On July 23rd, the Texas A&M Agrilife Extenstion, FEMA and Texas Community Watershed Partners held a Community Health and Resource Management workshop. Attendees included 29 officials, municipal staff, and stakeholders from Conroe, Patton Village, Montgomery County, Harris County Flood Control District, SJRA, Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District, the Bayou Land Conservance, Red Cross, United Way and more.
Community Health and Resources Management Workshop in action.
Protecting Growth from Flooding
Organizers dedicated the majority of the workshop to using a GIS (Geographic Information System) mapping platform, developed by AgriLife Extension’s Texas Community Watershed Partners. The platform allows communities to digitally draw different growth and development scenarios on a map of their community. Then they can see the implications, in real time. Which scenarios will increase or decrease disaster risk?
The organizers challenged participants to double growth without increasing flood risk. The outcomes of the workshop have real-life implications for urban planning, building codes, flood mitigation and disaster recovery.
The teams in the workshop explored strategies, such as:
Creation of more detention areas
Public Education
Flood Planning with community leaders
Filling
Public Involvement
Education on flood insurance
Messaging on flood risk
Buyouts
Apply for HUD Community Development Block Grants
Implementing higher standards
Changes in Building Codes
Collaboration with agencies, organizations
Buyouts
Future studies
And more
This presentation provides an excellent demonstration of the linkage between planning, land use and long-term-risk.
External Links in Presentation Lead to Valuable Tools
One of the most valuable parts of the presentation: links to related resources from participants and planners.
For instance, this base-flood elevation viewer contained information that FEMA’s national flood hazard layer viewer did not. Using the former tool, I was able to look up Woodridge Village in Montgomery County. I found that much of it was in the high risk 1-percent flood plain. That explains why the developer is raising it so much.
All in all, if you have five minutes to explore this presentation, it could help you connect some dots.
Posted by Bob Rehak with thanks to Paul Crowson and Bob Bagley
733 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Screen-Shot-2019-09-01-at-3.36.49-PM-copy.jpg?fit=2872%2C1712&ssl=117122872adminadmin2019-09-01 18:17:012019-09-01 18:17:09Lessons from A&M Community Health and Resource Management Workshop for East Montgomery County
Secrecy surrounds current dredging plans for the mouth bar of the San Jacinto West Fork. We know that the Corps will finish removing 500,000 cubic yards next week. However…
Unkowns at This Time
… we don’t know exactly where they are removing sediment, how wide the area is, how deep it is, and whether they will cut a channel through the sediment dam or just shave some off the top.
Mouth Bar of the San Jacinto West Fork immediately after Harvey
The Corps’ refusal to divulge plans puts residents in a bind. How can we know whether they have restored conveyance and safety? We must take their word. We don’t even have a post-dredge survey showing us how they intend to leave the river.
Two Prominent Geologist Suggest Objectives
With those caveats in mind, I asked Tim Garfield and RD Kissling what objectives they would set to restore conveyance and safety. Garfield and Kissling are two prominent area geologists who first brought the mouth-bar problems to the public’s attention. Between them, they have more than 80 years of oil field experience at the highest levels, studying river basins around the world.
Here’s how they responded: “Our overriding objectives are simple:
Restore flow conveyance of the west fork into Lake Houston
Survey the entire area being dredged for depth upon completion.
Extend the upstream dredging which ended near Kings Harbor through the mouth bar area. Said another way, don’t make water flow uphill. Eliminate the ramp.
Continue the 400’ wide, approximately 20′ deep channel past the SMB until it connects into the relict channel where it is 20’ deep or deeper near the FM1960 bridge.
Develop and implement a plan for regular maintenance dredging.
Define responsibilities, budget and source of funding for future dredging.
Define a schedule of regular depth surveys in order to determine where sediments are re-accumulating and to have a better baseline for future storm events.
Build and utilize 2D- or 3D-models to help guide future dredging decisions.
