Jeff Lindner, Harris County Flood Control District Meteorologist compiled this “Year in Review” summary. My thanks to Mr. Lindner and all the other folks at Harris County Flood Control who work so hard to make us aware of and protect us from extreme weather. On average, we had an extreme-weather event somewhere in the county every other week during the year. Some will be tough to forget.
Only 25 Days of Extreme Weather in 2019
January 1: Widespread dense fog with frequent visibilities under .25 of a mile and several locations recording zero visibility develop just after midnight and lasted into the mid morning hours. Air quality sensors recorded extremely unhealthy levels during this episode due to fireworks smoke being trapped near the surface.
January 19: severe thunderstorms produced wind damage in Wharton and in portions of Galveston County.
January 23: back edge of ending rainfall mixed with and changed over to light snow/sleet. Some very light accumulation on rooftops.
February 5: Galveston experienced over 24 hours of sea fog.
April 6: several reports of baseball size hail over Houston, Madison, and Brazos Counties
April 7: Large bow echo produced wind damage over much of SE TX. 62mph wind recorded on Galveston Is and 63mph in Brazos County. EF 1 tornado touchdown in Pasadena destroyed one building. Strong winds overturned several travel trailers at Crystal Beach on Bolivar Peninsula.
April 13: EF 3 tornado strikes Weches in Houston County killing 1 person with a path length of 15 miles and width of 800 yards. EF 3 tornado touches down in Lovelady, TX in Houston County with a path length of 3.9 miles and width of 100 yards. Damage was significant along the tracks of both tornadoes. These tornadoes were part of a larger outbreak that included the Hearne, TX and Franklin, TX tornadoes. Dime to golfball size hail was reported from Bunker Hill to Spring Branch.
April 24: Tornado touches down 4 miles east of Bryan, TX producing damage to 1 house and 4 commercial buildings. The tornado was rated EF 2 at maximum intensity.
May 3: EF 2 Tornado strikes LaGrange, TX. EF 0 Tornado in Eagle Lake, TX, EF 0 tornado near Tomball TX. 62mph wind gust at Eagle Point.
May 7: 10-12 inches of rainfall across portions of Kingwood and Fort Bend Counties leads to flash flooding. Over 400 homes were flooded in both areas.
May 9: 4-6 inches of rainfall in a short period of time across central Harris County led to flash flooding. Baseball size hail damaged several properties on the north side of Downtown Houston
June 5: 9.25 inches of rainfall occurred at Lane City and 7-8 inches in western Fort Bend County. US 59 in both directions was inundated at Kendleton, TX and homes flooded. Flash flooding reported in Wharton, Boling, Bay City and Pledger.
June 6: 61mph wind gust recorded at San Luis Pass TCOON site. 18-wheeler overturned on I-10 around Columbus due to strong winds.
June 16: 64mph wind gust recorded at Bryan, TX. Glass door blown out of a building on TAMU campus.
June 23: Heat fatality. Child died from being left in a hot car on Bolivar Peninsula.
June 24: 58mph wind gust recorded at Crab lake WeatherFlow site. Lightning strikes caused 2 house fires in western Harris County.
June 25: 70mph wind gust reported NNE of Eagle Point over Galveston Bay.
June 29: 61mph wind gust reported at Galveston North Jetty. Large portions of Bolivar Peninsula were without power.
July 13: Hurricane Barry makes landfall along the south-central Louisiana coast. Impacts to SE TX included elevated seas and tides and a few showers in the western side of the circulation
July 23: a rare summer cool front dropped lows into the 60’s
August 8: the overnight low at Galveston failed to fall below 86 degrees and an afternoon heat index of 117 was recorded requiring a rare Excessive Heat Warning for the extreme coastal areas of SE TX.
August 14: 3 construction workers in Iowa Colony were injured when the house they were working on was struck by lightning. Lightning also struck an apartment complex off Almeda-Genoa Rd resulting in an attic fire that destroyed 1 unit.
September 17-19: Tropical Storm Imelda makes landfall over Brazoria County and meanders northward across SE TX producing tremendous rainfall and flash flooding. Early on the morning of the 19th an extensive band of heavy thunderstorms producing extreme amounts of rainfall developed from Jefferson County to east-central Montgomery County. Rainfall rates under this band frequently exceeded 4.0-5.0 inches per hour with a few locations receiving over 6.0 inches per hour. This band of excessive rainfall drifted south-southwest in Harris County by mid morning.
