“This is our war room,” said Dr. Katherine Persson, President of Lone Star College/Kingwood, without a hint of emotion in her voice. She speaks in clipped tones, not wasting a word or a second. That’s my first clue about the ordeal she and her management team have been through … and the miracle they managed to pull off after the West Fork of the San Jacinto River ran through two-thirds of the campus.
Dr. Katherine Persson, President of Lone Star College, Kingwood
During Hurricane Harvey, the college lost six of nine buildings to floodwater. The floodwater was contaminated with sewage forced up through floor drains when a nearby City of Houston wastewater treatment plant upstream also flooded. Decontamination took months. Restoration won’t finish until mid-January of 2019. Even before the floodwaters had fully receded, she and her team were busy developing a completely new business plan. They had to launch it in less than three weeks.
“Altogether,” Persson says, “Lone Star College District serves almost 90,000 students. We are the largest in the state and one of the largest in the country. The average size of a community college is 5,500.”
Persson oversees one sixth of the District. Her responsibilities extend from Humble to Tarkington (near Cleveland). She is responsible for:
13,000 students
150 full-time faculty
400 part-time faculty
400 full-time support staff
“We are a major economic engine in the community,” she says. “Despite the flood, we never closed down. We never laid anybody off. We made sure everybody got a paycheck.”
This is the story of how she and her team did it.
The Storm that Just Wouldn’t End
Persson’s story begins with a series of cascading delays. “On Friday, August 25th of 2017, we closed the college in anticipation of Hurricane Harvey. By Sunday, it became apparent that the storm was headed toward Houston, so we delayed the opening of school from the 28th to the 30th. But by Monday, the 28th, we determined that that wouldn’t work either, so we announced that classes would start on September 5th.
Harvey flooded 6 of 9 buildings at Lone Star College/Kingwood and cost an estimated total of $60 million.
“On Monday night, we were a shelter and a staging place for Centerpoint. We had 20 people already staying in the gym. I got a call from Dave Martin, our city councilmember. He asked if we could become a Red Cross Shelter because Kingwood High School was flooding. I said, ‘yes,’ of course. We were a shelter for all of three or four hours. At 10:30 Monday night, we had to close down.”
Persson continued, “At 2:30 the next morning, our facilities director called and said we had water in at least five of our buildings. That was Tuesday, the 29th. Unless you had a boat, nobody could get here until the 30th. Once the roads cleared out we could see that we had massive damage to six buildings because of the SJRA release.”
“I Tried Not to Get Emotional”
“Our deans started gathering that Wednesday, August 30, at homes that weren’t flooded, trying to figure out what we would do. We drafted a preliminary plan that had us coming back by converting 16-week classes to 12-week classes with extensive reliance on online courses. We did the first campus assessment at 4 pm that day. I wasn’t devastated emotionally at that point, I was just impressed with the power of water and what it can do.”
Classroom building at Lone Star College/Kingwood flooded during Harvey after the release of water from the Lake Conroe Dam by the San Jacinto River Authority.
“The depressing part was coming back Thursday and Friday. Everything kept smelling worse and worse. By Saturday, our facilities director got hold of a landscape crew that started cleaning the campus from one end to the other. When 250 Blackmon Mooring remediation workers started showing up, that became Good Day #1.”
“When I thanked the Lafayette volunteer group that was bringing 250 hot meals to campus for the workers, I think I freaked them out. They thought I was from the health department when I showed up in a white suit.”
“I work with miracle workers.”
By Tuesday, September 5th, classes started at all Lone Star colleges except Kingwood. Kingwood started on Monday, September 25th.
Rehak: “How did you manage that?”
Persson: “I work with miracle workers. All deans started working together in one upstairs room of the East Montgomery County Improvement District. The first thing we had to figure out was how to hold classes when we had just lost 113 classrooms. We postponed the opening again from September 5 to 25. Student services contacted everyone to tell them their schedules were going to change.”
“We told them, ‘You may have to move to a new location or go online, but just stick with us. We’ll try to make things work for you.’”
Most of the contents in six buildings had to be replaced at a cost of $19 million.
Enrollment Increases After Flood
“We actually gained students. But I think that’s because the devastation was so great in other parts of Houston. Many students couldn’t start school right away; they needed a couple extra weeks to get their lives in order. Our delay worked to their advantage and ours.”
Cataloging the Damage
“All of central receiving flooded, plus all of the trucks and everything we do to maintain the grounds. We temporarily redistributed janitorial and maintenance staff to our other colleges to keep them productive and avoid layoffs. We had no power on the campus for two weeks after Harvey; it wasn’t even safe to be in the buildings without personal protective equipment.”
“We lost six classroom buildings. The lower level of the health center was totally destroyed. So was the main central plant with our boilers, generators, and communication system. All those things that you need to fully function were flooded and contaminated. Our library was totaled and had to be gutted; water came up halfway on the monitors. You could even see the effects of current in the building.”
“Our field house was totally under water; we had tennis balls stuck in the rafters. And I’m not sure why the nature walk is still there. It had to be under 20 feet of water,” said Persson.
Tennis and soccer balls stuck in the rafters of the field house show just how high the flood got during Harvey.
