are something you add to a post after creating it to tell search engines, “This post is about X.” It’s entirely possible that only one post may be ABOUT Tony Buzbee but that he is mentioned in many more that could have been more heavily focused on sand mines, the mayoral election, etc.

The idea for this page came from a reader. So please continue to share your thoughts with me. Play with it and tell me what you think.

Posted by Bob Rehak on March 29, 2020

943 Days after Hurricane Harvey

LJA Denies Responsibility for Elm Grove Flooding; Says They Owed No Duty to Victims

On February 27, 2020, lawyers for flooded Elm Grove residents listed LJA Engineering as an additional defendant in the Perry Homes’ Woodridge Village flooding case. Defendants’ amended petition included 14 documents, with specific allegations. On March 16, 2020, LJA filed a general denial and requested a jury trial.

LJA’s drainage design forces floodwater to make six turns within the space of about 200 yards. The areas at the left and top of the frame flooded during May and September last year when water overflowed.

Hints of Defense Strategy

However, in answering the allegations, LJA’s lawyers did hint at their defense strategy. In addition to their general denial, they claim that:

  1. Plaintiffs’ damages were solely caused by the negligence of third parties over whom LJA has no control.
  2. Plaintiffs did not hire LJA and therefore LJA owed no duty to the plaintiffs.
  3. Intervening and superseding conduct on the part of third parties or other parties, persons or entities, acts as a total bar to plaintiffs’ claims.
  4. The incident in question was an Act of God.

Here is their entire answer to the plaintiffs’ claims. LJA’s lawyers filed it with the Harris County District Clerk on 3/16/2020.

Opinions of Claims

  1. Third parties in the case include several contractors, AND Figure Four Partners, a Perry Homes’ subsidiary of another subsidiary. Engineers, in my experience, often blame problems on contractors that didn’t follow plans. In this case, according to the drainage impact analysis submitted by LJA to Montgomery County, contractor(s) should have cleared only 30 acres on the northern portion of the site and 58 acres on the southern portion during Phase 1. See page 1, paragraph 2 of LJA’s Drainage Impact Analysis. However, Google Earth shows that about half of the 182-acre northern section and all of the 86-acre southern section were cleared by February 23, 2019. That was six weeks before the May 7th flood. Images taken of the northern portion of the site shortly after the May 7th flood show it was virtually clear except for piles of uprooted trees. Helicopter images show that substantially all of the northern section was cleared about the time of the Imelda flood. Construction documents also show that an engineer should have been supervising construction.
  2. No duty! This seems to run contrary to professional engineers’ code of ethics and state law. See section §137.55 ENGINEERS SHALL PROTECT THE PUBLIC.
  3. I’m not sure what they mean by “intervening” conduct. It sounds like interference from above. Hmmmm. Could they be pointing a finger at Perry Homes’ Figure Four Partners or Perry Homes itself? It will be interesting to see what happens with this one.
  4. It will also be interesting to see how they justify the Act-of-God claim. Figure Four Partners claimed the same defense initially. However, the nearest official rain gages say the rainfall should have been within the design parameters of the site, especially for the May flood.

Trial Still Set for July, But…

The District Clerk’s website shows no other activity on the case since LJA filed this document. Harris County Civil Courts will operate on a restricted schedule until further notice due to the corona virus. Hours of operation are from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. They are closed Friday through Sunday.

Judge Lauren Reeder months ago set a trial date of 7/13/2020, at 08:30 a.m. However, the corona virus could delay the start of any trial in this case.

New Discovery in MoCo Drainage Criteria Manual

In the meantime, I discovered one other interesting potential violation of the Montgomery County Drainage Criteria Manual. Section 9.1.2 Flood Plain Development Guidelines and Procedures says that when planning a development within the 100-year flood plain, construction within the floodway is limited to structures which will not obstruct the 100-year flood flow unless fully offsetting conveyance capacity is provided.

“Where such a potential exists, offsetting conveyance capacity must be provided to eliminate the increased potential for flood damage.”

The potential violation? The twin culverts shown in the photo above. They were built when only one of five detention ponds was even partially complete. And they’re right at the county line. LJA’s own maps show these culverts to be within feet of the Taylor Gully floodway and floodplain on the Harris County side of the county line.

If LJA intends to argue that May 7th or September 19th were greater-than-100-year rains, it then seems to me that they should have halted construction of the culverts until fully offsetting detention was in place. To this date, only 23% of the intended detention capacity has been constructed.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 3/28/2020

942 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 191 since 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.

River Grove Dredging Completion Delayed at Least 2 Weeks

Dredging of the River Grove Park boat launch and lagoon have been set back at least two weeks. Originally, KSA estimated that the job could finish as early as the end of March. According to KSA President Dee Price, that was an estimate from the contractor, Kayden Industries, not a contract requirement.

Lower Lake Level Required Even Smaller Dredge

According to Price, Kayden ran into a problem when the City unexpectedly lowered the level of Lake Houston about two feet. “The reduction in the water level grounded the dredging barge that they were using,” said Price. “To keep moving forward, they removed the first dredge and brought in a smaller one.”

Original dredge now sidelined. Sand stockpile in parking lot is being removed by truck to a location in Humble out of the floodplain.
New dredge is even smaller than last one but can operate in shallower water.
About one third of the lagoon in front of the boardwalk remains. Note how vegetation is already regrowing on exposed sediment.
This afternoon, the new dredge operated by the discharge pipe.
The dredge pumps water and sediment into this giant machine that resembles an oil field “shaker.” It separates solids from liquids. The solids drop out. They are then carried to the edge of the boat dock where they dry further before being hauled off.
Water minus sediment over a certain size is then returned to the river.

Contractor Will Finish Job With Smaller Dredge

“The water level is back up now,” said Price. “Kayden thinks they can finish the job using the smaller dredge, but it will take a little longer.”

With the corona virus restrictions, there is now very little activity at the park. Reminder: children should NOT use the playground equipment to help restrict the spread of the virus. Soccer leagues have also been affected. Only a handful of people were using the park this afternoon.

After Dredging

The sand pile is still blocking the boat launch. It and Kayden’s equipment will be removed from the park when dredging completes in a couple more weeks.

At that point, KSA intends to repair the asphalt damage from the heavy equipment. KSA will also replace the speed bumps with speed humps to accommodate boat trailers. All that could take till May.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 3/27/2020

941 Days after Hurricane Harvey