Please mark your calendars. Attend the next meeting of the Lake Houston Area Grassroots Flood Prevention Initiative from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., April 17 at the Kingwood Community Center.
Featured Speaker: SJRA Board Member Kaaren Cambio
Kaaren Cambio, one of Kingwood’s two new representatives on the San Jacinto River Authority Board, will update residents on the SJRA’s new role in flood prevention. Additionally, she will update us on many significant flood prevention developments since the group’s last meeting.
About the Lake Houston Grassroots Flood Prevention Initiative
The Lake Houston Area Grassroots Flood Prevention Initiative consists of local residents dedicated to preventing future flooding in the Lake Houston Area. The Group aims to provide a voice for the concerns of residents. It also seeks to identify flood risks and their solutions, and to work closely with local, state and federal officials in addressing them.
All residents – flooded or not – are welcome to attend. The issues we seek to address affect the safety and economic vitality of the entire community.
Key goals of the Group include:
Installing additional flood gates at Lake Houston to increase release capacity
Dredging the West and East Forks of the San Jacinto River and Lake Houston
Controlling sand mining activities on both forks of the San Jacinto River to reduce sand build up
Ensuring any bond proposed by the Harris County Commissioners includes dredging of the West and East forks of the San Jacinto River
Changing priorities and procedures of the San Jacinto River Authority to protect residents downstream from Lake Conroe
Supporting our elected representatives by maintaining awareness and involvement.
Join the Lake Houston Area Grassroots Flood Prevention Initiative
To join the group’s distribution list, please email Bill Fowler at txwil43@yahoo.com. Also, please feel free to email questions or comments directly to Bill or through this website.
On a final note, this website will be a repository for information related to the group’s efforts to prevent future flooding. Please bookmark the site and visit it regularly to get the most up-to-date news on flood prevention developments.
Posted April 7, 2018, 221 Days since Hurricane Harvey.
00adminadmin2018-04-07 15:44:422018-04-07 15:58:46Lake Houston Area Grassroots Flood Prevention Initiative Announces Cambio to Speak At Next Meeting
WhataBurger in the new HEB shopping center during flooding from Hurricane Harvey. Photo: Courtesy of John Knoerzer.
The Greater Houston Flood Mitigation Consortium issued a region-wide 64-page report on April 5, 2018. It begins with a discussion of the pros and cons of various flood mitigation strategies in general. Then it looks at strategies that apply to each watershed within the region and the equity of funding for each watershed.
The San Jacinto watershed, they say, contains 3% of the region’s population, gets 0% of the budget, and had 14% of the region’s damages.
In-depth engineering studies and science-based hydrologic and ecological assessments to determine the cost, benefits and risks associated with the following proposed flood mitigation strategies:
Making structural alterations to Lake Houston dam and spillway
Dredging along the San Jacinto River and in Lake Houston
Construction of a Montgomery County reservoir system / fourth reservoir
Stricter regulation of sand mining operations, acquisition and complete restoration of land associated with past sand mining operations. Enact stricter state regulations and enforce penalties to shut down illegal mine operations that do not have required permits; strict enforcement of existing rules; require full restoration and/or create an in lieu fee program to finance restoration of closed and abandoned sand mining sites.
Stricter development regulations for the watersheds in the San Jacinto River Basin
Outreach to stakeholders and communities in the San Jacinto River Basin to increase awareness and facilitate greater transparency in reservoir operation and management and development of flood mitigation strategies.
Increased deployment of green infrastructure strategies including conservation easements, land acquisition and LID as population growth and development continues at a rapid pace. Creation of a regional LID guidelines template for use by local and county governments and LID performance criteria needed.
Create a San Jacinto River Community Advisory Council that meets regularly with public operators and functions similarly to community advisory councils in Houston Ship Channel industrial communities.
Stricter floodplain development regulations extending beyond the 500-year floodplain based on Atlas14 rainfall estimates
The entire report is a good read. It’s well designed and filled with helpful illustrations. People seriously interested in flood mitigation should download and read the whole survey. It’s extremely thoughtful and balanced.
Note: We modified this post to reflect feedback from Harris County Flood Control District and the San Jacinto River Authority. HCFCD provided new information showing rainfall totals far upstream. Confusion over the main point of this article also led us to clarify that rain was a contributing factor to the flood, but not the sole cause.
With the bulk of Kingwood’s and Humble’s population living on the West Fork of the San Jacinto River, it’s easy to forget that we have a flooding problem on the East Fork as well. The “East Fork” also includes Peach Creek and Caney Creek watersheds as well as Luce Bayou. And there is no shortage of sand coming down the East Fork from the sand mine on Caney Creek. This sand exacerbates flooding problems in the Kingwood and Huffman areas.
Where Did All The Sand Come From?
The sand mine on Caney Creek in Porter upstream of Kingwood comprises approximately 600 acres. The area where they stockpile sand for shipment comprises approximately 34 acres. The image below, taken on 9/14/17 shows how high the sand stockpile is relative to the height of surrounding trees.
