Decades ago, I had a house that flooded due to frozen pipes. It wasn’t pretty, but it was expensive. So this warning goes out to all those residents who may still be working on flood repairs and don’t yet have insulation back in place.
ALERTHOUSTON Freeze Warning Issued for Houston from Midnight – 9 AM Tuesday
Weather Information The National Weather Service has issued a Freeze Warning for Houston from midnight to 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 5. As of 6PM, Monday, NWS predicts temps in the City could go down to 27 degrees.
In northern counties, though, the situation is more severe. Temps could fall below freezing by 9PM and go as low as 24 along a line from Brenham to Livingston.
A Freeze Warning means sub-freezing temperatures are highly likely. Cold weather can pose a danger to the health and safety. Proper care should be taken to reduce exposure to these conditions.
Protective Actions
When cold weather occurs, Houstonians should remember to protect the Four ‘P’s: People, Pets, Pipes, and Plants.
People
Dress in warm, layered clothing, including gloves, a coat, and a hat when you are outside.
Never leave children or the elderly in vehicles during cold weather, as they can act as refrigerators and expose anyone inside to sub-freezing temperatures.
Never use a generator, grill, camp-stove, or any gasoline, propane, natural gas or charcoal-burning device to heat your home (or any enclosed area). These devices can generate carbon monoxide, which cannot be seen or smelled, but is deadly.
Check on family, friends, and neighbors who may be susceptible to this week’s cold weather and/or not have access to housing and heating, including the elderly and those with special needs.
The Coalition for the Homeless is coordinating information for partner agencies and the general public and is keeping an updated list of those resources for individuals who may be experiencing homelessness:
Pets
Protect your pets by ensuring that they have a warm, safe place to sleep. The best place for a pet to sleep is in a heated environment.
Do not shave your dog down to the skin in winter. A longer coat provides more warmth.
Never leave your animal in a car during cold weather. Cars can act as refrigerators in the winter, holding in the cold and causing animals to freeze to death.
During cold weather, pipes may freeze and rupture, causing water leaks and damage to your home. Protect your home by opening the cabinets under kitchen and bathroom sinks to allow air from your home’s heater to warm the pipes under the sink.
Insulate outdoor faucets and pipes with insulation or newspaper, and be sure to disconnect and drain hoses from outdoor spigots.
Plants
Protect plants from freezing by covering them with plant-cover fabric, or a light blanket with plastic sheeting on top of it.
Bring in potted plants or group them together, near the edge of a building. Remember that soil in containers can get just as cold as the air temperature, and cause the roots to freeze, even if the above-surface leafs survive.
Sign Up for Alerts
AlertHouston is the City of Houston’s official emergency notification service. For updates on this situation, visit houstontx.gov/emergency.
After having my pipes freeze once, I never wanted it to happen again. So I set my faucets to drip at a slow rate whenever we get a hard freeze warning like this. Remember, hot water freezes before cold, so it’s most important to drip your hot water faucets – if you are going to do it. This is counter-intuitive. It’s like something out of Roswell. But it’s real. It’s called the Mpemba Effect. I’m sure all of the science classes in the Humble ISD will be buzzing about this tomorrow. In the meantime, good luck tonight.
Posted by Bob Rehak on March 4, 2019
552 Days after Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/image.png?fit=400%2C400&ssl=1400400adminadmin2019-03-04 18:03:322019-03-04 18:13:19Watch Your Pipes Tonight!
In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, many officials complained bitterly that money from the State’s “rainy day” fund couldn’t be used for flood mitigation projects. Former Harris County Judge Ed Emmett often said, “If Harvey wasn’t a rainy day, I don’t know what is!”
Creighton Introduces Bill That Could Speed Flood Mitigation
Responding to a need that many recognized, in February, Texas State Senator Brandon Creighton introduced SB 695. On March 1, it went to the Senate Water and Rural Affairs Committee. It relates to state policies and programs that affect the funding of flood planning, mitigation, and infrastructure projects.
SB 695 went to the Senate Water and Rural Affairs Committee last Friday.
