At its February 28th meeting, the San Jacinto River Authority voted to maintain its lake-lowering policy for another year. The policy calls for lowering Lake Conroe one foot below normal pool level (from 201 feet to 200) during the wettest months in Spring and two feet during the peak of hurricane season.
Extra Safety from Flooding
Until other mitigation measures can be put in place, the plan gives downstream residents an extra measure of safety from massive releases like those experienced during Hurricane Harvey. Those include dredging and additional flood gates for Lake Houston.
This is good news for the Lake Houston Area where Harvey made approximately 11,000 people homeless overnight.
Complaints from Lake Conroe Association in January Meeting
The Lake Conroe Association set the stage for conflict last month. The Association testified that last year’s lowering had a negative impact on business and home values in the area. They also maintained that the Board had acted unilaterally – without consultation – and that the project was only supposed to last through the end of dredging.
Having been at last year’s meeting where the proposal was discussed, I would disagree with these statements. The board considered dredging and gates for Lake Houston. The board also acted on the report of a consultant hired to review the proposal.
Mark Micheletti, a SJRA board member, said the board had received no complaints from businesses on the lake and that a check with realtors found no negative effect on home prices.
Reportedly, the Lake Conroe Association had also collected signatures on a petition asking for the policy to be reversed. At today’s meeting, the room was crowded with spectators, but I did not see the Association’s president, Mike Bleier. The association presented no petition.
The cataclysmic impacts on Lake Conroe’s economy did not materialize. Because of evaporation, the lowering really only amounted a little more than a foot in the fall.
Speaking for Kingwood
During the public comment section of the meeting, three Kingwood residents, Bill Fowler, Amy Slaughter and I, spoke FOR continuing to lower the lake. So did one Lake Conroe resident who flooded during Harvey.
I pointed out the fact that dredging was NOT yet complete and that the river still had an exaggerated flooding response to moderate rainfalls because of sediment dams. Fowler talked about normal evaporation levels in the lake and how the lowering was not as great as the targets would imply. Slaughter mentioned the impact of flooding on her family and recent Supreme Court rulings on inverse condemnation.
The Lake Conroe resident said he wished the Lake were lowered year round. He flooded during Harvey and thought that the lower levels would actually help Lake Conroe home values.
“But what if there’s a drought?”
When it came time to speak AGAINST the lowering, one man spoke up. He used water conservation as his main argument and posed the specter of drought.
When the board began debating the measure, Jace Houston, SJRA’s general manager, pointed out that many people misunderstood the measure. He said that the SJRA was not going to lower the lake beyond the 1- and 2-foot levels in the policy. If the lake was already down a foot due to evaporation, for instance, the SJRA would release no additional water.
Progress of the current West Fork dredging and Lake Houston Gates projects
Rainfall averages and historical lake levels by month
How the lowering and subsequent raising of the lake worked last fall
Staff recommendations
Graph presented by Chuck Gilman showed how gradual lowering and natural refilling of Lake Conroe worked last year. Gilman also showed a slide discussing the status of additional gates for Lake Houston.
To see all the slides in the original high-resolution PDF format, click here.
Brenda Cooper, a new SJRA Board Member, then mentioned that some Lake Conroe residents had approached her to voice their disapproval of the project.
Motion Passes Unanimously
Board President Lloyd Tisdale finally called for a voice vote. “All members present voted FOR the lowering,” said Mark Micheletti, one of the Lake Houston Area’s two members on the SJRA board. “The vote could not have gone better from the Lake Houston area’s perspective.”
The SJRA will continue to lower Lake Conroe seasonally. The measure will come up for discussion again next February.
Community Reaction
Bill Fowler, Vice Chair of the Lake Houston Area Grass Roots Flood Prevention Initiation, said, “I was impressed by the Board’s firm grasp of the importance of lowering Lake Conroe on a seasonal basis for downstream residents. Their willingness to help until permanent solutions can be implemented impressed me.”
Kaaren Cambio, another SJRA board director from the Lake Houston area, said, “I’m happy that the board is balancing the needs of both upstream and downstream communities.
Amy Slaughter, the Kingwood lawyer whose home flooded badly, said, “They did the right thing.”