First Steps on the Long Road Back
“Our first meeting was in the Presbyterian church. It was important for folks to come together to make sure that everybody was ok and to hear about our preliminary plan.”
“I told the deans to do anything they could to help the students as long as it wasn’t illegal, immoral or unethical. And they did.”
“Basically, to get classes going, we took every nook and cranny to accommodate whole departments. Our big conference center was carved up into six rooms. We made classrooms out of the women’s center. Where the students used to shoot pool, that became the geology lab.”
Makeshift classroom after Hurricane Harvey at Lone Star College/Kingwood
The Search for Classroom Space
“We also found alternative spaces throughout the community. Some classes moved to our Atascocita Center. Biology, Chemistry and Art moved to LSC/North Harris. Nursing moved to Red Oak. Occupational therapy moved to Kindred Rehab. English for speakers of other languages moved to First Presbyterian. Cosmetology moved to Farouk, Inc. And we even borrowed some space from Harris County Fire Academy.”
“The most expensive program we have is dental hygiene. It’s one of the few programs in the entire Gulf Coast area, therefore it was difficult to find alternative space for that. We wound up leasing space off of FM1314 and front-loaded all the lectures in the fall until we could build out the space for dental hygiene.”
“We still have five buildings that are not fully open. We have partial use of the Library upstairs, so we have three and a half buildings out of nine at the moment.”
“We have been delayed by interior brick walls. There was mold behind them. Everything had to be dried out and kept at over 90 degrees for 3 months after it was cleaned and disinfected.”
Massive Temporary Shift to Online Learning
Rehak: “Tell me about the shift to online education.”
Persson: “We were 23% online before Harvey. After Harvey, it jumped to 62% online. It almost tripled. Face-to-face went from 70% to 21%. And hybrid education went from 7% to 16%.”
Rehak: “Did you have to certify faculty to train online that never trained online before?”
Persson: “Yes. We had a mere three weeks to certify them. We developed an emergency certification course and doubled the number of teachers we had who were certified to teach online from 41% to 82%. Now it’s even higher – 95%.”
“None of the full-time faculty complained; they still had jobs. But we lost two or three part-time faculty; they didn’t want to learn how to teach online.”
“We also had to train some students to learn online with a mobile unit. We tutored upstairs in the conference center and at Atascocita. We really had to scramble.”
Success Rate Takes Slight Dip
“Our success rate went from 72% to 67%. That’s not bad considering the huge shift to online where the success rate is never as good.”
Rehak: “How do you define “success”?
Persson: “Success is making a grade of C or better in a class.”
Accommodating Veterans and International Students
Rehak: “Were there any other adaptations you had to make?”
Persson: “Oh yes! We didn’t know before all this that veterans could only take one online class per semester, so we had to get special permission, or they had to go elsewhere to get more face-to-face learning time.”
“Also, since 9/11, Homeland Security has to approve all sites for international students. Some of the alternatives, such as Atascocita, were not formally approved sites. So we lost some of our international and veteran students to other colleges.”
Still Under (Re)Construction
Rehak: “Where do you plan to take it from here?
Persson: “We will be fully functional and looking all new by January of 2019. On the plus side, we have had an opportunity to update things that haven’t been updated since 1984.
“Our new process technology building opened in January 2018 and our new health care teaching facility will open in fall of 2020.”
Lone Star College Kingwood is BACK!
“All of the deans are next door sharing a conference room. They could not have done what they did in such a short order if they weren’t all in the same room working together. They said that they didn’t want to go back into their silos. So in our build-back, we’re building a collaborative work center that 30 people will office out of,” said Persson.
Flood Cost $60 Million
Rehak: “How much did all of this cost?”
Persson: “We were the worst stage of contamination: Category 3 – or “black water” – meaning we had sewage in buildings. Clean-up was $11 million. Replacing contents will cost $19 million. And build-back will bring the total to an estimated $60 million.”
Rehak: “What is the most dramatic story to come out of this?”
Persson: “There was no loss of life. Not one student that we know of who planned to come here lost his or her life.”
“Harvey was a game changer; it reset expectations. There was none of the petty stuff you always get from students or employees. That totally disappeared. You have to keep a sense of humor through all this, even if it’s black humor.”
Posted by Bob Rehak on August 22, 2018
357 Days since Hurricane Harvey
00adminadmin2018-08-20 18:01:102018-09-01 10:25:25A River Ran Through It: Dr. Katherine Persson’s Harvey Experience
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Command Site for its San Jacinto West Fork Emergency Dredging Project is a beehive of construction activity. I spent two hours at the site this morning at the invitation of the Corps. Now I can see why the prep is taking as long as it is. I had no idea so much was involved. Last week, I posted pictures of dozens of trucks arriving with equipment and pipe. This week they are assembling the first dredge of two and welding miles of dredge pipe…even as more arrives every hour.
First of Two Dredges Nearing Completion
Because of their size, two dredges are being delivered to the site in pieces and assembled there. Great Lakes Dredge and Dock, the contractor, brought in a 300-ton crane last week to lift the biggest pieces to the water’s edge. At the moment, two smaller 70-ton cranes are completing the work – lifting pumps, motors, stabilizers and other equipment into place.