Creighton’s bill would appropriate $3 billion from the state’s economic stabilization fund to a dedicated flood infrastructure fund. The purpose: to make low- or no-interest loans to cities, counties, and water authorities for:
(1) planning for flood protection;
(2) preparing applications for obtaining regulatory approvals at the local, state, or federal level;
(3) activities associated with administrative or legal proceedings by regulatory agencies; and
(4) preparing engineering plans or specifications to provide structural or nonstructural flood mitigation or drainage.
$3 Billion In Ready Cash Could Streamline Process
The main benefit: the bill provides ready cash in emergencies, such as Harvey, to jumpstart mitigation projects.
Because of the complicated way that grant funding now works, political entities must often apply for grants to raise the money for a local match to then apply for a larger grant. The result: lengthy delays.
Example: it took 18 months to obtain $2 million for a San Jacinto River Basin Study that will take another 12-18 months to execute. By the time people start acting on the findings, it could be another year or two.
This important bill deserves everyone’s support, Democrats and Republicans alike. It could be one of the most important pieces of legislation taken up this year. My understanding is that former Harris County Judge Emmett, Harris County Flood Control and Houston Stronger all backed the idea.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 3/4/2019
552 Days after Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/capitole_1024.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=17681024adminadmin2019-03-03 19:13:162019-03-03 19:38:39Senator Creighton Introduces Bill that Could Speed Up Flood Planning, Mitigation
A knowledgeable reader with an engineering background looked at this morning’s post about flood-bond projects approved to date. He made an observation that, frankly, fleetingly occurred to me also. He said that the majority of the projects seem to be upstream rather than down. He also questioned the wisdom of that. Should we not start downstream and work back up? That way, he said, you don’t accelerate water rushing downstream to get caught behind a mouth bar. His fear: it could make flooding worse in downstream communities.
Official Flood Control Response
HCFCD logo
So I called Matt Zeve, the Deputy Executive Director at Harris County Flood Control. I related the reader’s concern and asked him why the commissioners approved the projects that they have.
It comes down to three things. said Zeve.
First and foremost, Flood Control didn’t want to stop any projects that were in the works and about to kick off when the bond was passed. Flood control was already pretty far down the road with most of the projects that have been approved.
Second, they have responded to extreme community pressure in some cases.
Third, the availability of partner funding accelerated some projects, too. For instance, two weeks ago, the County received commitments from FEMA, City of Houston, Montgomery County and the SJRA for the San Jacinto River Basin Study. The county quickly approved its share also. The intent: to honor commitments from partners that extend County funding.
Those all sounded like valid reasons. Zeve also acknowledged that in an orderly world, he would have preferred moving from downstream to upstream. Perhaps that may happen as the priority order of bond projects becomes finalized.
But in reality, other factors like partner funding may alter the order. I have to believe that if FEMA came up with $50 million to remove the mouth bar, the dredgers would attack it tomorrow.
Zeve now estimates that the new list should be posted by end-of-day Monday. Check back. We’ll see how Rev 2.0 changes the order now that the low-to-moderate income (LMI) ranking has been removed.
Posted by Bob Rehak on March 2, 2019
550 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/logo.png?fit=110%2C130&ssl=1130110adminadmin2019-03-02 17:43:442019-03-02 17:57:36Why Most Flood-Bond Projects Approved to Date Appear to Favor Upstream Locations
Watch Your Pipes Tonight!
Decades ago, I had a house that flooded due to frozen pipes. It wasn’t pretty, but it was expensive. So this warning goes out to all those residents who may still be working on flood repairs and don’t yet have insulation back in place.
ALERTHOUSTON Freeze Warning Issued for Houston from Midnight – 9 AM Tuesday
Weather Information The National Weather Service has issued a Freeze Warning for Houston from midnight to 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 5. As of 6PM, Monday, NWS predicts temps in the City could go down to 27 degrees.
In northern counties, though, the situation is more severe. Temps could fall below freezing by 9PM and go as low as 24 along a line from Brenham to Livingston.
A Freeze Warning means sub-freezing temperatures are highly likely. Cold weather can pose a danger to the health and safety. Proper care should be taken to reduce exposure to these conditions.
Protective Actions
When cold weather occurs, Houstonians should remember to protect the Four ‘P’s: People, Pets, Pipes, and Plants.