Posted by Bob Rehak on February 28, 2019
548 Days After Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2019-Temporary-Seasonal-Lake-Lowering-002_Page_08.jpg?fit=1500%2C871&ssl=18711500adminadmin2019-02-28 18:57:542020-01-17 10:01:45SJRA Board Votes to Maintain Lake-Lowering Policy for Another Year
Eighteen months ago, approximately 11,000 Kingwood, Humble and Atascocita residents went to bed thinking they had escaped the worst of Harvey’s wrath. Hours later, they woke up to find water seeping through their windows, doors and walls in the dark of night. Without any warning. Thanks in part to the release of 80,000 cfs from the Lake Conroe dam.
However, rumor has it that one or more members of the board want to present a petition by Lake Conroe boaters to NOT lower the lake level this year. To everyone who signed that petition, I dedicate this photo essay.
Water Sculptures by Julie Yandell. Taken during evacuation. Yard decorations take on an ominous feeling in the flood.The flood cut off Woodland Hills Drive, a major escape route for people in Kingwood Lakes, the Barrington and Kings Cove.Trash Day in the Barrington after Harvey. Photo by Joy Dominique.Siding from home washed downstream during Harvey. Photo by Dan Monks.Water skiing, anyone? Photo by Sidney Nice of Atascocita Point after Harvey.Sidney Nice’s kitchen after Harvey flooded the house to a depth of 63″.Sidney Nice’s house in Atascocita Point during Harvey.Rebecca Johansen’s front door shows how deep flood waters got in her home … 40 inches.Townhomes on Marina Drive in Forest Cove. Concrete and steel were less effective at preventing erosion than blades of grass.Elderly residents of Kingwood Village Estates trying to escape as Harvey’s floodwaters rose. Twelve residents later died: six as a result of injuries sustained during evacuation and another rise as a result of stress from losing their homes.Marilyn Davenport: Home Damaged During HarveyFrom Ann Crane: “We had over 70 people helping to clear and clean our house. The Kingwood community coming together.”Jennifer Manning: “What 18 inches of floodwater can do to your home.” From Walden on Lake Houston.Jennifer Manning: “We lived in Kingwood from 1992-2012 before buying a house in Walden that was ‘built above the ’94 flood.’ We finished our rehab in June.” Ten months!The Kelsey Seybold Clinic has also been vacant since Harvey. 44% of all businesses in the Lake Houston Area Chamber were damaged. Some will never return.Picture by June Ledet of Harvey flooding in Kingwood. Corner of Kingwood Drive and Forest Garden. Flooding here cut off escape routes for thousands more.
Classroom building at Lone Star College/Kingwood flooded during Harvey after SJRA release. Six of nine buildings flooded causing more than $60 million in damage. The College just fully reopened this month.
Milan Saunders home in Kingwood LakesThat’s all, folks! Harvey flipped the baby grand piano and broke to legs off the heirloom.Repairs to IH-69 took about 10 months and $20 million, disrupting all traffic into and out of the City for hours each day.The mother of all walk in closets…Amy Slaughter’s garage.
Home of a single mother who had just lost her job.
When sewage treatment plants flooded, toilets began flowing in reverse.
So please, Lake Conroe boaters. Let’s keep this in perspective. We understand your inconvenience. Please try to understand ours. Help us recover our lives.
To see more examples of how Harvey affected the lives of Lake Houston Area residents, please see the Submissions Page of this web site. It contains images submitted by residents affected by Harvey. If you have images you would like to share, please send them in via the Submissions Page.
Posted by Bob Rehak on February 28, 2019
548 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG_0082.jpg?fit=1500%2C1125&ssl=111251500adminadmin2019-02-27 21:53:092020-01-17 10:14:23The Night that 11,000 Lake Houston Area People Became Homeless
With barely a spoken word, this video makes an eloquent case for lowering Lake Conroe again this year. It also makes a powerful argument for denying the permit to build 5000 condos and high rises in the surrounding wetlands.
Evacuation from the Barrington during Harvey. Video courtesy of Kenneth and Colleen Ulrich. They moved to Kingwood from New Orleans after Katrina.
Surprise Evacuation
Kenneth Ulrich Jr. shot this video as he and his wife Colleen were forced to evacuate without warning from the Barrington during Harvey.
They share this video on the eve of a key San Jacinto River Authority board meeting. Tomorrow, the board will take up the question of whether to seasonally lower Lake Conroe again this year. The lowering would help provide a margin of safety against flooding like this until other flood mitigation measures can be put in place.
Lake Conroe boaters have complained about the inconvenience of the lower lake levels. The video shows what boating in Kingwood looked like 18 months ago as Harvey’s floodwaters rose.
Many residents escaped with little more than the clothes they wore.