Two seventy-ton cranes lift the remaining pieces of the first dredge into place at the command post south of the river.
Worker installing safety rails.
Same dredge showing where the dredge pipe will hook in.
Massive fittings weigh thousands of pounds
More dredge pipe arrives as the first dredge nears completion.
One of the impellers that will force dredged material into the dredge pipe. These are bigger than the pallet they sit on and are made from solid steel. They are actually considered a disposable item in the dredging process because they wear out. They are the rotor located inside the case of a pump. it increases or decreases the pressure and flow rate of a fluid.
Miles of Dredge Pipe Being Welded and Weighted
As workers assemble the first dredge near the water’s edge, other workers weld miles of dredge pipe together from 40-foot sections in a separate staging area. Each section weighs about 4,000 pounds. And each string is 1,000 feet long – about a fifth of a mile. These longer sections will then be put together with booster pumps to pipe spoils directly from the river to placement areas.
Acres of 24-inch HDPE pipe have arrived at the job site and are being stored in a massive pipe farm. Walls of the pipe are one inch thick. Each 40-foot section weighs about 4000 pounds.
Already five larger 1000-foot sections have been assembled. That’s nearly a mile of dredge pipe.
Welding machine shaves off the end of each pipe so the joints will be clean and even.
Next the welding machine heats up the ends of each pipe to 450 degrees and fuses them into one continuous piece.
This is what a completed weld looks like. It’s as strong as the pipe itself.
Next the pipe will be weighted with these steel collars to make sure it remains submerged during dredging operations. This is important because one pump might stop temporarily during dredging while other pumps continue to pull water through. The now partially filled pipe could become buoyant and a hazard to navigation.
To attach the collars, first, two halves are chained together then sledge-hammered into place.
Then the halves are welded together to form a permanent bond. This process is repeated over and over hundreds of times until each 40-foot section has its own collar/weight. The black screen is a safety device to protect the eyes of people nearby who may not have welding goggles. The flame from welding can be as intense as looking directly into the sun.
Safety Warning
Do not attempt to visit this site. Stay away for your own safety. Huge construction equipment is moving about the site. Operators have limited visibility and they’re focused on balancing their loads, not looking out for unauthorized visitors.
Actual dredging should start in about ten days. When it does, it won’t be safe to be in a boat between the US59 and the West Lake Houston Park Bridges.
The pipe you see above will be submerged and marked with these buoys.
Safety buoys mean submerged dredge pipe is in the area. Stay away for your own safety. Do not attempt to boat, water ski, fish, or swim in the vicinity of dredging operations. Pipe can move swiftly and without warning.
Dredging operations will continue 24/7 until completion. There is no safe time of day or day of the week to be in this section of the river.
Pipe will extend from wherever the current dredging is to one of two placement areas. One is south of Kingwood College and the other is between the river and Townsend east of US59.
Posted on August 20, 2018 by Bob Rehak
356 Days since Hurricane Harvey
00adminadmin2018-08-20 14:34:212018-08-21 05:57:07Dredging Update: First Dredge Being Assembled, Miles of Pipe Being Welded
When it comes to communicating “best management practices” (BMPs) for sand mines, Louisiana sets the gold standard. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) and the Concrete & Aggregate Association of Louisiana, Inc. worked together to develop BMPs. Their goals: to reduce the amount of sediment and turbidity in streams and rivers that result from sand and gravel mining and to improve water quality.
This guide represents a realistic and open approach, which I appreciated. It’s also concise, candid and clearly written. For those who don’t have time to read the entire 41-page document, a summary follows, especially of the parts that talk about sedimentation. I’ve inserted several images from the East and West Forks of the San Jacinto to contrast practices in Texas and Louisiana.
Importance of Sand and Gravel to Economy
The Introduction discusses the importance of aggregate (sand and gravel) to the Louisiana economy. Sand and gravel are essential resources for construction. In fact, they represent Louisiana’s second most valuable non-fuel natural resource.
Almost half (48%) of all the aggregate produces concrete. The second largest use (22%) is as a base material for highways, railways, runways, etc.
Types of Mining
The document then discusses different techniques of mining: dry (by excavation) and wet (by dredging). Louisiana focuses primarily on wet, which is the type of mines we have along the San Jacinto with a few exceptions.
Importance of Storm Water Management
Page 4 contains a discussion of “Non-point Source Storm Water Management.” Non-point essentially means from rain, runoff and flooding. It occurs across an entire area as opposed to a specific point, such as a leaky fuel tank. Some key quotes:
“Sand and gravel mining operations can potentially cause off-site impacts to water quality if site planning and BMPs (Best Management Practices) are not factored into every aspect of the mining operation.”
“Sand and gravel mining operations disturb land and soil…”
“Good site planning and operation can reduce the likelihood of sediments moving off of the operation…”
“The purpose of the BMP Manual is to provide information on the types of BMPs that should be utilized during every phase of the mining operation in order to prevent pollutants from leaving the mining operation.”
Dangers of Not Following BMPs
Page 5 discusses the dangers if miners do not follow best management practices.