Resolve disposal issues. Identify long-term placement areas and potential partnerships with industry.”
Who Will Achieve Desired Results?
These objectives make sense to me. They describe what the river used to look like before the mouth bar set up and contributed to flooding 7,000 homes and businesses. They also describe what we need to do to keep the problem from recurring. If the Corps doesn’t achieve the desired result, I hope the City, Harris County and State can. You can help by urging elected representatives to get FEMA to designate the mouth bar sediment as Category A.
Corps May Share Results When Dredging Complete
According to Congressman Dan Crenshaw’s office, the Corps has finally agreed to share with outside sources the 1D HEC-RAS model it built. Reportedly, the Corps sent a copy of the model and data to Stephen Costello, the City of Houston’s Chief Recovery Officer. Crenshaw’s office is also trying to obtain the Corps’ dredging plans and make them public.
It will be interesting to see how the Corps’ dredging results line up with Garfield’s and Kissling’s objectives.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/31/2019
732 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Harvey-SanJac_437-cropped-e1775595968700.jpg?fit=1100%2C456&ssl=14561100adminadmin2019-08-31 14:21:182019-08-31 14:28:21Lake Houston Area Geologists Propose Dredging Objectives to Restore Conveyance, Safety
Having barely scratched the surface of the mouth bar of the San Jacinto West Fork, FEMA and the Army Corps will pack up their gear next week and call their job done. Last-ditch pleas by the City of Houston, Harris County and the State of Texas to get the federal government to extend its dredging program have fallen on deaf ears, perhaps because of the shifting of disaster relief funds to the construction of migrant detention facilities.
Mouth bar of the West Fork shortly after start of supplemental dredging. Photo courtesy of BCAeronautics.
Regardless, the bottom line is this: the Corps and FEMA will leave millions of cubic yards of sediment in place without restoring conveyance of the West Fork to a prior good condition.
The pullout caps months of arguments over how much sediment Harvey deposited. The City estimated 1.4 million cubic yards and the Corps 500,000.
According to City Council Member Dave Martin, the Corps agreed Harvey deposited 1.4 million cubic yards of sediment in the river near the mouth bar. The Corps also agreed, said Martin, that there was nothing wrong with the Tetra Tech study that arrived at that total.
Waffling by Corps
As late as last Friday, Martin said, the Corps agreed to write a letter to FEMA, recommending dredging more than the 500,000 cubic yards. The letter would say that almost a million cubic yards of Harvey-related sediment remained in the river and should be removed. However, at a meeting in Austin this Tuesday, the Corps revealed that FEMA told it not to write the letter. The Corps now intends to demobilize equipment as soon as it finishes dredging 500,000 cubic yards from the mouth bar. That should only take until next week.
With the year-long dredging program now almost complete and perhaps less than a quarter of the sediment removed that is required to restore the natural flow of the river, what will happen next? We have some hope.
The Corps has finally approved Berry Madden’s property as a storage site for 500,000 cubic yards. That should be enough to get the next phase of the program started while the City seeks additional storage sites.
The City has committed to a maintenance dredging program according to Martin.
The State and Harris County have earmarked $30 million and $10 million respectively to continue dredging.
Tell them that you support the Category A designation and see the mouth bar removal as crucial to public safety with a letter like the one below.
Sample Letter
Subject: PLEASE CLASSIFY MOUTH BAR REMNANTS AS CATEGORY A
Dear _____________:
Thank you for helping to make dredging of the San Jacinto West Fork a priority. It will help reduce flooding, protect property, save lives, and improve public safety.
However, part of the existing mouth-bar located at the confluence of the San Jacinto River and Lake Houston remains.
I’m writing to enlist your support in urging the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) to designate that remaining debris as Category A for reimbursement.
