6/9/25 – While re-reading the final version of the state flood plan recently I came across two images that explain why we need a watershed-wide flood agency. Unfortunately, a bill to create one, HB2068, died in the House Natural Resources committee this session.
Floodplain-Management Practices and Enforcement in Texas
The first image shows the level of (self-reported) floodplain management practices for every county in the state. I’ve circled the general area of the San Jacinto River Basin. Note how most of the counties draining into Harris County (dark blue in center of oval) report lower levels of floodplain management practices than those in Harris County itself.
Now look at the levels of floodplain regulation enforcement. Again, most of the counties draining into Harris County (dark red in oval) report lower levels of enforcement.
Critically, the levels in Montgomery County are “unknown” in both maps.
That doesn’t make them non-existent. It likely means one of two things: 1) they weren’t enough of a priority for the county to respond to the survey. Or 2) the county did not know whether/when Commissioners Court would approve its new drainage regulations.
MoCo still has not adopted comprehensive new drainage recommendations since the 1980s despite some of the fastest growth in the region. The drainage criteria manual currently posted is dated 2019, but contains only minor updates to 1989 regulations.
Valid Reasons for Drainage Regs to Differ
Valid reasons exist for drainage regulations to vary. Take for instance rainfall rates and land use. Rainfall rates generally decline as you go north and west from Harris County. And land use varies from an ultra-dense urban environment to forests, prairie and agricultural.
Regardless, within a river basin, people are inextricably bound together by water that does not respect jurisdictional boundaries. And we need to find ways of living together that respect growth, change and property rights, while also respecting neighbor’s rights to safety.
What our neighbors upstream do affects us, just as what we do affects our neighbors downstream.
Society establishes rules that help people live together without destroying each other. Consider rules of the road, property rights and criminal law for instance.
Would you say it’s OK for a neighbor to throw their trash on your property because they don’t want to pay to haul it away?
Most homeowners would say no. But illegal dumping happens all the time. Just like a few bad-apples want to dump their excess stormwater on your property.
Individual Rights vs. Common Good
People don’t want other people telling them what to do. Especially Texans. And that’s why Texas more people live in floodplains than the entire populations of 30 states.
We need to find solutions that respect individual rights and the common good. Philosophers have debated those extremes for more than 2000 years, dating back to Plato and Aristotle. But from a psychological point of view, it’s probably safe to say that it’s usually someone else’s problem … until it happens to you.
And eventually, the way Texas is growing, someday it will. As Houston grows outward, so do our flooding problems. And those problems are almost impossible to fix after the fact. That’s why we need a watershed-wide flood agency.
To educate. And to promulgate sensible solutions in concert with County Engineering Departments or Flood Control Districts. Local authorities would then be free to accept or reject those solutions based on the will of their constituents.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/9/2025
2841 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Floodplain-Practices-copy.jpg?fit=2200%2C1127&ssl=111272200adminadmin2025-06-09 22:14:422025-06-09 22:15:37Two Images Explain Why We Need a Watershed-Wide Flood Agency
6/8/2025 – Harris County’s Flood Control District, Engineering Department, Budget Office and County Administrator’s Office have missed another deadline for an update on Flood Bond and Subdivision Drainage Project shortfalls.
After a request for an update in early February – 122 days ago – they missed two deadlines. And it wasn’t on the agenda for this week’s Commissioners Court meeting either.
Meanwhile, Commissioners worry whether the County will have enough money to complete promised projects. Inflation is chewing up their purchasing power and the rate of project initiation has fallen off radically. Eight years into a what was supposed to be a 10 year bond, less than a third of the money has been spent. And only three capital improvement projects were initiated in all of last year.
Commissioners Can’t Seem to Get Clear, Timely Answers
On February 6, 2025, Harris County Commissioners Court erupted into a rare display of bi-partisan outrage when it became clear that the County didn’t have enough money to deliver flood-mitigation projects promised long ago. The shortfalls had to do with the 2018 Flood Bond and Subdivision Drainage programs.
Commissioners used phrases, such as: “an abomination,” “abysmal failure,” “complete and utter dismay,” “major crisis,” and “no sense of urgency.” They demanded that Flood Control, Engineering, the County Administrator and Budget Office return by March 27 with a complete accounting of the money.
But the March 27 meeting wasn’t much better. Commissioners wrestled for more than an hour with a $100 million drainage funding shortfall. The normally diplomatic Precinct 4 Commissioner Leslie Briones bluntly said she felt she was “getting hosed.”