“Siltation is considered the highest nonpoint source priority of concern in wetland areas and the second highest priority affecting lakes (1992 Report to Congress). Mining related activities have been estimated to cause 7 percent of the nation’s nonpoint source impacts to lakes and 17 percent to coastal waters. Sediments from mining operations could consist primarily of biologically inert materials which could potentially adversely affect the water body’s designated uses. Inert suspended sediments have the following detrimental impacts to the aquatic habitat:
Sediments smother lower forms of aquatic life in the bottom of a stream. This can destroy the aquatic life in a stream because it kills the food supply. If sedimentation continues with a high concentration of suspended solids, the stream will fail to recover. Sediment deposition may also cover fish eggs and break the life cycle; thereby, destroying the fishery uses of the stream;
A continued cloudy condition of a stream will deter its use for almost all recreational purposes;
Directly or indirectly, it can change the characteristics of a stream channel and in many instances can limit boat usage and cause additional flooding hazards;
In rivers that are utilized for drinking waters, silt creates an additional expense upon the water treatment and purification process for both domestic and industrial users; and
It decreases photosynthetic action and thereby reduces the capacity of a stream to assimilate organic matter.”
Recommendations for Soil Conservation
Page 11 marks the start of the discussion about specific BMPs. The first BMP addresses soil conservation. “Sediment loads discharged to streams must be minimized, if not eliminated altogether,” they say. “There are basically two types of controls: vegetative and structural.”
Streambank BMP Recommendations
Regarding the Streambank Best Management Practice (BMP), they say: “When native vegetation is used to maintain streambanks, there are many benefits provided to the public and environment. Near the waters’ edge, herbaceous and wetland plants help filter pollutants from the water and prevent bank erosion during high flow periods. These plants also provide habitat for fish and natural predators of mosquitoes as well as increasing aesthetical appeal. Spatial balance between native trees and shrubs on the streambank provides stability and shading. Shading from trees lowers water temperature and improves water quality by conserving the oxygen in the water.”
Note the images below. The first represents the ideal and was pulled from the Louisiana BMP guide. The others are from sand mines on the West Fork of the San Jacinto and Caney Creek in Texas.
Image of ideal stream bank from Louisiana Sand Mining Best Practices Guide.
West Fork sand mine that has been been repeatedly inundated. Note dikes which have been breached and repaired.
Another portion of the same mine that has been repeatedly inundated. Note width of dike, steepness of slopes, and lack of vegetation to retard erosion. This area is no longer actively being mined.
West Fork sand mines on 8/30/17, one day after the peak of the Hurricane Harvey flood. Note how flood water breached dikes and flowed through mines on both sides of the river. Photo courtesy of Google Earth.
Reducing Erosion through Vegetation
“Vegetation is an inexpensive and effective way to protect soil from erosion,” Louisiana says. “It also decreases erosion from flowing water by reducing its velocity. Roots hold soil and increase infiltration. Topsoil should be added where existing soils are not suitable for adequate vegetative growth.”
Vegetative controls include:
Maintaining buffer zones between mine and river
Sod stabilization techniques
When installed and maintained properly, sodding can be more than 99 percent effective in reducing erosion.
Protection of trees involves preserving and protecting selected trees that exist on the site prior to development.
Tillage, with lime and fertilizer, to maintain adequate soil pH and nutrient content.
Temporary seeding
Permanent seeding
Erosion & Sediment Control Blankets
Surface Roughening – Creating horizontal grooves across the slope to reduce runoff velocity/erosion and aid the growth of seed.
Structural Ways to Reduce Erosion
Structural controls include:
Diversion ridges, berms or channels of stabilized soil
Silt fences
Straw bale barriers
Sediment basins with banks sloped at 2:1 or less
Dikes – Must be well compacted and vegetated, with an outlet pipe or coarse aggregate spillway
Riprap protection – at the outlet end of culverts or channels to reduce the depth, velocity and energy of water so that the flow will not erode the receiving stream.
Check dams – Small dams less than 2 feet high constructed across swales or drainage ditches to reduce flow velocity and erosion.
Aggregate stabilized site entrances – at least 50 feet long to reduce sediment tracked onto public roads. Tire washing may also be needed.
Good housekeeping practices for fuel, debris, sediment from unstabilized areas, etc.
Post-construction stormwater management measures
Retention ponds
Vegetated swales and natural depressions that filter sediments from runoff with side slopes of 4:1 or less.
Best Management Practices for Land Clearing
Regarding land clearing, Louisiana recommends:
Disturbed areas should be temporarily stabilized or covered as soon as possible to minimize impacts on the environment.
Only clear acreage needed for immediate use. Clearing or grubbing too much land too early in the construction phase of the mining operation will dramatically increase the potential for environmental impacts from surface water runoff and will increase the costs to control runoff.
Allow enough undisturbed buffer at property boundaries to provides sufficient lateral support of property lines.
A minimum 100-foot buffer zone is required adjacent to perennial streams and water bodies in the State of Louisiana.
In a mine on Caney Creek,this 64-acre area was cleared a year and a half before Harvey, but was not mined. The lack of vegetation made it more susceptible to erosion during the flood. Photo taken 9/14/17, two weeks after Harvey.
