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Town Fighting for Survival Stonewalled By County, State Officials at Every Turn

In the last year, I have researched and written more than 50 posts that mentioned Colony Ridge, the controversial Liberty County development with suspect drainage practices. In the last six months, County and State officials have stonewalled requests for documents that could help prove or disprove Colony Ridge violations of the County’s own drainage regulations.

*Lack of back-slope interceptor swales and drains means water from lots erodes ditches* *and sends sediment downstream. Liberty County drainage regulations require back-slope interceptor systems and grass.* See Section M on page 100 of Liberty County Subdivision and Development Regulations. But lack of those measures has widened ditch more than 35 feet due to erosion in 6 years, according to Google Earth.

During that year, Wayne Dolcefino, an eminent investigative journalist with a long list of awards, also started investigating Colony Ridge. He, too, has been stonewalled.

Dolcefino Consulting is independently investigating on behalf of neighboring Plum Grove. Residents allege that water spilling out of Colony Ridge has repeatedly contributed to flooding their properties. They have been stonewalled.

Likewise, Colony Ridge drainage wiped out FM1010, a major access road to Plum Grove, because of uncontrolled drainage coming the ditch shown above.

Dolcefino and the City of Plum Grove have filed even more requests for information than I and received little. Today, Dolcefino launched another broadside to remind people that their elected representatives seem to be representing a developer instead of them. See his report below.

Dolcefino Stonewalled; Issues Press Release

The tiny Liberty County, Texas town of Plum Grove has been fighting to save itself from real estate developer Colony Ridge, and now the town is battling back with subpoenas for the records that will prove whether missing drainage records ever existed at all.

One of those subpoenas was delivered to LandPlan Engineering—the engineering firm that allegedly prepared the plans for the sprawling Colony Ridge subdivision that caters to illegal immigrants with owner-financed lots that do not require government documents to prove identity.

LandPlan has been asked to produce drainage records, but they have also been asked to show the information that they received about flooding events that have helped swamp Plum Grove properties and destroy the town’s roads. In other words, once Colony Ridge created a subdivision that flooded its neighbors, did anyone care?

The fact that drainage records were missing was uncovered by Dolcefino Consulting, who were hired by the town to investigate possible corruption involving the Liberty County officials who approved what is now becoming the biggest community in the entire county.

“Good Ole’ Boy Protection Racket”

Liberty County has known for months the drainage records were missing and has ignored calls to force LandPlan and Colony Ridge developer Trey Harris to produce the records. An alleged investigation by the Liberty County Attorney Matt Poston has never been produced. Emails show that the county engineering firm LJA hasn’t pressed the issue either.

“There is absolutely no excuse for Liberty County to have not forced the production of these records long ago,” said Wayne Dolcefino, President of Dolcefino Consulting. “The Liberty County Judge Jay Knight has proven his negligence, his absolute disdain for the people of Plum Grove, and the next time it floods, if animals or people die, the blood will be on his hands. That’s the bottom line. I bet he would care if it was his neighborhood.”

The former county engineer Louis Bergman was also subpoenaed. When Bergman left his job with Liberty County, he left with many of the Colony Ridge development records.

“Bergman should have been brought before a grand jury to detail his relationships with Colony Ridge and whether his recommendations to approve these neighborhoods were based on facts or good ole’ boy engineering,” Dolcefino said.

Bergman is the father of the Liberty County District Attorney, who has ignored calls from Dolcefino Consulting.

The flood dangers created by Colony Ridge have threatened the world-famous Ima Survivor Sanctuary in Plum Grove, prompting angry calls for action from hundreds of thousands of supporters across the globe.

“Time is running out Judge Knight,” Dolcefino said. “When Plum Grove proves the truth—and the lawyers at Lloyd Gosselink will—the truth will come out.”

The Plum Grove investigation has led to the filing of a criminal complaint by Dolcefino Consulting against the State Representative for Plum Grove Ernest Bailes.

Bailes refused to provide phone records that were sought in the investigation of his relationship with developer Trey Harris. Bailes has refused to deny acceptance of any trips or private business from Harris. The San Jacinto Sheriff Greg Capers has refused to investigate Bailes.

“This good ole’ boy protection racket would rather protect Representative Bailes than the public right to know,” Dolcefino said. “Since our reporting on San Jacinto County began, we have received some interesting tips. Stay tuned.”