31.0 inches of rainfall was recorded in just 12 hours at Fannett, TX near the Chambers/Jefferson County line with a storm total of 44.29 inches of rainfall at that site. The 44.29 inches recorded at Fannett, TX makes TS Imelda the 4th wettest tropical cyclone in Texas history and the 5th wettest in US history dating back to 1851. A 48-hour rainfall total of 29.1 inches was recorded in northeast Harris County near Huffman with 30.4 inches recorded in southeast Montgomery County near Plum Grove. 6.5 inches of rain fell in just 1 hour over the Aldine area of Harris County. A total of 3,990 homes were flooded in Harris County alone with an additional several thousand flooded in Montgomery, Liberty, Chambers, and Jefferson Counties.
Posted by Bob Rehak on December 31, 2019
854 since Hurricane Harvey and 103 since Imelda
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Village-Springs-2.jpg?fit=1125%2C1500&ssl=115001125adminadmin2019-12-31 09:27:032019-12-31 09:43:242019 Weather: Year In Review
A Houston Chronicle article by Chris Tomlinson talks about things builders could do to make their properties more flood safe.
Innovative Products that Could Reduce Runoff
They include things like Porous Pave, made from recycled plastic, tires, and pavement. “Porous Pave is mixed and applied like asphalt, but once set, it is absorbent and permeable. Rather than water running into storm drains, the material soaks up the rain directs it into the sand underlying it,” says Tomlinson. Many people use the product for gardens, patios, and paths.
Porous Pave installation. Image courtesy of Porous Pave.
More void space than permeable pavers, pervious asphalt, pervious concrete – more porosity, more permeability for more rainwater infiltration
Smaller installations deliver the same stormwater mitigation as more extensive, and more expensive, installations of other permeable paving materials
Reduces the need for other on-site measures (retention ponds, swales) – more construction site area remains useable
ADA compliant
Safe and slip-resistant – even when wet
Endless applications – even installs on steep grades up to 30 degrees
As a topcoat, covers and bonds with old concrete, asphalt, brick, tile, and wood surfaces – eliminates the cost, disruption and waste of tear-outs
Decreases the volume, slows the velocity of runoff
Reduces erosion
Made with rubber recycled from scrap tires – every 1,000 square feet of two-inch Porous Pave removes 300 old tires from the waste stream
I think we should test this in East End Park, perhaps on some hills where we continually encounter erosion problems.
Concrete Substitutes
Another product, Grid Pavers uses “plastic frames that keep soil and gravel from washing away while allowing grass to grow from underneath. They also prevent rainwater run-off by directing it to the ground.” Unfortunately, it’s more expensive than concrete, so rarely used in Houston.
However, the Chronicle article also discusses things the building industry in the Houston area is resisting – like adding more detention, as we saw in Montgomery County last August. Or updating flood maps.
Says Tomlinson, “The men and women who build our city are outraged that elected officials want to update our flood maps and force them to acknowledge their land is flood-prone.”
That’s because builders in flood zones must follow tighter rules for things, such as permeable cover, detention and elevation.
Collective Action Required To Make Meaningful Change
Tomlinson concludes the article with an admonishment. “Increasing the ground’s absorbency on a large scale can make the difference between a flooded lawn and a flooded home. But it depends on collective action, and unfortunately, the developers and builders of Houston are more interested in private profit than a more resilient community.”
Certainly, not all builders fall into that category. But enough do to create a competitive disadvantage for those who would like to do the right thing.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 12/30/2019
853 Days since Hurricane Harveyand 101 since Imelda
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Waist-e1588946935147.jpg?fit=1200%2C1057&ssl=110571200adminadmin2019-12-30 17:35:552019-12-30 17:37:35Builders Battle Basic Rule Changes After Harvey
This is an editorial about engineering laws and regulations that seem to be routinely ignored in Montgomery County. It is based on previous reporting about flooding in the Lake Houston Area.
I don’t wish to demonize engineering, one of the most honorable professions around. If you’re one of the vast majority of honest, ethical professional engineers who strive daily to serve clients and protect the public, thank you. You can stop reading here. This editorial is not about you. It IS for the few who ignore their professional code of ethics, Texas laws and regulations.
Job #1 of Professional Engineers: To Protect the Public
Examples like these abound. They erode public safety. And in fact, in many cases, homes have flooded. Hundreds. Perhaps thousands. These represent only the stories I have documented.