Sand mine in Porter in Montgomery County next to Caney Creek. Water tower in background is at Kingwood Drive and High Valley. The mine is just upstream from East End Park in Kingwood where approximately 30 acres were covered with dunes up to ten feet tall after Harvey.
The next image shows what happened to this stockpile during Harvey. At the top right, you can see how torrential rains eroded the pile. They washed sand down to the bottom left where floodwaters carried it downstream. Note the erosion patterns in the flat area to the left (closest to Caney Creek).
Sand mine in Porter in Montgomery County next to Caney Creek shows signs of massive erosion after Hurricane Harvey. Picture taken on 9/14/18.
Just downstream from this sand mine, one can see sand in the tree tops. It appeared there suddenly after Harvey. The sand in the trees reaches an estimated 20 feet. The giant new sand dune in the river reaches an estimated 15 feet.
Confluence of the east fork of the San Jacinto (background) with Peach and Caney Creeks (foreground). Notice sand deposited by Hurricane Harvey stretching into the tree tops and blocking half the river.
Approximately 30 acres of East End Park, in the background to the right, also flooded with sand. At Eagle Point in the Park, sand dunes exceeded 10 feet and covered approximately a half mile of trails with sand that reached shoulder height at times.
Harvey washed sand downstream from mines in Porter in Montgomery County. After the storm, new dunes up to ten feet high covered 30 acres of Kingwood’s East End Park on the East fork of the San Jacinto River and obliterated trails like this one.
Historical Satellite Images Show Increase in Sand Volume
Some people ask, “Could the sand have come from the creek itself?” Fair question. These historical satellite images help answer it. The first satellite image of this area dates to 4/28/2014. At that point, the mine largely constrained the sand within its perimeter. You see only several small white dunes between it and East End Park, outlined in red.
In January of 2017 before Harvey, Caney Creek (see below) still contained relatively little sand. So far, so good.
After Harvey, in October, 2017, we see a radical change in the volume of sand downstream from the mine. Images taken from the helicopter and from the ground (far above) show the depth of these sand dunes. They appeared immediately after Harvey. In real life, the little white streaks in the creek stretch hundreds of feet and reach tree top height. Moreover, both ground level and helicopter photos show that much sand was hidden from satellite view by the tree canopy.
Effect of Siltation on Caney Creek and East Fork
One question remains – the most important one! How has all this sand affected the flow of Caney Creek and the East Fork? The answer: much like the sand on the West Fork has.
Smaller rains have produced bigger floods because the carrying capacity of the river has been reduced.
How You Can Help
Please contact all Harris County commissioners and the county judge. Their email addresses are on the Links page. Ask them to make sure they have enough money in the upcoming bond election to dredge BOTH the East and West Forks of the San Jacinto. Currently, they are only contemplating dredging the West Fork between US59 and West Lake Houston Parkway.
Bill Fowler, co-chair of the Kingwood Grass-Roots Flood Initiative found these statistics. Our thanks to Bill.
Posted on 4/3/18, 217 days since Hurricane Harvey.
Revised 4/10/18, 224 days since Hurricane Harvey.
00adminadmin2018-04-03 23:14:292018-04-10 16:45:29Five inches of rain helped create the third largest flood in 16 years and sand downstream made it worse
Lake Houston Area Grassroots Flood Prevention Initiative Announces Cambio to Speak At Next Meeting
Please mark your calendars. Attend the next meeting of the Lake Houston Area Grassroots Flood Prevention Initiative from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., April 17 at the Kingwood Community Center.
Featured Speaker: SJRA Board Member Kaaren Cambio
Kaaren Cambio, one of Kingwood’s two new representatives on the San Jacinto River Authority Board, will update residents on the SJRA’s new role in flood prevention. Additionally, she will update us on many significant flood prevention developments since the group’s last meeting.
About the Lake Houston Grassroots Flood Prevention Initiative
The Lake Houston Area Grassroots Flood Prevention Initiative consists of local residents dedicated to preventing future flooding in the Lake Houston Area. The Group aims to provide a voice for the concerns of residents. It also seeks to identify flood risks and their solutions, and to work closely with local, state and federal officials in addressing them.
All residents – flooded or not – are welcome to attend. The issues we seek to address affect the safety and economic vitality of the entire community.
Key goals of the Group include:
Join the Lake Houston Area Grassroots Flood Prevention Initiative
To join the group’s distribution list, please email Bill Fowler at txwil43@yahoo.com. Also, please feel free to email questions or comments directly to Bill or through this website.
On a final note, this website will be a repository for information related to the group’s efforts to prevent future flooding. Please bookmark the site and visit it regularly to get the most up-to-date news on flood prevention developments.
Posted April 7, 2018, 221 Days since Hurricane Harvey.
Greater Houston Flood Mitigation Consortium Issues Recommendations for San Jacinto Watershed
WhataBurger in the new HEB shopping center during flooding from Hurricane Harvey. Photo: Courtesy of John Knoerzer.
The Greater Houston Flood Mitigation Consortium issued a region-wide 64-page report on April 5, 2018. It begins with a discussion of the pros and cons of various flood mitigation strategies in general. Then it looks at strategies that apply to each watershed within the region and the equity of funding for each watershed.