I might add that for months I have been stonewalled, too. Not one of my inquiries about the county’s drainage investigation which was launched last January has even received an “I can’t comment about ongoing investigations”!

Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/15/2021 based on a press release by Dolcefino Consulting

1416 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 655 since Imelda

The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.

FM1485: What’s Wrong With This Picture?

I took this picture on May 26, 2021. It shows TxDOT construction of the new State Highway 99 (Grand Parkway) next to FM1485 in New Caney. The picture looks northeast toward Colony Ridge in Liberty County. The East Fork of the San Jacinto River flows under both bridges toward Lake Houston on the right.

*Looking east toward Colony Ridge across FM1485 and the East Fork. Water flows left to right.*

Note the huge backup of water trying to get under the FM1485 bridge. Also note how much taller and wider the new bridge is compared to the old one.

How Much Rainfall Caused This?

Here is rainfall for the month of May as measured by the Harris County Flood Control District Gage at this location.

The Harris County Flood Warning System shows that the largest rainfall for the month was 2.28 inches TWO days before the photo. But the ground was clearly saturated from steady, moderate rains the week before.

The gage upstream at FM2090 shows slightly more rain. It reported 14 inches for the month instead of 11, but it received exactly 2.28 inches on the same day this gage did. While 2+ inches in a day is substantial, few in this part of the world would consider it excessive – especially since it was spread out over 5 hours.

Likewise, according to Atlas-14 standards, the rain that fell in the week before would qualify as a 1- to 2-year rain – notable, but not historic.

*Note the 7-day rainfall totals in columns 1 and 2.*

Submerged 41 Times in 32 years

And after consulting Harris County Flood Control District records, I learned that FM1485 has gone under water 41 times since 1990 – an average of 1.32 times per year.

*The East Fork came out of its banks and flooded this area twice in the week before the picture was taken.*

Rainfall data, road flooding frequency and the photo all suggest that a 1- to 2-year rain is enough to flood FM1485.

What Should a Roadway over a Major River Withstand?

Yet the TxDOT standard suggests that such minor arterials and bridges over a major river crossing be built to withstand 25- to 50-year floods. Oops!

Obviously TxDOT built a much higher road and a much wider, taller bridge for its new highway. The new one is approximately five times wider than the old one. Construction standards for major highways could account for that. But so could TxDOT’s experience with FM1485.

So What’s Going on Here?

Why did TxDOT make the new bridge so much wider and taller?

Did TxDOT just get the engineering wrong on the old bridge?
Did bridge standards change over time?
Do state highways have higher standards than farm-to-market roads?
Did Atlas-14 increase the risk?
Did upstream development, such as Colony Ridge, alter the hydraulics of the watershed when the developer paved over wetlands and deforested thousands of acres while providing little detention-pond capacity?
Did the mischaracterization of soil types in Colony Ridge lead to more runoff than anticipated?
All of the above?
Some of the above?

Jeff Lindner, Harris County’s meteorologist, cautions that, “Water surface elevations depend on many variables…rainfall patterns, intensity, soil conditions, water level in the river when the rain started, ect. It is usually difficult to compare events as no two are exactly alike. You really need a hydrological analysis of the location to determine the amount of run-off from that site into the river per an amount of rainfall.”

Good luck with that! More than six months after the Liberty County Attorney launched an investigation into Colony Ridge drainage reports, we still are waiting for answers.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/15/2021

1415 Days since Hurricane Harvey

The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.

HCFCD’s “Frontier Program”: A Collaborative Model for Future Flood Mitigation

Harris County Flood Control District’s (HCFCD) Frontier Program is an effort to avoid the problems of past development in newly developing areas. In the past, making developers solely responsible for flood mitigation on the land they owned likely resulted in small, expensive and suboptimal projects. Often, by the time shortcomings of their efforts became apparent, it was too late to do anything. Sometimes, to make room for effective flood-mitigation projects, whole subdivisions had to be bought out – after years of repetitive flooding. See two images below.

*Halls Bayou next to the Fiesta on US59 north in 2002. Note the subdivisions on either side of the freeway and compare this shot to the one below.*

*To create the detention ponds on either side of the freeway, HCFCD had to buy out entire subdivisions*, *an effort that took more than a decade.* *The buyouts took 4-5 times longer than construction of the ponds.*

Frontier Program Offers a Different Paradigm

The Frontier Program is an organized effort to plan for regional drainage infrastructure in advance of future land development.