If these were isolated incidents, you could blame them on occasional human error or bad judgment.
But they happen over and over again – in Montgomery County. In my search to answer the question “Why,” I have concluded that a culture of collusion based on willful blindness exists.
Lack of Checks and Balances
The collusion is between three groups that should provide checks and balances on each other, but do not.
County commissioners eager to attract growth.
Developers eager to cash in on that growth.
Engineering firms willing to turn a blind eye to grow their businesses.
As one engineer told me, “You don’t grow by telling clients they can’t do something. Word spreads quickly. Clients go elsewhere.”
Pretty soon a numbness sets in. Ethical excursions stretch a little further with each project. Engineers become accustomed to a permissive environment of lax regulation and even laxer enforcement. Standards fall. “This won’t make THAT big of a difference.” “Everybody’s doing it.” “If we get caught, we’ll just pay the fine.” Then along comes Tax Day. Memorial Day. Harvey. May 7th. Or Imelda.
Willful blindness may work well in the short term. All three parties above celebrate record growth. But soon, the corner-cutting catches up. People flood. In Montgomery County AND in downstream communities. Over and over again.
Stealing the Future
When the repeat flooding can no longer credibly be blamed on Acts of God, constituents look for answers elsewhere. But no good answers exist. Because we’ve built infrastructure that won’t support the future and it’s too expensive to change. When everyone wakes up to that, Montgomery County will be another one of those places to avoid. Those who stole its future will move elsewhere and repeat the process. Those left behind and those downstream will pay the price.
Montgomery County Not Alone
Certainly, these same problems exist in other counties. Here in Harris County and the City of Houston, we actually had one project this year for which engineers recommended building underground parking in a floodplain … and erecting multiple high-rise towers on the edge of a floodway … where the San Jacinto river migrated 900 feet toward the tower sites in one storm … and no safe evacuation route existed. And that project got permitted! Only massive public protests managed to stall that one.
But counting on protests for every project to ensure everyone follows the rules is neither realistic nor desirable.
We need a rededication to common good that balances growth and safety.
Start with §137.55 ENGINEERS SHALL PROTECT THE PUBLIC. And don’t forget: §137.57 ENGINEERS SHALL BE OBJECTIVE AND TRUTHFUL.
Each new year represents a time for self-appraisal. It’s time we all looked at ourselves in the mirror and start asking why we permit lapses like these to continue.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 12/30/2019
853 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 101 since Imelda
As always, I welcome opposing points of view. If you disagree with something in this editorial, submit a letter to the editor via the contact page of this site.
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/2019/03/IMG_4346.jpg?fit=1500%2C1125&ssl=111251500adminadmin2019-12-29 23:11:152019-12-30 16:54:38Editorial: Are Engineering Laws and Regulations Routinely Ignored in Montgomery County?
2019 Weather: Year In Review
Jeff Lindner, Harris County Flood Control District Meteorologist compiled this “Year in Review” summary. My thanks to Mr. Lindner and all the other folks at Harris County Flood Control who work so hard to make us aware of and protect us from extreme weather. On average, we had an extreme-weather event somewhere in the county every other week during the year. Some will be tough to forget.
Only 25 Days of Extreme Weather in 2019
January 1: Widespread dense fog with frequent visibilities under .25 of a mile and several locations recording zero visibility develop just after midnight and lasted into the mid morning hours. Air quality sensors recorded extremely unhealthy levels during this episode due to fireworks smoke being trapped near the surface.
January 19: severe thunderstorms produced wind damage in Wharton and in portions of Galveston County.
January 23: back edge of ending rainfall mixed with and changed over to light snow/sleet. Some very light accumulation on rooftops.
February 5: Galveston experienced over 24 hours of sea fog.
April 6: several reports of baseball size hail over Houston, Madison, and Brazos Counties
April 7: Large bow echo produced wind damage over much of SE TX. 62mph wind recorded on Galveston Is and 63mph in Brazos County. EF 1 tornado touchdown in Pasadena destroyed one building. Strong winds overturned several travel trailers at Crystal Beach on Bolivar Peninsula.
April 13: EF 3 tornado strikes Weches in Houston County killing 1 person with a path length of 15 miles and width of 800 yards. EF 3 tornado touches down in Lovelady, TX in Houston County with a path length of 3.9 miles and width of 100 yards. Damage was significant along the tracks of both tornadoes. These tornadoes were part of a larger outbreak that included the Hearne, TX and Franklin, TX tornadoes. Dime to golfball size hail was reported from Bunker Hill to Spring Branch.