Category A designation will allow the City of Houston to:
Utilize existing resources and pre-positioned contracts
Save nearly $20 million associated with mobilization
Protect life, property and safety
Field data collected by the City of Houston and provided to FEMA demonstrates that the remaining debris was directly associated with Hurricane Harvey. As of August 20, 2019, the City of Houston has proactively secured a third United States Army Corps of Engineers permitted disposal site needed for the additional debris.
Your assistance is crucial to rehabilitate the San Jacinto River to its prior good condition. Please urge FEMA to grant this Category A designation. It will let the City of Houston continue rebuilding from Harvey.
Sincerely,
INSERT
YOUR NAME
YOUR ADDRESS
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/30/2019with drone photo from BCAeronautics
731 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/BCAeronautics-Mouth-Bar-1.jpg?fit=1500%2C1125&ssl=111251500adminadmin2019-08-30 00:41:112019-08-30 00:46:32FEMA/Corps To Stop Dredging Mouth Bar Before Finishing Job; What You Can Do
Lessons from A&M Community Health and Resource Management Workshop for East Montgomery County
On July 23rd, the Texas A&M Agrilife Extenstion, FEMA and Texas Community Watershed Partners held a Community Health and Resource Management workshop. Attendees included 29 officials, municipal staff, and stakeholders from Conroe, Patton Village, Montgomery County, Harris County Flood Control District, SJRA, Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District, the Bayou Land Conservance, Red Cross, United Way and more.
Protecting Growth from Flooding
Organizers dedicated the majority of the workshop to using a GIS (Geographic Information System) mapping platform, developed by AgriLife Extension’s Texas Community Watershed Partners. The platform allows communities to digitally draw different growth and development scenarios on a map of their community. Then they can see the implications, in real time. Which scenarios will increase or decrease disaster risk?
The organizers challenged participants to double growth without increasing flood risk. The outcomes of the workshop have real-life implications for urban planning, building codes, flood mitigation and disaster recovery.
Here is the entire presentation of outcomes from the workshop.
Strategies Explored by Participants
The teams in the workshop explored strategies, such as:
External Links in Presentation Lead to Valuable Tools
One of the most valuable parts of the presentation: links to related resources from participants and planners.
For instance, this base-flood elevation viewer contained information that FEMA’s national flood hazard layer viewer did not. Using the former tool, I was able to look up Woodridge Village in Montgomery County. I found that much of it was in the high risk 1-percent flood plain. That explains why the developer is raising it so much.
All in all, if you have five minutes to explore this presentation, it could help you connect some dots.
Posted by Bob Rehak with thanks to Paul Crowson and Bob Bagley
733 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Lake Houston Area Geologists Propose Dredging Objectives to Restore Conveyance, Safety
Secrecy surrounds current dredging plans for the mouth bar of the San Jacinto West Fork. We know that the Corps will finish removing 500,000 cubic yards next week. However…
Unkowns at This Time
… we don’t know exactly where they are removing sediment, how wide the area is, how deep it is, and whether they will cut a channel through the sediment dam or just shave some off the top.
The Corps’ refusal to divulge plans puts residents in a bind. How can we know whether they have restored conveyance and safety? We must take their word. We don’t even have a post-dredge survey showing us how they intend to leave the river.
Two Prominent Geologist Suggest Objectives
With those caveats in mind, I asked Tim Garfield and RD Kissling what objectives they would set to restore conveyance and safety. Garfield and Kissling are two prominent area geologists who first brought the mouth-bar problems to the public’s attention. Between them, they have more than 80 years of oil field experience at the highest levels, studying river basins around the world.
Here’s how they responded: “Our overriding objectives are simple:
Who Will Achieve Desired Results?
These objectives make sense to me. They describe what the river used to look like before the mouth bar set up and contributed to flooding 7,000 homes and businesses. They also describe what we need to do to keep the problem from recurring. If the Corps doesn’t achieve the desired result, I hope the City, Harris County and State can. You can help by urging elected representatives to get FEMA to designate the mouth bar sediment as Category A.