Program managers work with developers and landowners to identify large-scale, mutually beneficial projects for drainage that cost-effectively maximize stormwater mitigation and water quality. Plans also include opportunities for public recreation and open space.

Basically, instead of forcing all the responsibility for floodwater detention onto developers, the developers buy detention capacity from HCFCD. But the detention capacity is in larger, more efficient ponds in optimal locations – large enough to accommodate future growth.

Currently HCFCD district has frontier programs operating in two watersheds: Little Cypress Creek and Langham Creek, both in northwest Harris County.

Little Cypress Creek Frontier Program

Little Cypress Creek’s watershed is 52-square-miles, but it has fewer than 30,000 residents. However, Little Cypress Creek is experiencing rapid development with construction of the Grand Parkway and lacks sufficient natural drainage to accommodate expected growth.

The Little Cypress Creek Frontier Program includes nine stormwater detention basins and stormwater conveyance improvements along the creek and its tributaries. The detention basins will hold more than 20,000 acre feet of stormwater. Together with conveyance improvements, flooding should be reduced 5-7 feet. This video, featuring Alan Black, HCFCD’s new acting director who lives in the area, explains how the collaborative effort with developers works.

The 2018 flood-bond funded the watershed’s Master Drainage Plan, as well as stormwater conveyance improvements on Little Cypress Creek from Cypress Rosehill to the confluence with Cypress Creek.

This innovative approach is in contrast to typical efforts in which individual land owners and developers install drainage infrastructure that serves their sites alone, resulting in smaller, isolated stormwater detention basins and minimum-width channels for stormwater management. By taking a regional approach, the Frontier Program protects existing developments and provides proper drainage for newly developing properties.

Developers participate in the Frontier Program by paying a $4,000-per-acre fee to develop in the watershed service area. Developers also participate by excavating a portion of regional drainage facilities and by dedicating property for right-of-way. The Little Cypress Creek Frontier Program will use impact fees primarily to acquire additional right-of-way along the channel and for stormwater detention basins.

Bottom line: the program calls for stricter stormwater detention requirements to mitigate runoff from new developments.

Upper Langham Creek Frontier Program

HCFCD operates another Frontier Program on Upper Langham Creek in its 16 square-mile watershed.

Major elements include, but are not limited to:

The 190-acre Greenhouse Stormwater Detention Basin in Harris County Precinct 3. The basin ultimately will provide approximately 860 acre-feet of detention storage.
Another 865-acre basin site at Precinct 3’s John Paul’s Landing Park. It will provide 2,360 acre-feet of detention storage.
A six-mile, 700-foot-wide, 14-foot-deep floodplain and stream corridor encompassing Langham Creek between the two basins. The variable-width, undulating corridor design features wide flood terraces (or benches), gentle side slopes and in-line detention storage volume for the mitigation of stormwater flows. Within the corridor, Langham Creek will be redesigned as a natural stable stream, with adjacent forested borders, native grasses, and stormwater quality mitigation features.

*Here, developers pay a per-acre impact fee of $3,100.*

Pay Now or Pay Later

Some residents have complained about spending HCFCD funds in areas where people do not yet live when they flood now.

But this is truly a case of “You can pay me now or pay me later.” And if you pay later, the cost is almost certain to be exponentially higher and take much longer…after a lot of heartbreak, misery and human suffering.

Analogy: think about a doctor who’s so busy dealing with critical care, she has no time to deal with preventive care.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/13/2021

1414 Days since Hurricane Harvey

New Caney ISD’s New West Fork High School Taking Shape

Between US59 and Sorters-McClellan Road, a few blocks south of Kingwood Drive, New Caney ISD High School #3 is finally taking shape. And it now has an official name: West Fork High High School.

On January 1, 2021, contractors were just starting to pour concrete for the foundations and parking lots. According to the New Caney ISD’s June update:

Site work storm drainage is 95 percent complete
Sanitary sewer system – 85 percent.
Electrical system – 98 percent.
Water system – 90 percent.
Building concrete slab – 90 percent.
Form and pour tilt-up panels – 99 percent.
Erect panels – 95 percent.
Structural steel – 55 percent.
Metal decking – 20 percent.
Concrete masonry unit (cinder block) masonry – 10 percent.

Aerial Photos Taken 7.12.21

Here’s how all that looked on the afternoon of July 12, 2021.