The County Administrator’s Office compiled this confusing 11-page outline showing how projects were moved, added, deleted or had their funding sources change over time and why. Reading it will also help you understand why Commissioners are demanding to know how much money they have to work with.
What Commissioners Demanded
They demanded all relevant departments to develop a standard reporting framework for the Subdivision Drainage Program and the 2018 Flood Bond Program to ensure Commissioners Court can easily see at a minimum:
Sources of funding
Status of each project
Expected time to completion
How cost has changed over time
Whether there was a change in scope
They required everyone to return with the information on May 22, 2025. But they didn’t meet that deadline. Focus then shifted to the June 12, 2025 meeting. But the update is not on that agenda either. To date, it has been 122 days since Commissioners’ initial request – a third of a year.
Impact of Inflation
The compound inflation rate between August 2018 when the flood bond passed and the end of May 2025 is approximately 27.5%. The Producer Price Index indicates that inflation during that same period in construction could range from 25-35%.
In the middle of all this, on April 11, 2025, Diana Ramirez, the County Administrator announced her resignation. Was her departure related to the chaos?
In 2023, I began sounding the alarm about the impact of inflation on the Flood Bond. It stood at a compound rate of 20% at the time. That’s out of a Flood Bond package totaling $5.1 billion between bond sales and expected matching funds.
So I suspect the shortfall may be considerably more than $100 million. And that means neighborhoods at the end of the Equity Prioritization line may see nothing for their tax dollars.
No Good or Easy Answers
If Flood Control, Engineering, the Budget Office and County Administrator can’t develop a spreadsheet with the information requested above in FOUR MONTHS, that doesn’t bode well for Harris County.
It says two things to me:
The County’s financial and IT systems lack functionality and/or interoperability.
There may be no good answers to the funding shortfall. People at the end of the Equity line may see no or little benefit from the flood bond.
Flood Control Still in Denial
Harris County Flood Control District’s website still insists HCFCD will complete all projects. But they don’t explain how.
The Flood Control District has two ways not to cancel projects. One: postpone them indefinitely. Two: Call them complete when you have no intention of pursuing them.
Flood Bond Cumulative spending over time since start of Bond through end of Q1 2025.If annualized at the Q1 25 rate, total spending for 2025 would still decline – for the fifth straight year.Source: HCFCD.org.
At the rate shown above, it could take another 15 years to complete bond projects…if inflation doesn’t undermine the purchasing power altogether by then.
Project Initiation Rate Plummets
HCFCD has advertised only THREE capital improvement projects for bids this year and THREE in all of last year.
With inflation robbing your purchasing power, slowing down construction spending (the largest component of any project) is the last thing you want.
I’d sure hate to be in the “How come?” Room on this one.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/8/2025
2840 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/HCFCD-Cumulative-Spending-over-time-scaled.png?fit=2560%2C1010&ssl=110102560adminadmin2025-06-08 21:54:152025-06-09 11:29:24Crickets from Harris County on Flood Bond, Subdivision Drainage Shortfalls
6/7/2025 – The Texas General Land Office (GLO) has provided an update on the status of more than $850 million in Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) grant applications related to Hurricane Harvey – including two that affect the Humble/Kingwood/Lake Houston Area.
GLO manages grants for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Texas. The grants in question are HUD Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Relief and Flood Mitigation – CDBG-DR and CDBG-MIT.
The dollars allocated to various projects have shifted slightly since the May update as HCFCD received firmer bids/estimates and revised applications slightly.
The first category (disaster relief) totals $323.2 million. The second (flood mitigation) totals $529.5 million. Together, they total $852.7 million.
Approval Status
GLO has approved all but one of the Disaster Relief grants and is in the process of finalizing the Flood Mitigation applications with HCFCD.
Brittany Eck, a GLO spokesperson, said “There is a tremendous amount of work in progress, reviewing applications and request-for-information (RFI) responses to ensure all HUD eligibility requirements are met.”
In addition, 10 of the CDBG DR projects are in various stages of design. Two have already attained authority to use grant funds and will soon be going to bid. Arbor Oaks has already been bid and soon will be awarded, according to Eck. Bids closed on June 2.
There are 15 CDBG MIT project applications under various levels of review and two still in development.
This is no small task. Applications average around a hundred pages of technical data and there are 28 applications altogether. In addition to developing all that information, proving up the beneficiaries and LMI requirements is an even bigger part of the process, according to the GLO.
Projects Affecting Lake Houston Area
Two projects on the list greatly affect residents and businesses in the Humble/Kingwood/Lake Houston Area.