People
Pets
Pipes
Plants
Sign Up for Alerts
AlertHouston is the City of Houston’s official emergency notification service. For updates on this situation, visit houstontx.gov/emergency.
To sign up for alerts, visit https://www.houstonemergency.org/alerts/.
Some Personal Advice
After having my pipes freeze once, I never wanted it to happen again. So I set my faucets to drip at a slow rate whenever we get a hard freeze warning like this. Remember, hot water freezes before cold, so it’s most important to drip your hot water faucets – if you are going to do it. This is counter-intuitive. It’s like something out of Roswell. But it’s real. It’s called the Mpemba Effect. I’m sure all of the science classes in the Humble ISD will be buzzing about this tomorrow. In the meantime, good luck tonight.
Posted by Bob Rehak on March 4, 2019
552 Days after Hurricane Harvey
Senator Creighton Introduces Bill that Could Speed Up Flood Planning, Mitigation
In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, many officials complained bitterly that money from the State’s “rainy day” fund couldn’t be used for flood mitigation projects. Former Harris County Judge Ed Emmett often said, “If Harvey wasn’t a rainy day, I don’t know what is!”
Creighton Introduces Bill That Could Speed Flood Mitigation
Responding to a need that many recognized, in February, Texas State Senator Brandon Creighton introduced SB 695. On March 1, it went to the Senate Water and Rural Affairs Committee. It relates to state policies and programs that affect the funding of flood planning, mitigation, and infrastructure projects.
Creighton’s bill would appropriate $3 billion from the state’s economic stabilization fund to a dedicated flood infrastructure fund. The purpose: to make low- or no-interest loans to cities, counties, and water authorities for:
(1) planning for flood protection;
(2) preparing applications for obtaining regulatory approvals at the local, state, or federal level;
(3) activities associated with administrative or legal proceedings by regulatory agencies; and
(4) preparing engineering plans or specifications to provide structural or nonstructural flood mitigation or drainage.
$3 Billion In Ready Cash Could Streamline Process
The main benefit: the bill provides ready cash in emergencies, such as Harvey, to jumpstart mitigation projects.
Because of the complicated way that grant funding now works, political entities must often apply for grants to raise the money for a local match to then apply for a larger grant. The result: lengthy delays.
Example: it took 18 months to obtain $2 million for a San Jacinto River Basin Study that will take another 12-18 months to execute. By the time people start acting on the findings, it could be another year or two.
Hopefully, Creighton’s SB 695 will reduce the time between problems and solutions so that Texas citizens face less flood risk. Click here, to download and review the full text.
Bill Deserves Bi-Partisan Support
This important bill deserves everyone’s support, Democrats and Republicans alike. It could be one of the most important pieces of legislation taken up this year. My understanding is that former Harris County Judge Emmett, Harris County Flood Control and Houston Stronger all backed the idea.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 3/4/2019
552 Days after Hurricane Harvey
Why Most Flood-Bond Projects Approved to Date Appear to Favor Upstream Locations
A knowledgeable reader with an engineering background looked at this morning’s post about flood-bond projects approved to date. He made an observation that, frankly, fleetingly occurred to me also. He said that the majority of the projects seem to be upstream rather than down. He also questioned the wisdom of that. Should we not start downstream and work back up? That way, he said, you don’t accelerate water rushing downstream to get caught behind a mouth bar. His fear: it could make flooding worse in downstream communities.
Official Flood Control Response
So I called Matt Zeve, the Deputy Executive Director at Harris County Flood Control. I related the reader’s concern and asked him why the commissioners approved the projects that they have.
It comes down to three things. said Zeve.
Those all sounded like valid reasons. Zeve also acknowledged that in an orderly world, he would have preferred moving from downstream to upstream. Perhaps that may happen as the priority order of bond projects becomes finalized.
Update on Rest of he Priority List
Zeve emphasized that the Flood Control District is working on a rational basis for prioritizing the remainder of the projects on the flood-bond list using criteria, such as worst-first.
Zeve now estimates that the new list should be posted by end-of-day Monday. Check back. We’ll see how Rev 2.0 changes the order now that the low-to-moderate income (LMI) ranking has been removed.
Posted by Bob Rehak on March 2, 2019
550 Days since Hurricane Harvey