Site Reclamation Goals and Best Management Practices
Pages 28-31 describe best practices for site reclamation. Goals include:
Stabilization of inactive mining pit or borrow areas with herbaceous perennial plants
Stabilizing the soil
Preventing wind or water erosion from causing on-site or off-site damage
Improving the aesthetic appeal
Ability of the site to support wildlife
Best management practices include:
Revegetation, mulching
Grading slopes 3:1 to facilitate seeding
Constructing diversions at tops of slopes to divert runoff away from the slope banks to a stable outlet
Constructing aggregate lined chutes or equivalent to conduct concentrated flow of water to stable outlets
Reclamation of abandoned roads by reshaping, recontouring, and resurfacing with topsoil and seeding for vegetative growth
Removal of structures
Removal of sand stockpiles
Removal of debris
Grading property to minimize potential impact to waterways
Abandoned sand mine in Humble, TX. No fencing. No grading. No vegetation on slopes. Note proximity to buildings on adjoining property and road.
Concrete crushing operation once part of sand mine in Humble, TX.
Education Better Than Damage Control
In the conclusion on Page 32, Louisiana states:
“One of the best ways to mitigate environmental impacts from the sand and gravel industry in Louisiana is to establish a set of voluntary best management practices for the industry to adhere. This can be accomplished by initiating good management practices, educating our operators, and taking a more proactive stance in minimizing the problems of the past that have hurt this industry’s image. We, as industry leaders, need to be actively engaged in addressing issues and taking precautions and preemptive measures. Damage control after the fact is destructive. The world is changing and we must be adaptive to these changes – good management practices in an environmentally friendly manner are synonymous with good business practice.”
I’m sure Louisiana has problems just like Texas. But I sure do like the tone of this and what they are trying to accomplish. If Texas has a similar initiative, I can’t find it.
Posted 8/19/18 by Bob Rehak
355 days since Hurricane Harvey
00adminadmin2018-08-19 06:21:512018-08-19 06:41:07Sand Mining Best Management Practices: Louisiana vs. Texas
A River Ran Through It: Dr. Katherine Persson’s Harvey Experience
“This is our war room,” said Dr. Katherine Persson, President of Lone Star College/Kingwood, without a hint of emotion in her voice. She speaks in clipped tones, not wasting a word or a second. That’s my first clue about the ordeal she and her management team have been through … and the miracle they managed to pull off after the West Fork of the San Jacinto River ran through two-thirds of the campus.
Dr. Katherine Persson, President of Lone Star College, Kingwood
During Hurricane Harvey, the college lost six of nine buildings to floodwater. The floodwater was contaminated with sewage forced up through floor drains when a nearby City of Houston wastewater treatment plant upstream also flooded. Decontamination took months. Restoration won’t finish until mid-January of 2019. Even before the floodwaters had fully receded, she and her team were busy developing a completely new business plan. They had to launch it in less than three weeks.
“Altogether,” Persson says, “Lone Star College District serves almost 90,000 students. We are the largest in the state and one of the largest in the country. The average size of a community college is 5,500.”
Persson oversees one sixth of the District. Her responsibilities extend from Humble to Tarkington (near Cleveland). She is responsible for:
This is the story of how she and her team did it.
The Storm that Just Wouldn’t End
Persson’s story begins with a series of cascading delays. “On Friday, August 25th of 2017, we closed the college in anticipation of Hurricane Harvey. By Sunday, it became apparent that the storm was headed toward Houston, so we delayed the opening of school from the 28th to the 30th. But by Monday, the 28th, we determined that that wouldn’t work either, so we announced that classes would start on September 5th.
Harvey flooded 6 of 9 buildings at Lone Star College/Kingwood and cost an estimated total of $60 million.
“On Monday night, we were a shelter and a staging place for Centerpoint. We had 20 people already staying in the gym. I got a call from Dave Martin, our city councilmember. He asked if we could become a Red Cross Shelter because Kingwood High School was flooding. I said, ‘yes,’ of course. We were a shelter for all of three or four hours. At 10:30 Monday night, we had to close down.”
Persson continued, “At 2:30 the next morning, our facilities director called and said we had water in at least five of our buildings. That was Tuesday, the 29th. Unless you had a boat, nobody could get here until the 30th. Once the roads cleared out we could see that we had massive damage to six buildings because of the SJRA release.”
“I Tried Not to Get Emotional”
“Our deans started gathering that Wednesday, August 30, at homes that weren’t flooded, trying to figure out what we would do. We drafted a preliminary plan that had us coming back by converting 16-week classes to 12-week classes with extensive reliance on online courses. We did the first campus assessment at 4 pm that day. I wasn’t devastated emotionally at that point, I was just impressed with the power of water and what it can do.”
Classroom building at Lone Star College/Kingwood flooded during Harvey after the release of water from the Lake Conroe Dam by the San Jacinto River Authority.
“The depressing part was coming back Thursday and Friday. Everything kept smelling worse and worse. By Saturday, our facilities director got hold of a landscape crew that started cleaning the campus from one end to the other. When 250 Blackmon Mooring remediation workers started showing up, that became Good Day #1.”