A regional drainage study for the watershed found that flooding along tributaries of Cypress Creek is predominately due to stormwater from Cypress Creek backing up into tributaries, rather than a lack of sufficient stormwater conveyance capacity on the tributaries themselves.
Therefore, stormwater detention basins were recommended to help to reduce the risk of flooding.
East Basin/Compartment 1 is the large one in the center.
2023 photo at TC Jester Detention Basin Press Conference, L to R, U.S. Representative Dan Crenshaw, State Representative Sam Harliss, Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey, and Dr. Tina Petersen, Executive Director of HCFCD
The entire project (west and east basins) reportedly comprises 171 acres. The photo below shows the area where the first of the East Basins will go.
Looking east across TC Jester. Cypresswood Dr. runs up left side. HCFCD owns the large wooded property in center.Cypress Creek runs diagonally along the right side of the wooded area toward top of frame.
While benefits will accrue primarily to those who live nearby, Cypress Creek is a major tributary to Lake Houston. And all stormwater held back upstream helps people downstream, too.
GLO has already approved $24.6 million for this project.
Taylor Gully Channel Conveyance Improvements/Woodridge Stormwater Detention Basin
These two projects have been combined to speed up their approval. Together they should cost approximately $42 million and benefit residents in northeastern Kingwood.
Woodridge Village is the former Perry Homes development along the headwaters of Taylor Gully. After the developer cleared the property, hundreds of homes flooded multiple times.
Before Perry sold the property to HCFCD and the City of Houston, it excavated several small detention basins. But they fell about 40% short of Atlas 14 standards.
HCFCD then entered into an excavation and removal contract with Sprint Sand and Clay to increase stormwater detention capacity. The contractor eventually excavated almost enough to meet Atlas 14 standards. However, HCFCD was forced to terminate the contract when it applied for the HUD grant.
Woodridge Detention Basin on left. Long red/blue line is Taylor Gully.
Here’s how the site looked last week.
Woodridge Village on May 31 2025. New detention basin started but not connected yet to Taylor Gully (upper right).
This also will be a cooperative venture between local, state and federal authorities, including:
U.S. Congressman Dan Crenshaw (TX-02)
State Representative Charles Cunningham (TX HD-127)
Harris County Commissioner Tom Ramsey, P.E. (Precinct 3)
Houston City Council Member Fred Flickinger (District E)
Dr. Tina Petersen, P.E., Executive Director, Harris County Flood Control District
At a press conference on September 17, 2024, they discussed funding.
U.S. Representative Dan Crenshaw secured federal funding for Taylor Gully improvements in March 2022.
Rep. Cunningham said that the Texas Water Development Board approved state funding.
Expand a portion of Taylor Gully and line it with concrete.
Build another stormwater detention basin on Woodridge Village holding 412 acre-feet.
Replace the culverts at Rustling Elms with a clear-span bridge.
HCFCD is working closely with GLO to move the application along as quickly as possible. That’s also true for the other CDBG-MIT projects. The CDBG-DR projects have tighter deadlines, which is why HCFCD/GLO focused on those first.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/7/2025
2839 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/20250531-DJI_20250531131053_0568_D.jpg?fit=1100%2C619&ssl=16191100adminadmin2025-06-07 18:14:582025-06-07 18:20:32GLO Provides Update on HCFCD Grant Applications Totaling $850 Million
Two Images Explain Why We Need a Watershed-Wide Flood Agency
6/9/25 – While re-reading the final version of the state flood plan recently I came across two images that explain why we need a watershed-wide flood agency. Unfortunately, a bill to create one, HB2068, died in the House Natural Resources committee this session.
Floodplain-Management Practices and Enforcement in Texas
The first image shows the level of (self-reported) floodplain management practices for every county in the state. I’ve circled the general area of the San Jacinto River Basin. Note how most of the counties draining into Harris County (dark blue in center of oval) report lower levels of floodplain management practices than those in Harris County itself.
Now look at the levels of floodplain regulation enforcement. Again, most of the counties draining into Harris County (dark red in oval) report lower levels of enforcement.
Critically, the levels in Montgomery County are “unknown” in both maps.
That doesn’t make them non-existent. It likely means one of two things: 1) they weren’t enough of a priority for the county to respond to the survey. Or 2) the county did not know whether/when Commissioners Court would approve its new drainage regulations.
MoCo still has not adopted comprehensive new drainage recommendations since the 1980s despite some of the fastest growth in the region. The drainage criteria manual currently posted is dated 2019, but contains only minor updates to 1989 regulations.