*Looking NE from over Sorters-McClellan Road toward Kingwood Medical Center and Insperity (top center).*

*Looking east toward Field House and where playing fields will go just beyond it. US59 and Lowe’s in background.*

*Looking south at entire site. Sorters-McClellan Road on right. US59 on left and top.*

*A peak into New Caney ISD’s West Fork High School three-story structures*

*Looking north at entire site. Huge detention pond in foreground.*

*Looking North. Corrugated metal installed as base for roofing on four buildings.*

Site Plan, Architectural Renderings for New Caney ISD West Fork High School

Here’s how it should all look when finished.

*Architectural Rendering courtesy of New Caney ISD.*

*General plan for New Caney High School #3*

New Caney ISD expects to finish construction on the 60-acre site in the summer of 2022. The site is in Montgomery County, but also the City of Houston’s Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction.

Detention Pond Requirements

The dry-bottom detention pond takes up approximately 5 of the 60 acres – or one twelfth of the site. Assuming it’s 12 feet deep, it would hold a foot of rain falling on the entire site. The new minimum recommendation for a site this size in Harris County and the City is .65 acre feet of detention per acre. That would be about 40 acre-feet of detention, which a pond 8 feet deep would hold.

Because the construction site is closed, and the plans I have don’t specify depth, it’s hard to say exactly how much capacity the detention pond has. But I’m guessing it’s deep enough to meet the new minimum requirements under Atlas 14. I say that judging by the height of the pond walls compared to the pipes leading into it.

I would expect no less from a public school system.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/12/2021

1413 Days after Hurricane Harvey

Lake Houston Dredging Starts Moving to East Fork

On Thursday last week, Stephen Costello, PE, the City of Houston’s Chief Recovery Officer, gave an update on Lake Houston dredging. Costello said that mechanical dredging was starting to move from the West Fork to the East Fork of the San Jacinto River.

Next Phase of Dredging Starting

This marks the beginning of the next phase in dredging after Harvey. Since 2018, dredgers have focused on the West Fork, which was 90% blocked by sediment in places, according to the Army Corps. The Corps and the City removed 2.9 million cubic yards of sediment from the West Fork. Now the focus will migrate to the East Fork, and then Lake Houston itself.

But to get to the East Fork mouth bar, dredgers must first deepen the channel south of Royal Shores that connects the two forks…or else take the long way around to the placement area.

Yellow dot represents most recent focus of dredging on West Fork. The dotted line branching off to the right through the channel is how dredger’s will get back and forth to the East Fork Mouth Bar (big yellow circle) and the placement area south of River Grove Park on the West Fork.

Channel Filled with Silt, Too

Costello said silt in the channel made it too shallow for pontoons and equipment to navigate back and forth safely.

Photos taken this afternoon show that the first equipment is starting to dredge the channel inside two ancient cutoff meanders of the West Fork.

*Looking west toward West Lake Houston Parkway Bridge from over the channel connecting the West and East Forks.*

*Wider shot from farther back shows the dredge area within the cutoff meanders.*

*Looking East toward the East Fork and Luce Bayou (upper right).*

As the last photo shows, at this time, no dredging activity has yet reached the East Fork.

Boaters: Exercise Caution Around Dredging Equipment

This cut-through is a popular shortcut for boaters. Boaters may wish to take the long way around for the next few months or, at a minimum, use extra caution. Those excavators have long arms and can turn suddenly. Remember: operators don’t have eyes in the backs of their heads. Make sure they acknowledge your presence before zipping past them.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/11/2021

1412 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Contractors Almost Finished with Framing New KMS, Starting on Roof

While far from complete, Humble ISD contractors have made steady progress with the construction of the new Kingwood Middle School (KMS), despite heavy and steady rains in May, June and July. Back in late March, I reported that steel was going up. Since then, the contractors have finished erecting steel on 80-90% of the new KMS building.

I took all the photos below on 7/10/2021.

*Overview of campus, looking south. Woodland Hills Blvd on right*. *The white area in the foreground appears to be roofing*.

The new KMS is being built on the site of the old athletic fields. When complete, the old school will be demolished and the athletic fields will be relocated there.

A prominent feature of the new construction is a temporary detention pond (foreground) to reduce flood risk for neighbors. Looking NNW. Note the concrete slab between the detention pond and the crane, where contractors have not yet started erecting steel.

*The new building will be much taller and “airier” than the old one which had solid brick walls over most of the exterior.*

*Portions will be 3-stories tall, letting more students learn on a smaller footprint*.