April 24: Tornado touches down 4 miles east of Bryan, TX producing damage to 1 house and 4 commercial buildings. The tornado was rated EF 2 at maximum intensity.
May 3: EF 2 Tornado strikes LaGrange, TX. EF 0 Tornado in Eagle Lake, TX, EF 0 tornado near Tomball TX. 62mph wind gust at Eagle Point.
First Large Rain in Lake Houston Area
May 7: 10-12 inches of rainfall across portions of Kingwood and Fort Bend Counties leads to flash flooding. Over 400 homes were flooded in both areas.
May 9: 4-6 inches of rainfall in a short period of time across central Harris County led to flash flooding. Baseball size hail damaged several properties on the north side of Downtown Houston
June 5: 9.25 inches of rainfall occurred at Lane City and 7-8 inches in western Fort Bend County. US 59 in both directions was inundated at Kendleton, TX and homes flooded. Flash flooding reported in Wharton, Boling, Bay City and Pledger.
June 6: 61mph wind gust recorded at San Luis Pass TCOON site. 18-wheeler overturned on I-10 around Columbus due to strong winds.
June 16: 64mph wind gust recorded at Bryan, TX. Glass door blown out of a building on TAMU campus.
June 23: Heat fatality. Child died from being left in a hot car on Bolivar Peninsula.
June 24: 58mph wind gust recorded at Crab lake WeatherFlow site. Lightning strikes caused 2 house fires in western Harris County.
June 25: 70mph wind gust reported NNE of Eagle Point over Galveston Bay.
June 29: 61mph wind gust reported at Galveston North Jetty. Large portions of Bolivar Peninsula were without power.
July 13: Hurricane Barry makes landfall along the south-central Louisiana coast. Impacts to SE TX included elevated seas and tides and a few showers in the western side of the circulation
July 23: a rare summer cool front dropped lows into the 60’s
August 8: the overnight low at Galveston failed to fall below 86 degrees and an afternoon heat index of 117 was recorded requiring a rare Excessive Heat Warning for the extreme coastal areas of SE TX.
August 14: 3 construction workers in Iowa Colony were injured when the house they were working on was struck by lightning. Lightning also struck an apartment complex off Almeda-Genoa Rd resulting in an attic fire that destroyed 1 unit.
The Big One for Everyone
September 17-19: Tropical Storm Imelda makes landfall over Brazoria County and meanders northward across SE TX producing tremendous rainfall and flash flooding. Early on the morning of the 19th an extensive band of heavy thunderstorms producing extreme amounts of rainfall developed from Jefferson County to east-central Montgomery County. Rainfall rates under this band frequently exceeded 4.0-5.0 inches per hour with a few locations receiving over 6.0 inches per hour. This band of excessive rainfall drifted south-southwest in Harris County by mid morning.
31.0 inches of rainfall was recorded in just 12 hours at Fannett, TX near the Chambers/Jefferson County line with a storm total of 44.29 inches of rainfall at that site. The 44.29 inches recorded at Fannett, TX makes TS Imelda the 4th wettest tropical cyclone in Texas history and the 5th wettest in US history dating back to 1851. A 48-hour rainfall total of 29.1 inches was recorded in northeast Harris County near Huffman with 30.4 inches recorded in southeast Montgomery County near Plum Grove. 6.5 inches of rain fell in just 1 hour over the Aldine area of Harris County. A total of 3,990 homes were flooded in Harris County alone with an additional several thousand flooded in Montgomery, Liberty, Chambers, and Jefferson Counties.
Posted by Bob Rehak on December 31, 2019
854 since Hurricane Harvey and 103 since Imelda
Builders Battle Basic Rule Changes After Harvey
A Houston Chronicle article by Chris Tomlinson talks about things builders could do to make their properties more flood safe.
Innovative Products that Could Reduce Runoff
They include things like Porous Pave, made from recycled plastic, tires, and pavement. “Porous Pave is mixed and applied like asphalt, but once set, it is absorbent and permeable. Rather than water running into storm drains, the material soaks up the rain directs it into the sand underlying it,” says Tomlinson. Many people use the product for gardens, patios, and paths.
Porous Pave will pass 5,800 gallons of water per hour per square foot. The manufacturer also claims it offers:
I think we should test this in East End Park, perhaps on some hills where we continually encounter erosion problems.