Valid Reasons for Drainage Regs to Differ
Valid reasons exist for drainage regulations to vary. Take for instance rainfall rates and land use. Rainfall rates generally decline as you go north and west from Harris County. And land use varies from an ultra-dense urban environment to forests, prairie and agricultural.
Regardless, within a river basin, people are inextricably bound together by water that does not respect jurisdictional boundaries. And we need to find ways of living together that respect growth, change and property rights, while also respecting neighbor’s rights to safety.
Society establishes rules that help people live together without destroying each other. Consider rules of the road, property rights and criminal law for instance.
Would you say it’s OK for a neighbor to throw their trash on your property because they don’t want to pay to haul it away?
Most homeowners would say no. But illegal dumping happens all the time. Just like a few bad-apples want to dump their excess stormwater on your property.
Individual Rights vs. Common Good
People don’t want other people telling them what to do. Especially Texans. And that’s why Texas more people live in floodplains than the entire populations of 30 states.
We need to find solutions that respect individual rights and the common good. Philosophers have debated those extremes for more than 2000 years, dating back to Plato and Aristotle. But from a psychological point of view, it’s probably safe to say that it’s usually someone else’s problem … until it happens to you.
And eventually, the way Texas is growing, someday it will. As Houston grows outward, so do our flooding problems. And those problems are almost impossible to fix after the fact. That’s why we need a watershed-wide flood agency.
To educate. And to promulgate sensible solutions in concert with County Engineering Departments or Flood Control Districts. Local authorities would then be free to accept or reject those solutions based on the will of their constituents.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/9/2025
2841 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Crickets from Harris County on Flood Bond, Subdivision Drainage Shortfalls
6/8/2025 – Harris County’s Flood Control District, Engineering Department, Budget Office and County Administrator’s Office have missed another deadline for an update on Flood Bond and Subdivision Drainage Project shortfalls.
After a request for an update in early February – 122 days ago – they missed two deadlines. And it wasn’t on the agenda for this week’s Commissioners Court meeting either.
Meanwhile, Commissioners worry whether the County will have enough money to complete promised projects. Inflation is chewing up their purchasing power and the rate of project initiation has fallen off radically. Eight years into a what was supposed to be a 10 year bond, less than a third of the money has been spent. And only three capital improvement projects were initiated in all of last year.
Commissioners Can’t Seem to Get Clear, Timely Answers
On February 6, 2025, Harris County Commissioners Court erupted into a rare display of bi-partisan outrage when it became clear that the County didn’t have enough money to deliver flood-mitigation projects promised long ago. The shortfalls had to do with the 2018 Flood Bond and Subdivision Drainage programs.
Commissioners used phrases, such as: “an abomination,” “abysmal failure,” “complete and utter dismay,” “major crisis,” and “no sense of urgency.” They demanded that Flood Control, Engineering, the County Administrator and Budget Office return by March 27 with a complete accounting of the money.
But the March 27 meeting wasn’t much better. Commissioners wrestled for more than an hour with a $100 million drainage funding shortfall. The normally diplomatic Precinct 4 Commissioner Leslie Briones bluntly said she felt she was “getting hosed.”
The County Administrator’s Office compiled this confusing 11-page outline showing how projects were moved, added, deleted or had their funding sources change over time and why. Reading it will also help you understand why Commissioners are demanding to know how much money they have to work with.
What Commissioners Demanded
They demanded all relevant departments to develop a standard reporting framework for the Subdivision Drainage Program and the 2018 Flood Bond Program to ensure Commissioners Court can easily see at a minimum:
They required everyone to return with the information on May 22, 2025. But they didn’t meet that deadline. Focus then shifted to the June 12, 2025 meeting. But the update is not on that agenda either. To date, it has been 122 days since Commissioners’ initial request – a third of a year.
Impact of Inflation
The compound inflation rate between August 2018 when the flood bond passed and the end of May 2025 is approximately 27.5%. The Producer Price Index indicates that inflation during that same period in construction could range from 25-35%.
In the middle of all this, on April 11, 2025, Diana Ramirez, the County Administrator announced her resignation. Was her departure related to the chaos?
In 2023, I began sounding the alarm about the impact of inflation on the Flood Bond. It stood at a compound rate of 20% at the time. That’s out of a Flood Bond package totaling $5.1 billion between bond sales and expected matching funds.
So I suspect the shortfall may be considerably more than $100 million. And that means neighborhoods at the end of the Equity Prioritization line may see nothing for their tax dollars.
No Good or Easy Answers
If Flood Control, Engineering, the Budget Office and County Administrator can’t develop a spreadsheet with the information requested above in FOUR MONTHS, that doesn’t bode well for Harris County.