“When I thanked the Lafayette volunteer group that was bringing 250 hot meals to campus for the workers, I think I freaked them out. They thought I was from the health department when I showed up in a white suit.”
“I work with miracle workers.”
By Tuesday, September 5th, classes started at all Lone Star colleges except Kingwood. Kingwood started on Monday, September 25th.
Rehak: “How did you manage that?”
Persson: “I work with miracle workers. All deans started working together in one upstairs room of the East Montgomery County Improvement District. The first thing we had to figure out was how to hold classes when we had just lost 113 classrooms. We postponed the opening again from September 5 to 25. Student services contacted everyone to tell them their schedules were going to change.”
“We told them, ‘You may have to move to a new location or go online, but just stick with us. We’ll try to make things work for you.’”
Most of the contents in six buildings had to be replaced at a cost of $19 million.
Enrollment Increases After Flood
“We actually gained students. But I think that’s because the devastation was so great in other parts of Houston. Many students couldn’t start school right away; they needed a couple extra weeks to get their lives in order. Our delay worked to their advantage and ours.”
Cataloging the Damage
“All of central receiving flooded, plus all of the trucks and everything we do to maintain the grounds. We temporarily redistributed janitorial and maintenance staff to our other colleges to keep them productive and avoid layoffs. We had no power on the campus for two weeks after Harvey; it wasn’t even safe to be in the buildings without personal protective equipment.”
“We lost six classroom buildings. The lower level of the health center was totally destroyed. So was the main central plant with our boilers, generators, and communication system. All those things that you need to fully function were flooded and contaminated. Our library was totaled and had to be gutted; water came up halfway on the monitors. You could even see the effects of current in the building.”
“Our field house was totally under water; we had tennis balls stuck in the rafters. And I’m not sure why the nature walk is still there. It had to be under 20 feet of water,” said Persson.
Tennis and soccer balls stuck in the rafters of the field house show just how high the flood got during Harvey.
First Steps on the Long Road Back
“Our first meeting was in the Presbyterian church. It was important for folks to come together to make sure that everybody was ok and to hear about our preliminary plan.”
“Basically, to get classes going, we took every nook and cranny to accommodate whole departments. Our big conference center was carved up into six rooms. We made classrooms out of the women’s center. Where the students used to shoot pool, that became the geology lab.”
Makeshift classroom after Hurricane Harvey at Lone Star College/Kingwood
The Search for Classroom Space
“We also found alternative spaces throughout the community. Some classes moved to our Atascocita Center. Biology, Chemistry and Art moved to LSC/North Harris. Nursing moved to Red Oak. Occupational therapy moved to Kindred Rehab. English for speakers of other languages moved to First Presbyterian. Cosmetology moved to Farouk, Inc. And we even borrowed some space from Harris County Fire Academy.”
“The most expensive program we have is dental hygiene. It’s one of the few programs in the entire Gulf Coast area, therefore it was difficult to find alternative space for that. We wound up leasing space off of FM1314 and front-loaded all the lectures in the fall until we could build out the space for dental hygiene.”
“We still have five buildings that are not fully open. We have partial use of the Library upstairs, so we have three and a half buildings out of nine at the moment.”
“We have been delayed by interior brick walls. There was mold behind them. Everything had to be dried out and kept at over 90 degrees for 3 months after it was cleaned and disinfected.”
Massive Temporary Shift to Online Learning
Rehak: “Tell me about the shift to online education.”
Rehak: “Did you have to certify faculty to train online that never trained online before?”
Persson: “Yes. We had a mere three weeks to certify them. We developed an emergency certification course and doubled the number of teachers we had who were certified to teach online from 41% to 82%. Now it’s even higher – 95%.”
“None of the full-time faculty complained; they still had jobs. But we lost two or three part-time faculty; they didn’t want to learn how to teach online.”
“We also had to train some students to learn online with a mobile unit. We tutored upstairs in the conference center and at Atascocita. We really had to scramble.”
Success Rate Takes Slight Dip
“Our success rate went from 72% to 67%. That’s not bad considering the huge shift to online where the success rate is never as good.”
Rehak: “How do you define “success”?
Persson: “Success is making a grade of C or better in a class.”
Accommodating Veterans and International Students
Rehak: “Were there any other adaptations you had to make?”
Persson: “Oh yes! We didn’t know before all this that veterans could only take one online class per semester, so we had to get special permission, or they had to go elsewhere to get more face-to-face learning time.”
“Also, since 9/11, Homeland Security has to approve all sites for international students. Some of the alternatives, such as Atascocita, were not formally approved sites. So we lost some of our international and veteran students to other colleges.”
Still Under (Re)Construction
Rehak: “Where do you plan to take it from here?
Persson: “We will be fully functional and looking all new by January of 2019. On the plus side, we have had an opportunity to update things that haven’t been updated since 1984.
“Our new process technology building opened in January 2018 and our new health care teaching facility will open in fall of 2020.”
Lone Star College Kingwood is BACK!