*Looking north across old KMS campus toward new construction shows the variation in the respective footprints.*

When demolition of the old KMS has finished, the temporary detention pond will reportedly turn into a permanent one near the location of the semi-circular drop off zone above.

Humble ISD expects the school to open for the 2022 school year. For more information about the plans for the building, see the District’s web site. Find updates on other new construction from the 2018 bond here.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/10/21

1411 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Floodgate, Dredging Plans Unveiled

At one of the first large public meetings since Covid began, several hundred people crowded into the Kingwood Community Center last night. They came to see the City unveil floodgate and dredging plans for Lake Houston. Stephen Costello, PE, the City’s Chief Recovery Officer, addressed dredging. And Chris Mueller, PhD, PE, of engineering firm Black & Veatch discussed adding more floodgates to the Lake Houston Dam. Mayor Pro Tem Dave Martin coordinated the meeting.

To see both presentations, click here. Or see the summaries below.

Dredging: About Half Done

In late 2019, the Army Corps finished hydraulic dredging in the area south of the West Fork mouth bar. Then in early 2020, the City of Houston began mechanical dredging to extend the effort. In terms of the estimated dollars designated for dredging, the effort is about halfway done.

*The first four rows on this chart are done or almost done. They total $114 million out of a projected total of $222 million.*

The last two rows on the chart above are estimates because they depend on bids currently in progress and a long-range plan not yet complete. The need for a long-term plan and maintenance dredging were identified early on by the Army Corps so that any benefits of dredging were not immediately wiped out by future sedimentation.

Scope of Long-Range Dredging Plan Still in Development

A long-range dredging plan for Lake Houston is critical. We must understand where the sediment comes from, how fast it builds up, where it builds up, and the consequences of not removing it periodically.

*The numbered dots in the photo above show channels south of the East and West Forks draining into Lake Houston where sediment can also build up.*

Costello says the City is currently working with affected homeowner associations to discuss cost-sharing arrangements.

He also says that the City must identify a long-range site for depositing the spoils that is suitable for hydraulic dredging. He called the mechanical dredging now in progress “not sustainable.” Currently, the City is using Berry Madden’s property on the West Fork south of Kingwood’s River Grove Park to deposit the mechanical dredging spoils. That’s a long haul for barges on the East Fork.

Next Dredging Steps: Channel to East Fork and East Fork Itself

Contractors must next deepen the channel between the West and East Forks of the San Jacinto to move dredging equipment and spoils back and forth (see below).

*Current location of dredging is near yellow dot.*

From there, dredgers will move slightly north of where Luce Bayou (far right) enters the East Fork and begin dredging the East Fork mouth bar. See large circle above. The map shows that area grew shallower by up to nine feet between 2011 and 2018. Imelda, in September 2019, made it grow even shallower. Note the fresh deposits of sand in the photo below now poking up above the water.

*Growth of East Fork Mouth Bar after Imelda* in September 2019. *Photo taken in November 2019.*

Additional Floodgates for Lake Houston Dam

Chris Mueller of Black & Veatch then discussed the reasons for adding additional floodgates to Lake Houston, preliminary engineering findings, and an implementation schedule.

The primary objective: to increase the outflow capacity of the dam to reduce the risk of future flooding. However, he emphasized that reducing the risk for people upstream of the dam cannot have an adverse impact on people below it. See below.

He emphasized that Lake Houston is, first and foremost, a drinking water reservoir. He also emphasized that the dam is almost seventy years old and near the end of its useful life. Significant safety issues exist in working with such old concrete.

Calculating the Benefit/Cost Ratio of Additional Floodgates

Mueller then explained how FEMA calculates the benefit/cost ratio of additional floodgates.

On the benefit side, it considers: the reduction in water surface level; how many buildings and streets that will prevent from flooding; reduced societal impacts; and reduced impacts to business revenues. These are primarily damage costs avoided.
On the cost side of the equation, FEMA factors in construction costs and annual operation and maintenance costs.

To win project approval, the City must show that the benefits of additional floodgates exceed the costs in a 100-year storm, similar to Imelda. Such a storm elevates the lake 10 feet.

The peak inflow to Lake Houston in a 100-year storm: 286,000 cubic feet per second (CFS), enough to fill the Astrodome in 3 minutes! However, during Harvey, SJRA estimated the peak inflow at 400,000 cfs.