Imagine Evacuating 15,000 People Like This
The video makes another powerful argument. Against the high-rise development proposed for Kingwood. Developers hope to build it around the Barrington which you see here. They want to build 5,000 condos immediately to the north and a string of high rises, including a 50 story hotel, immediately to the south. Kingwood has an average household population density of 2.71. That means this development could add 15,000 people to the area.
Every one of the 283 homes in the Barrington flooded. Imagine trying to evacuate another 15,000 people by boat during the next Harvey.
The developers have planned only one way in and out of this project – Woodland Hills Drive – which will be under water when the next big flood hits.
Clearly, they did not consider evacuation when they planned this development.
How to Register Your Concerns
If you have concerns about the high-rise project, email the US Army Corps of Engineers at: swg_public_notice@usace.army.mil . Make sure you put the project number in the title of the email: SWG-2016-00384 .
To voice your concerns to the SJRA board, attend the board meeting Thursday, Feb. 28 at:
1577 Dam Site Road Conroe, Texas 77304 936.588.3111
Speakers are limited to three minutes each. Business attire is recommended. To reserve time to speak you must sign in by 7:45. The meeting will be in the tall building.
Allow an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half to get there in rush hour traffic from the Humble/Kingwood area.
As always, these are my opinions on matters of public policy. They are protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP statute of the Great State of Texas.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/27/2019
547 Days after Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Barrington-Video-Keyframe.jpg?fit=1500%2C733&ssl=17331500adminadmin2019-02-27 11:49:282020-01-17 10:02:26Video of Barrington Evacuation During Harvey Makes Case for Lowering Lake Conroe, Nixing High-Rise Development
SJRA Board Votes to Maintain Lake-Lowering Policy for Another Year
At its February 28th meeting, the San Jacinto River Authority voted to maintain its lake-lowering policy for another year. The policy calls for lowering Lake Conroe one foot below normal pool level (from 201 feet to 200) during the wettest months in Spring and two feet during the peak of hurricane season.
Extra Safety from Flooding
Until other mitigation measures can be put in place, the plan gives downstream residents an extra measure of safety from massive releases like those experienced during Hurricane Harvey. Those include dredging and additional flood gates for Lake Houston.
This is good news for the Lake Houston Area where Harvey made approximately 11,000 people homeless overnight.
Complaints from Lake Conroe Association in January Meeting
The Lake Conroe Association set the stage for conflict last month. The Association testified that last year’s lowering had a negative impact on business and home values in the area. They also maintained that the Board had acted unilaterally – without consultation – and that the project was only supposed to last through the end of dredging.
Having been at last year’s meeting where the proposal was discussed, I would disagree with these statements. The board considered dredging and gates for Lake Houston. The board also acted on the report of a consultant hired to review the proposal.
Mark Micheletti, a SJRA board member, said the board had received no complaints from businesses on the lake and that a check with realtors found no negative effect on home prices.
Reportedly, the Lake Conroe Association had also collected signatures on a petition asking for the policy to be reversed. At today’s meeting, the room was crowded with spectators, but I did not see the Association’s president, Mike Bleier. The association presented no petition.
The cataclysmic impacts on Lake Conroe’s economy did not materialize. Because of evaporation, the lowering really only amounted a little more than a foot in the fall.
Speaking for Kingwood
During the public comment section of the meeting, three Kingwood residents, Bill Fowler, Amy Slaughter and I, spoke FOR continuing to lower the lake. So did one Lake Conroe resident who flooded during Harvey.
I pointed out the fact that dredging was NOT yet complete and that the river still had an exaggerated flooding response to moderate rainfalls because of sediment dams. Fowler talked about normal evaporation levels in the lake and how the lowering was not as great as the targets would imply. Slaughter mentioned the impact of flooding on her family and recent Supreme Court rulings on inverse condemnation.
The Lake Conroe resident said he wished the Lake were lowered year round. He flooded during Harvey and thought that the lower levels would actually help Lake Conroe home values.
“But what if there’s a drought?”
When it came time to speak AGAINST the lowering, one man spoke up. He used water conservation as his main argument and posed the specter of drought.
When the board began debating the measure, Jace Houston, SJRA’s general manager, pointed out that many people misunderstood the measure. He said that the SJRA was not going to lower the lake beyond the 1- and 2-foot levels in the policy. If the lake was already down a foot due to evaporation, for instance, the SJRA would release no additional water.