Concrete Substitutes
Another product, Grid Pavers uses “plastic frames that keep soil and gravel from washing away while allowing grass to grow from underneath. They also prevent rainwater run-off by directing it to the ground.” Unfortunately, it’s more expensive than concrete, so rarely used in Houston.
Many countries around the world, mandate the use of such products, says Tomlinson. For a fascinating look into a better future, check out his story.
Rule Changes Resisted
However, the Chronicle article also discusses things the building industry in the Houston area is resisting – like adding more detention, as we saw in Montgomery County last August. Or updating flood maps.
Says Tomlinson, “The men and women who build our city are outraged that elected officials want to update our flood maps and force them to acknowledge their land is flood-prone.”
That’s because builders in flood zones must follow tighter rules for things, such as permeable cover, detention and elevation.
Collective Action Required To Make Meaningful Change
Tomlinson concludes the article with an admonishment. “Increasing the ground’s absorbency on a large scale can make the difference between a flooded lawn and a flooded home. But it depends on collective action, and unfortunately, the developers and builders of Houston are more interested in private profit than a more resilient community.”
Certainly, not all builders fall into that category. But enough do to create a competitive disadvantage for those who would like to do the right thing.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 12/30/2019
853 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 101 since Imelda
Editorial: Are Engineering Laws and Regulations Routinely Ignored in Montgomery County?
This is an editorial about engineering laws and regulations that seem to be routinely ignored in Montgomery County. It is based on previous reporting about flooding in the Lake Houston Area.
I don’t wish to demonize engineering, one of the most honorable professions around. If you’re one of the vast majority of honest, ethical professional engineers who strive daily to serve clients and protect the public, thank you. You can stop reading here. This editorial is not about you. It IS for the few who ignore their professional code of ethics, Texas laws and regulations.
Job #1 of Professional Engineers: To Protect the Public
The law in Texas says that the highest obligation of Professional Engineers is to protect the public. Yet consider these stories I reported on in the last year. Together, they illustrate a pattern that speaks of other priorities.
A Culture of Collusion and Willful Blindness
Examples like these abound. They erode public safety. And in fact, in many cases, homes have flooded. Hundreds. Perhaps thousands. These represent only the stories I have documented.
If these were isolated incidents, you could blame them on occasional human error or bad judgment.
Lack of Checks and Balances
The collusion is between three groups that should provide checks and balances on each other, but do not.
As one engineer told me, “You don’t grow by telling clients they can’t do something. Word spreads quickly. Clients go elsewhere.”
Pretty soon a numbness sets in. Ethical excursions stretch a little further with each project. Engineers become accustomed to a permissive environment of lax regulation and even laxer enforcement. Standards fall. “This won’t make THAT big of a difference.” “Everybody’s doing it.” “If we get caught, we’ll just pay the fine.” Then along comes Tax Day. Memorial Day. Harvey. May 7th. Or Imelda.
Willful blindness may work well in the short term. All three parties above celebrate record growth. But soon, the corner-cutting catches up. People flood. In Montgomery County AND in downstream communities. Over and over again.
Stealing the Future
When the repeat flooding can no longer credibly be blamed on Acts of God, constituents look for answers elsewhere. But no good answers exist. Because we’ve built infrastructure that won’t support the future and it’s too expensive to change. When everyone wakes up to that, Montgomery County will be another one of those places to avoid. Those who stole its future will move elsewhere and repeat the process. Those left behind and those downstream will pay the price.
Montgomery County Not Alone
Certainly, these same problems exist in other counties. Here in Harris County and the City of Houston, we actually had one project this year for which engineers recommended building underground parking in a floodplain … and erecting multiple high-rise towers on the edge of a floodway … where the San Jacinto river migrated 900 feet toward the tower sites in one storm … and no safe evacuation route existed. And that project got permitted! Only massive public protests managed to stall that one.
But counting on protests for every project to ensure everyone follows the rules is neither realistic nor desirable.
My apologies, if I have offended anyone with generalizations that don’t apply. To the few who may need reminders, may I suggest rereading the laws and regulations governing professional engineers in the State of Texas.
Each new year represents a time for self-appraisal. It’s time we all looked at ourselves in the mirror and start asking why we permit lapses like these to continue.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 12/30/2019
853 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 101 since Imelda
As always, I welcome opposing points of view. If you disagree with something in this editorial, submit a letter to the editor via the contact page of this site.
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.