The Consortium’s discussion of recommendations for the San Jacinto watershed begins on page 48 and continues on page 49. Because the complete report is more than a 130 megabyte download, I quote their recommendations for us below:
The entire report is a good read. It’s well designed and filled with helpful illustrations. People seriously interested in flood mitigation should download and read the whole survey. It’s extremely thoughtful and balanced.
Here is the Houston Chronicle’s take on the Greater Houston Flood Mitigation Consortium’s report.
Posted April 6, 2018, 219 Days After Hurricane Harvey.
Five inches of rain helped create the third largest flood in 16 years and sand downstream made it worse
Note: We modified this post to reflect feedback from Harris County Flood Control District and the San Jacinto River Authority. HCFCD provided new information showing rainfall totals far upstream. Confusion over the main point of this article also led us to clarify that rain was a contributing factor to the flood, but not the sole cause.
The flood on the East Fork of the San Jacinto last weekend (3/31/2018) crested at 66.1 ft. in New Caney. This was the 10th highest historical crest in the last 35 years – after a relatively minor rainfall event – 4.33 inches as measured on Caney Creek at 2090. That’s the only rain gage operated by the San Jacinto River Authority on the East Fork. Last weekend’s flood was also the third highest in the last 16 years on the East Fork. In fairness, it rained more upstream than at the gauge. HCFCD provided this rainfall map to show the distribution and said that rainfall averaged five inches across the watershed.
The East Fork: The Forgotten Flooding Problem
With the bulk of Kingwood’s and Humble’s population living on the West Fork of the San Jacinto River, it’s easy to forget that we have a flooding problem on the East Fork as well. The “East Fork” also includes Peach Creek and Caney Creek watersheds as well as Luce Bayou. And there is no shortage of sand coming down the East Fork from the sand mine on Caney Creek. This sand exacerbates flooding problems in the Kingwood and Huffman areas.
Where Did All The Sand Come From?
The sand mine on Caney Creek in Porter upstream of Kingwood comprises approximately 600 acres. The area where they stockpile sand for shipment comprises approximately 34 acres. The image below, taken on 9/14/17 shows how high the sand stockpile is relative to the height of surrounding trees.
Sand mine in Porter in Montgomery County next to Caney Creek. Water tower in background is at Kingwood Drive and High Valley. The mine is just upstream from East End Park in Kingwood where approximately 30 acres were covered with dunes up to ten feet tall after Harvey.
The next image shows what happened to this stockpile during Harvey. At the top right, you can see how torrential rains eroded the pile. They washed sand down to the bottom left where floodwaters carried it downstream. Note the erosion patterns in the flat area to the left (closest to Caney Creek).
Sand mine in Porter in Montgomery County next to Caney Creek shows signs of massive erosion after Hurricane Harvey. Picture taken on 9/14/18.
Just downstream from this sand mine, one can see sand in the tree tops. It appeared there suddenly after Harvey. The sand in the trees reaches an estimated 20 feet. The giant new sand dune in the river reaches an estimated 15 feet.
Confluence of the east fork of the San Jacinto (background) with Peach and Caney Creeks (foreground). Notice sand deposited by Hurricane Harvey stretching into the tree tops and blocking half the river.
Approximately 30 acres of East End Park, in the background to the right, also flooded with sand. At Eagle Point in the Park, sand dunes exceeded 10 feet and covered approximately a half mile of trails with sand that reached shoulder height at times.
Harvey washed sand downstream from mines in Porter in Montgomery County. After the storm, new dunes up to ten feet high covered 30 acres of Kingwood’s East End Park on the East fork of the San Jacinto River and obliterated trails like this one.
Historical Satellite Images Show Increase in Sand Volume
Some people ask, “Could the sand have come from the creek itself?” Fair question. These historical satellite images help answer it. The first satellite image of this area dates to 4/28/2014. At that point, the mine largely constrained the sand within its perimeter. You see only several small white dunes between it and East End Park, outlined in red.
In January of 2017 before Harvey, Caney Creek (see below) still contained relatively little sand. So far, so good.
After Harvey, in October, 2017, we see a radical change in the volume of sand downstream from the mine. Images taken from the helicopter and from the ground (far above) show the depth of these sand dunes. They appeared immediately after Harvey. In real life, the little white streaks in the creek stretch hundreds of feet and reach tree top height. Moreover, both ground level and helicopter photos show that much sand was hidden from satellite view by the tree canopy.
Effect of Siltation on Caney Creek and East Fork
One question remains – the most important one! How has all this sand affected the flow of Caney Creek and the East Fork? The answer: much like the sand on the West Fork has.
How You Can Help
Please contact all Harris County commissioners and the county judge. Their email addresses are on the Links page. Ask them to make sure they have enough money in the upcoming bond election to dredge BOTH the East and West Forks of the San Jacinto. Currently, they are only contemplating dredging the West Fork between US59 and West Lake Houston Parkway.
Bill Fowler, co-chair of the Kingwood Grass-Roots Flood Initiative found these statistics. Our thanks to Bill.
Posted on 4/3/18, 217 days since Hurricane Harvey.
Revised 4/10/18, 224 days since Hurricane Harvey.