It says two things to me:
Flood Control Still in Denial
Harris County Flood Control District’s website still insists HCFCD will complete all projects. But they don’t explain how.
The Flood Control District has two ways not to cancel projects. One: postpone them indefinitely. Two: Call them complete when you have no intention of pursuing them.
At the rate shown above, it could take another 15 years to complete bond projects…if inflation doesn’t undermine the purchasing power altogether by then.
Project Initiation Rate Plummets
That’s out of 139 active projects listed in the last bond update in July 2024.
With inflation robbing your purchasing power, slowing down construction spending (the largest component of any project) is the last thing you want.
I’d sure hate to be in the “How come?” Room on this one.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/8/2025
2840 Days since Hurricane Harvey
GLO Provides Update on HCFCD Grant Applications Totaling $850 Million
6/7/2025 – The Texas General Land Office (GLO) has provided an update on the status of more than $850 million in Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) grant applications related to Hurricane Harvey – including two that affect the Humble/Kingwood/Lake Houston Area.
GLO manages grants for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Texas. The grants in question are HUD Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Relief and Flood Mitigation – CDBG-DR and CDBG-MIT.
The dollars allocated to various projects have shifted slightly since the May update as HCFCD received firmer bids/estimates and revised applications slightly.
The first category (disaster relief) totals $323.2 million. The second (flood mitigation) totals $529.5 million. Together, they total $852.7 million.
Approval Status
GLO has approved all but one of the Disaster Relief grants and is in the process of finalizing the Flood Mitigation applications with HCFCD.
Brittany Eck, a GLO spokesperson, said “There is a tremendous amount of work in progress, reviewing applications and request-for-information (RFI) responses to ensure all HUD eligibility requirements are met.”
In addition, 10 of the CDBG DR projects are in various stages of design. Two have already attained authority to use grant funds and will soon be going to bid. Arbor Oaks has already been bid and soon will be awarded, according to Eck. Bids closed on June 2.
There are 15 CDBG MIT project applications under various levels of review and two still in development.
This is no small task. Applications average around a hundred pages of technical data and there are 28 applications altogether. In addition to developing all that information, proving up the beneficiaries and LMI requirements is an even bigger part of the process, according to the GLO.
Projects Affecting Lake Houston Area
Two projects on the list greatly affect residents and businesses in the Humble/Kingwood/Lake Houston Area.
TC Jester Basin
The first is the East TC Jester Basin/Compartment 1B. It is located on the east side of TC Jester Boulevard in the Cypress Creek Watershed.
A regional drainage study for the watershed found that flooding along tributaries of Cypress Creek is predominately due to stormwater from Cypress Creek backing up into tributaries, rather than a lack of sufficient stormwater conveyance capacity on the tributaries themselves.
Therefore, stormwater detention basins were recommended to help to reduce the risk of flooding.
In September 2023, several parties held a press conference to announce funding for this project at the job site. This should be the last piece of the puzzle to fall into place.
The entire project (west and east basins) reportedly comprises 171 acres. The photo below shows the area where the first of the East Basins will go.
While benefits will accrue primarily to those who live nearby, Cypress Creek is a major tributary to Lake Houston. And all stormwater held back upstream helps people downstream, too.
GLO has already approved $24.6 million for this project.
Taylor Gully Channel Conveyance Improvements/Woodridge Stormwater Detention Basin
These two projects have been combined to speed up their approval. Together they should cost approximately $42 million and benefit residents in northeastern Kingwood.
Woodridge Village is the former Perry Homes development along the headwaters of Taylor Gully. After the developer cleared the property, hundreds of homes flooded multiple times.
Before Perry sold the property to HCFCD and the City of Houston, it excavated several small detention basins. But they fell about 40% short of Atlas 14 standards.
HCFCD then entered into an excavation and removal contract with Sprint Sand and Clay to increase stormwater detention capacity. The contractor eventually excavated almost enough to meet Atlas 14 standards. However, HCFCD was forced to terminate the contract when it applied for the HUD grant.
Here’s how the site looked last week.
This also will be a cooperative venture between local, state and federal authorities, including:
At a press conference on September 17, 2024, they discussed funding.
What Woodridge/Taylor Gully Project Includes
HCFCD applied for grants to:
HCFCD is working closely with GLO to move the application along as quickly as possible. That’s also true for the other CDBG-MIT projects. The CDBG-DR projects have tighter deadlines, which is why HCFCD/GLO focused on those first.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/7/2025
2839 Days since Hurricane Harvey