Chuck Gilman, Director or Water Resources and Flood Management, thenshowed a series of slides that led to discussions about:
To see all the slides in the original high-resolution PDF format, click here.
Brenda Cooper, a new SJRA Board Member, then mentioned that some Lake Conroe residents had approached her to voice their disapproval of the project.
Motion Passes Unanimously
Board President Lloyd Tisdale finally called for a voice vote. “All members present voted FOR the lowering,” said Mark Micheletti, one of the Lake Houston Area’s two members on the SJRA board. “The vote could not have gone better from the Lake Houston area’s perspective.”
The SJRA will continue to lower Lake Conroe seasonally. The measure will come up for discussion again next February.
Community Reaction
Bill Fowler, Vice Chair of the Lake Houston Area Grass Roots Flood Prevention Initiation, said, “I was impressed by the Board’s firm grasp of the importance of lowering Lake Conroe on a seasonal basis for downstream residents. Their willingness to help until permanent solutions can be implemented impressed me.”
Kaaren Cambio, another SJRA board director from the Lake Houston area, said, “I’m happy that the board is balancing the needs of both upstream and downstream communities.
Amy Slaughter, the Kingwood lawyer whose home flooded badly, said, “They did the right thing.”
Posted by Bob Rehak on February 28, 2019
548 Days After Hurricane Harvey
The Night that 11,000 Lake Houston Area People Became Homeless
Eighteen months ago, approximately 11,000 Kingwood, Humble and Atascocita residents went to bed thinking they had escaped the worst of Harvey’s wrath. Hours later, they woke up to find water seeping through their windows, doors and walls in the dark of night. Without any warning. Thanks in part to the release of 80,000 cfs from the Lake Conroe dam.
The Harris County Flood Control Damage Map shows that on the West Fork:
Ironically, Thursday, February 28, the San Jacinto River Authority will vote on whether to continue lowering the level of Lake Conroe seasonally. The measure was designed to help reduce downstream flood risk until mitigation measures can be put in place.
However, rumor has it that one or more members of the board want to present a petition by Lake Conroe boaters to NOT lower the lake level this year. To everyone who signed that petition, I dedicate this photo essay.
So please, Lake Conroe boaters. Let’s keep this in perspective. We understand your inconvenience. Please try to understand ours. Help us recover our lives.
To see more examples of how Harvey affected the lives of Lake Houston Area residents, please see the Submissions Page of this web site. It contains images submitted by residents affected by Harvey. If you have images you would like to share, please send them in via the Submissions Page.
Posted by Bob Rehak on February 28, 2019
548 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Video of Barrington Evacuation During Harvey Makes Case for Lowering Lake Conroe, Nixing High-Rise Development
With barely a spoken word, this video makes an eloquent case for lowering Lake Conroe again this year. It also makes a powerful argument for denying the permit to build 5000 condos and high rises in the surrounding wetlands.
Surprise Evacuation
Kenneth Ulrich Jr. shot this video as he and his wife Colleen were forced to evacuate without warning from the Barrington during Harvey.
They share this video on the eve of a key San Jacinto River Authority board meeting. Tomorrow, the board will take up the question of whether to seasonally lower Lake Conroe again this year. The lowering would help provide a margin of safety against flooding like this until other flood mitigation measures can be put in place.
Many residents escaped with little more than the clothes they wore.
Imagine Evacuating 15,000 People Like This
The video makes another powerful argument. Against the high-rise development proposed for Kingwood. Developers hope to build it around the Barrington which you see here. They want to build 5,000 condos immediately to the north and a string of high rises, including a 50 story hotel, immediately to the south. Kingwood has an average household population density of 2.71. That means this development could add 15,000 people to the area.
The developers have planned only one way in and out of this project – Woodland Hills Drive – which will be under water when the next big flood hits.
How to Register Your Concerns
If you have concerns about the high-rise project, email the US Army Corps of Engineers at: swg_public_notice@usace.army.mil . Make sure you put the project number in the title of the email: SWG-2016-00384 .
To voice your concerns to the SJRA board, attend the board meeting Thursday, Feb. 28 at:
1577 Dam Site Road
Conroe, Texas 77304
936.588.3111
Speakers are limited to three minutes each. Business attire is recommended. To reserve time to speak you must sign in by 7:45. The meeting will be in the tall building.
Allow an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half to get there in rush hour traffic from the Humble/Kingwood area.
As always, these are my opinions on matters of public policy. They are protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP statute of the Great State of Texas.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/27/2019
547 Days after Hurricane Harvey