Corps May Share Results When Dredging Complete
According to Congressman Dan Crenshaw’s office, the Corps has finally agreed to share with outside sources the 1D HEC-RAS model it built. Reportedly, the Corps sent a copy of the model and data to Stephen Costello, the City of Houston’s Chief Recovery Officer. Crenshaw’s office is also trying to obtain the Corps’ dredging plans and make them public.
It will be interesting to see how the Corps’ dredging results line up with Garfield’s and Kissling’s objectives.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/31/2019
732 Days since Hurricane Harvey
FEMA/Corps To Stop Dredging Mouth Bar Before Finishing Job; What You Can Do
Having barely scratched the surface of the mouth bar of the San Jacinto West Fork, FEMA and the Army Corps will pack up their gear next week and call their job done. Last-ditch pleas by the City of Houston, Harris County and the State of Texas to get the federal government to extend its dredging program have fallen on deaf ears, perhaps because of the shifting of disaster relief funds to the construction of migrant detention facilities.
The pullout caps months of arguments over how much sediment Harvey deposited. The City estimated 1.4 million cubic yards and the Corps 500,000.
According to City Council Member Dave Martin, the Corps agreed Harvey deposited 1.4 million cubic yards of sediment in the river near the mouth bar. The Corps also agreed, said Martin, that there was nothing wrong with the Tetra Tech study that arrived at that total.
Waffling by Corps
As late as last Friday, Martin said, the Corps agreed to write a letter to FEMA, recommending dredging more than the 500,000 cubic yards. The letter would say that almost a million cubic yards of Harvey-related sediment remained in the river and should be removed. However, at a meeting in Austin this Tuesday, the Corps revealed that FEMA told it not to write the letter. The Corps now intends to demobilize equipment as soon as it finishes dredging 500,000 cubic yards from the mouth bar. That should only take until next week.
These developments confirm speculation that the Corps “backed into” the 500,000 cubic yard number for reasons unrelated to Harvey. Mystery still surrounds how they arrived at that number. The Corps refused to release many documents related to their decision. A review of their 4-page analysis obtained from the City found numerous issues, logical flaws, and questionable assumptions – uncharacteristic of the Corps.
Next Steps
With the year-long dredging program now almost complete and perhaps less than a quarter of the sediment removed that is required to restore the natural flow of the river, what will happen next? We have some hope.
Your Help Is Needed
However, to make that money stretch far enough to finish the job, we will need FEMA and the Corps to designate the remaining sediment as Category A. City Council Member Dave Martin is sending this letter to all congressional and senatorial representatives in the area. Designating the sediment as Category A will:
Please Contact These Officials
Here’s how you can help. Send the letter below to:
Tell them that you support the Category A designation and see the mouth bar removal as crucial to public safety with a letter like the one below.
Sample Letter
Subject: PLEASE CLASSIFY MOUTH BAR REMNANTS AS CATEGORY A
Dear _____________:
Thank you for helping to make dredging of the San Jacinto West Fork a priority. It will help reduce flooding, protect property, save lives, and improve public safety.
However, part of the existing mouth-bar located at the confluence of the San Jacinto River and Lake Houston remains.
I’m writing to enlist your support in urging the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) to designate that remaining debris as Category A for reimbursement.
Category A designation will allow the City of Houston to:
Field data collected by the City of Houston and provided to FEMA demonstrates that the remaining debris was directly associated with Hurricane Harvey. As of August 20, 2019, the City of Houston has proactively secured a third United States Army Corps of Engineers permitted disposal site needed for the additional debris.
Your assistance is crucial to rehabilitate the San Jacinto River to its prior good condition. Please urge FEMA to grant this Category A designation. It will let the City of Houston continue rebuilding from Harvey.
Sincerely,
INSERT
YOUR NAME
YOUR ADDRESS
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/30/2019 with drone photo from BCAeronautics
731 Days since Hurricane Harvey