“All of the deans are next door sharing a conference room. They could not have done what they did in such a short order if they weren’t all in the same room working together. They said that they didn’t want to go back into their silos. So in our build-back, we’re building a collaborative work center that 30 people will office out of,” said Persson.
Flood Cost $60 Million
Rehak: “How much did all of this cost?”
Persson: “We were the worst stage of contamination: Category 3 – or “black water” – meaning we had sewage in buildings. Clean-up was $11 million. Replacing contents will cost $19 million. And build-back will bring the total to an estimated $60 million.”
Rehak: “What is the most dramatic story to come out of this?”
Persson: “There was no loss of life. Not one student that we know of who planned to come here lost his or her life.”
“Harvey was a game changer; it reset expectations. There was none of the petty stuff you always get from students or employees. That totally disappeared. You have to keep a sense of humor through all this, even if it’s black humor.”
Posted by Bob Rehak on August 22, 2018
357 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Dredging Update: First Dredge Being Assembled, Miles of Pipe Being Welded
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Command Site for its San Jacinto West Fork Emergency Dredging Project is a beehive of construction activity. I spent two hours at the site this morning at the invitation of the Corps. Now I can see why the prep is taking as long as it is. I had no idea so much was involved. Last week, I posted pictures of dozens of trucks arriving with equipment and pipe. This week they are assembling the first dredge of two and welding miles of dredge pipe…even as more arrives every hour.
First of Two Dredges Nearing Completion
Because of their size, two dredges are being delivered to the site in pieces and assembled there. Great Lakes Dredge and Dock, the contractor, brought in a 300-ton crane last week to lift the biggest pieces to the water’s edge. At the moment, two smaller 70-ton cranes are completing the work – lifting pumps, motors, stabilizers and other equipment into place.
Two seventy-ton cranes lift the remaining pieces of the first dredge into place at the command post south of the river.
Worker installing safety rails.
Same dredge showing where the dredge pipe will hook in.
Massive fittings weigh thousands of pounds
More dredge pipe arrives as the first dredge nears completion.
One of the impellers that will force dredged material into the dredge pipe. These are bigger than the pallet they sit on and are made from solid steel. They are actually considered a disposable item in the dredging process because they wear out. They are the rotor located inside the case of a pump. it increases or decreases the pressure and flow rate of a fluid.
Miles of Dredge Pipe Being Welded and Weighted
As workers assemble the first dredge near the water’s edge, other workers weld miles of dredge pipe together from 40-foot sections in a separate staging area. Each section weighs about 4,000 pounds. And each string is 1,000 feet long – about a fifth of a mile. These longer sections will then be put together with booster pumps to pipe spoils directly from the river to placement areas.
Acres of 24-inch HDPE pipe have arrived at the job site and are being stored in a massive pipe farm. Walls of the pipe are one inch thick. Each 40-foot section weighs about 4000 pounds.
Already five larger 1000-foot sections have been assembled. That’s nearly a mile of dredge pipe.
Welding machine shaves off the end of each pipe so the joints will be clean and even.
Next the welding machine heats up the ends of each pipe to 450 degrees and fuses them into one continuous piece.
This is what a completed weld looks like. It’s as strong as the pipe itself.
Next the pipe will be weighted with these steel collars to make sure it remains submerged during dredging operations. This is important because one pump might stop temporarily during dredging while other pumps continue to pull water through. The now partially filled pipe could become buoyant and a hazard to navigation.
To attach the collars, first, two halves are chained together then sledge-hammered into place.
Then the halves are welded together to form a permanent bond. This process is repeated over and over hundreds of times until each 40-foot section has its own collar/weight. The black screen is a safety device to protect the eyes of people nearby who may not have welding goggles. The flame from welding can be as intense as looking directly into the sun.
Safety Warning
Do not attempt to visit this site. Stay away for your own safety. Huge construction equipment is moving about the site. Operators have limited visibility and they’re focused on balancing their loads, not looking out for unauthorized visitors.
Actual dredging should start in about ten days. When it does, it won’t be safe to be in a boat between the US59 and the West Lake Houston Park Bridges.
The pipe you see above will be submerged and marked with these buoys.
Safety buoys mean submerged dredge pipe is in the area. Stay away for your own safety. Do not attempt to boat, water ski, fish, or swim in the vicinity of dredging operations. Pipe can move swiftly and without warning.
Dredging operations will continue 24/7 until completion. There is no safe time of day or day of the week to be in this section of the river.
Pipe will extend from wherever the current dredging is to one of two placement areas. One is south of Kingwood College and the other is between the river and Townsend east of US59.
Posted on August 20, 2018 by Bob Rehak
356 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Sand Mining Best Management Practices: Louisiana vs. Texas
When it comes to communicating “best management practices” (BMPs) for sand mines, Louisiana sets the gold standard. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) and the Concrete & Aggregate Association of Louisiana, Inc. worked together to develop BMPs. Their goals: to reduce the amount of sediment and turbidity in streams and rivers that result from sand and gravel mining and to improve water quality.
This guide represents a realistic and open approach, which I appreciated. It’s also concise, candid and clearly written. For those who don’t have time to read the entire 41-page document, a summary follows, especially of the parts that talk about sedimentation. I’ve inserted several images from the East and West Forks of the San Jacinto to contrast practices in Texas and Louisiana.
