Three Ways to Find Out If You Are In a Floodplain

Here are three quick and easy ways to find out if you are in a mapped floodplain of any kind.

FEMA – National Scope

The first site is FEMA’s National Flood Hazard Layer Viewer. Using this site, you can check any piece of property in the country…including Pike’s Peak or Walden Pond…just in case you want to do a Thoreau.

Another benefit of the FEMA site is that it spans county boundaries, i.e., if you live on the Harris/Montgomery County Line.

FEMA’s National Flood Hazard Layer Viewer can track creeks, etc. across county lines. Please note the big green space in the center of the frame. This is the new Perry Homes development, Woodridge Forest. Neither the FEMA map, nor the MoCo map below contain flood zone information for this area although much of it was wetlands before Perry clear cut it.

Harris County

Harris County operates a site called “Flood Education Mapping Tool.” The Harris County site superimposes drainage ditches, streams, creeks, bayous and rivers and even gives you their names and numbers. Very helpful if you want to report a problem some day, or track up or downstream to see where drainage issues may be originating.

Detail from Harris County map showing only drainage features and major streets in the Lake Houston Area.

Montgomery County

Montgomery County operates a site called “Am I in a Floodplain?” It includes some very helpful interactive tools, topographic maps and more.

People on Killerbee Lane will be pleased to know that they are not in any mapped floodplain.

Benefits of County Sites

According to Diane Cooper, a hydrologist with more than 20 years of experience in forecasting floods, both of the County sites have better imagery and more layers than the FEMA site.

Layers comprise one of the key features of both county sites. Experiment with them. I’m especially fond of the background layers.

They let you see the flood zones superimposed over simple maps, satellite images, historical satellite images, and more. The Montgomery County site even lets you click on streets and information about them pops up. I learned, for instance, that one subdivision in MoCo has a street named Paper Wasp Lane. You really don’t want to mess with the people on that street! It’s not far from Killerbee Lane. Let’s get up a football game between those two streets! I’d pay to see that.

Posted by Bob Rehak on October 10, 2019, with help from Diane Cooper

771 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 20 since Imelda

FEMA Individual Assistance Now Available For People, Businesses Flooded by Imelda

Houston City Council Member Dave Martin announced today that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is now offering assistance to Houston residents affected by Tropical Storm Imelda.

Several homes that flooded in Woodstream subdivision. Imelda affected at least 49 homes in this one subdivision.

Applications for FEMA Individual Assistance for Imelda recovery will be open through Tuesday, December 3, 2019. FEMA may provide Houston home owners, certain types of renters, and businesses with the following types of assistance:

  • Home/Primary Residence: FEMA provides assistance to individuals and families who have lost their homes as a result of a presidentially-declared disaster. If you are a renter or homeowner you may qualify for assistance. By law, FEMA assistance cannot duplicate the assistance you receive from your insurance company, but you may receive assistance for items not covered by insurance. If your home was impacted by a major disaster, FEMA recommends that you apply for assistance by clicking here.
  • NOTE: FEMA does not offer assistance for a secondary home. Federal guidelines only allows FEMA to provide housing assistance when your primary residence is impacted by a presidentially-declared disaster.
  • Business: FEMA does not offer assistance for small businesses impacted by a presidentially-declared disaster. However, FEMA partners with the Small Business Administration (SBA), which offers low interest loans for business damages. Learn more about the business loan application process by clicking here. 
  • Other Needs Assistance: FEMA offers disaster assistance for some of your other disaster-caused expenses including, medical and dental, child care, funeral and burial, essential household items, moving and storage, vehicle, and some clean-up items.

Click here or call 1-800-621-FEMA for more information. Residents can visit www.houstonrecovers.org for additional recovery information. 

Información en español: https://www.disasterassistance.gov/es. 

For questions regarding the FEMA application process, please contact your Federal Representative as FEMA is a federal agency. To find out who represents you at a federal level, please click here. 

Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/8/2019

770 Days after Hurricane Harvey and 19 after Imelda

Stunning New Imelda Images Show Stream of Muck Coming Down Shady Maple From Direction of Woodridge Village

Note: If you have pictures of Imelda that you would like to share, please send them in via the Submissions page on this web site. Remember to identify time, date, location and describe what’s happening in the photo.

Where Shady Maple intersects Rustling Elms in Elm Grove, Melanie Bankston and her husband captured some stunning images on the morning of September 19th as Imelda raged across the area. The images show a distinct zebra pattern in the water rushing down the street. Taken as a series, they indicate that:

  • Shady Maple (the street) initially flooded from pure rainwater, not Taylor Gully or Woodridge Village
  • Later, murky brown, sediment-laden water, streamed down the street
  • Woodridge Village did not contain its stormwater as the law mandates.

Because of the way Shady Maple curves, I’ve included this satellite image for orientation purposes. The red arrow indicates the angle of view in the photos. Bankston shot across Shady Maple toward the bridge on Rustling Elms and Taylor Gully.

At 9:37 a.m.

“At 9:37am that we couldn’t clearly see brown water,” said Blankston.

Video at 9:52

At 9:52 a.m. most of the water in the street is still running clear. Note the speed of the trash can as it floats by. Taylor Gully is in the background. You can see it under the crepe myrtle. Also note how the water in the street is rushing toward Taylor Gully, an indication that the water in the gully was lower than in the street.

By 10:37 a.m.

By 10:37 a.m., murky brown water was coming down Shady Maple from the direction of Woodridge Village, where Perry Homes had clearcut 268 acres without installing detention to hold a hundred year storm. Regulations and permits obligated them to do so. Note the distinct color difference between the rainwater that had been rising in the street and the new invading water.
This closer shot was taken seconds later. In it, you can see how the color of muddy water invading the street matches the color of muddy water in Taylor Gully behind the crepe myrtle. At this point in Taylor Gully, the water came almost exclusively from Woodridge Village.

By 11:25

By 11:25 a.m., Taylor Gully had overflowed. The two streams of muddy water merged and started to displace the clearer rainwater in the street.

Likely Path of Water from Woodridge

Erosion signs, silt fences that were pushed over, a trail of damaged homes, and eyewitness statements indicate that water from Woodridge backed up behind the twin culverts at the county line. At a certain point, the detention ponds started overflowing. That’s when water pushed into the streets of North Kingwood Forest and Elm Grove.

In North Kingwood Forest, the same types of evidence suggest that muddy water entered Right Way, then River Rose Court, turned the corner on Creek Manor toward Taylor Gully then turned again down Shady Maple toward Rustling Elms. There it turned another corner toward Taylor Gully, until the Gully came out of its banks.

Path of muddy water through the streets of North Kingwood Forest and Elm Grove toward the Bankston Home, Rustling Elms and Taylor Gully.

Emergency Evacuation for Second Time in Four Months

Keith Stewart who lives on the corner of Shady Maple and Creek Manor evacuated his family in a canoe toward Ford Road in Porter. He says the current coming down River Rose was so fast, he struggled against it.

Keith Stewart family evacuating Elm Grove on 9.19.19. Stewart had just made the turn from Creek Manor, north onto River Rose. He was struggling against the current while taking this shot. Shown in the picture are his wife Jennifer, son Gabriel, and brother-in-law Ambrose Johnson.

The water also overflowed into several surrounding streets, such as Forest Springs. There, Jeff Miller’s security camera picked up the same sudden surge of silty water.

Implications

Aside from the stunning and unusual amateur photography, the content of these images represents yet more evidence that Perry Homes, its subsidiaries and contractors failed to contain stormwater runoff as they were obligated to do by law. Hundreds of families in Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest paid for that failure.

The Perry gang had only installed about a quarter of the detention on their site before Imelda. The other three quarters of the rain had to go somewhere else and it did.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/7/2019

769 Days after Harvey and 18 after Imelda

The thoughts expressed in this post represent my opinions on matters of public interest and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.