Importance of Sand and Gravel to Economy
The Introduction discusses the importance of aggregate (sand and gravel) to the Louisiana economy. Sand and gravel are essential resources for construction. In fact, they represent Louisiana’s second most valuable non-fuel natural resource.
Almost half (48%) of all the aggregate produces concrete. The second largest use (22%) is as a base material for highways, railways, runways, etc.
Types of Mining
The document then discusses different techniques of mining: dry (by excavation) and wet (by dredging). Louisiana focuses primarily on wet, which is the type of mines we have along the San Jacinto with a few exceptions.
Importance of Storm Water Management
Page 4 contains a discussion of “Non-point Source Storm Water Management.” Non-point essentially means from rain, runoff and flooding. It occurs across an entire area as opposed to a specific point, such as a leaky fuel tank. Some key quotes:
“Sand and gravel mining operations can potentially cause off-site impacts to water quality if site planning and BMPs (Best Management Practices) are not factored into every aspect of the mining operation.”
“Sand and gravel mining operations disturb land and soil…”
“Good site planning and operation can reduce the likelihood of sediments moving off of the operation…”
Dangers of Not Following BMPs
Page 5 discusses the dangers if miners do not follow best management practices.
“Siltation is considered the highest nonpoint source priority of concern in wetland areas and the second highest priority affecting lakes (1992 Report to Congress). Mining related activities have been estimated to cause 7 percent of the nation’s nonpoint source impacts to lakes and 17 percent to coastal waters. Sediments from mining operations could consist primarily of biologically inert materials which could potentially adversely affect the water body’s designated uses. Inert suspended sediments have the following detrimental impacts to the aquatic habitat:
Recommendations for Soil Conservation
Page 11 marks the start of the discussion about specific BMPs. The first BMP addresses soil conservation. “Sediment loads discharged to streams must be minimized, if not eliminated altogether,” they say. “There are basically two types of controls: vegetative and structural.”
Streambank BMP Recommendations
Regarding the Streambank Best Management Practice (BMP), they say: “When native vegetation is used to maintain streambanks, there are many benefits provided to the public and environment. Near the waters’ edge, herbaceous and wetland plants help filter pollutants from the water and prevent bank erosion during high flow periods. These plants also provide habitat for fish and natural predators of mosquitoes as well as increasing aesthetical appeal. Spatial balance between native trees and shrubs on the streambank provides stability and shading. Shading from trees lowers water temperature and improves water quality by conserving the oxygen in the water.”
Note the images below. The first represents the ideal and was pulled from the Louisiana BMP guide. The others are from sand mines on the West Fork of the San Jacinto and Caney Creek in Texas.
Image of ideal stream bank from Louisiana Sand Mining Best Practices Guide.
West Fork sand mine that has been been repeatedly inundated. Note dikes which have been breached and repaired.
Another portion of the same mine that has been repeatedly inundated. Note width of dike, steepness of slopes, and lack of vegetation to retard erosion. This area is no longer actively being mined.
West Fork sand mines on 8/30/17, one day after the peak of the Hurricane Harvey flood. Note how flood water breached dikes and flowed through mines on both sides of the river. Photo courtesy of Google Earth.
Reducing Erosion through Vegetation
“Vegetation is an inexpensive and effective way to protect soil from erosion,” Louisiana says. “It also decreases erosion from flowing water by reducing its velocity. Roots hold soil and increase infiltration. Topsoil should be added where existing soils are not suitable for adequate vegetative growth.”
Vegetative controls include:
Structural Ways to Reduce Erosion
Structural controls include:
Best Management Practices for Land Clearing
Regarding land clearing, Louisiana recommends:
In a mine on Caney Creek,this 64-acre area was cleared a year and a half before Harvey, but was not mined. The lack of vegetation made it more susceptible to erosion during the flood. Photo taken 9/14/17, two weeks after Harvey.
Site Reclamation Goals and Best Management Practices
Pages 28-31 describe best practices for site reclamation. Goals include:
Best management practices include:
Abandoned sand mine in Humble, TX. No fencing. No grading. No vegetation on slopes. Note proximity to buildings on adjoining property and road.
Concrete crushing operation once part of sand mine in Humble, TX.
Education Better Than Damage Control
In the conclusion on Page 32, Louisiana states:
“One of the best ways to mitigate environmental impacts from the sand and gravel industry in Louisiana is to establish a set of voluntary best management practices for the industry to adhere. This can be accomplished by initiating good management practices, educating our operators, and taking a more proactive stance in minimizing the problems of the past that have hurt this industry’s image. We, as industry leaders, need to be actively engaged in addressing issues and taking precautions and preemptive measures. Damage control after the fact is destructive. The world is changing and we must be adaptive to these changes – good management practices in an environmentally friendly manner are synonymous with good business practice.”
I’m sure Louisiana has problems just like Texas. But I sure do like the tone of this and what they are trying to accomplish. If Texas has a similar initiative, I can’t find it.
Posted 8/19/18 by Bob Rehak
355 days since Hurricane Harvey