Proposed Alternative Produces 11-Inch Benefit Nearest Dam

A hydrologic and hydraulic analysis conducted by Black & Veatch will help prove up the benefit/cost analysis. The San Jacinto Watershed (including Buffalo Bayou) includes flow from eight counties.

In evaluating about ten alternatives for adding floodgates, Black & Veatch considered both cost and non-cost factors listed below.

The company’s first choice was to install additional gates on the earthen portion of the dam on the east side. But environmental considerations there would have delayed the project by a decade or more.

So they decided to recommend a 1,000 feet of crest gates on the west side of the spillway instead. See example of crest gates in operation below.

*An air bladder near a bottom hinge raises or lowers the floodgates* *to let water in/out*

Such gates would increase the discharge capacity to 45,000 cfs, more than four times the current capacity of 10,000 cfs. That’s still only about a third of the discharge capacity of the floodgates on Lake Conroe. But according to Martin, that would still be enough to lower the level of the lake 4 feet in 24 hours.

However, before floodgate construction can begin, engineers must evaluate:

Downstream impacts and how to mitigate them
Impact to the stability of the existing concrete dam

Back in the 1950s when the Lake Houston dam was built, engineers did not use rebar. So this will be a delicate operation. Contractors must cut 6 feet into the existing spillway; cap the remaining concrete with a slab; and install the crest gates on top of the slab.

Black & Veatch must also develop an operations protocol for new floodgates that maximizes upstream benefits and limits downstream impacts. Mueller shared this schedule with attendees.

Best-Case Project Timeline Shows Completion in 2024

*Schedule as of 7/8/2021.* *Detailed engineering could take another year.*

A best-case scenario shows construction starting at the end of 2022 and finishing before the start of hurricane season in 2024. So, at least three more hurricane seasons to get through before seeing any benefit from additional gates.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/9/2021

1410 Days since Hurricane Harvey

To Reduce Future Flooding, We Need to Focus on BOTH Mitigation AND Root Causes

After writing about flooding daily for nearly four years, I have developed some beliefs about how to reduce future flooding. In the last 20+ years, Harris County has spent more than $2.6 billion on flood mitigation. And I know one engineer who claims it could take another $50-60 billion to fix all of the County’s flooding problems. That raises the question, “Why aren’t we focusing more on preventing them in the first place?”

Changing Landscape of Flood Mitigation

Flood-mitigation projects alone can’t prevent future flooding because the landscape constantly changes. As population density increases, so does housing density, impervious cover, and runoff. As areas build out and land prices escalate, people often build homes in places they shouldn’t (floodways and floodplains). That puts others at risk. But the allure of having a water view, dazzles potential buyers who may not understand the risk of future flooding.

When neighborhoods flood, community groups demand action. Someone commissions an engineering study. Years later, the engineers quote an often astronomical cost for flood-mitigation projects. Finding the money can take years longer. Or lead to a frustrating dead end and repeat flooding.

Unwitting Flood Victim: A Personal Story

I once bought a new house on Spring Creek in a Dallas suburb. The home was supposed to be two feet above the hundred-year floodplain. It looked out over the Richardson golf course. My wife and I were ecstatic…until pickup trucks started floating down the creek on minor rains.

I managed to get a three-city commission started to look into the causes. The City Engineers from Garland, Richardson and Plano petitioned the Army Corps to re-survey the creek. They found that…

Instead of being 2 feet above the hundred-year floodplain, we were now 10 feet below it.

They pointed to Plano upstream from us. It was the fastest growing city in America at the time. They also pointed to the development of an 80-acre shopping mall just upstream from us.

With two small babies at the time, we decided that the beauty of the location no longer justified the risk. We put the home on the market, disclosed the flood problems, took a $35,000 hit on the sale (about 20% of the purchase price in those days), and moved to (please don’t laugh) Houston!

Urban Sprawl Increases Future Flood Risk For People in Center

Houston has grown even faster than Dallas. We are now completing the third ring of highways around the City. Just as development of areas around Beltway 8 contributed to flooding woes inside Loop 610, now, the Grand Parkway will contribute to flooding woes farther out.

*Grand Parkway extension in Liberty County*, *photographed May 26, 2019.* *A magnet for future development.*

Look Outward, Not Just Inward, to Reduce Future Flooding

This continued expansion demands that we look outward, not just inward to reduce future flooding. The counties around Harris have an opportunity now encourage development practices that respect the property rights of others. Those include, but are not limited to:

Preservation of green space and wetlands, nature’s sponges.
Adequately sized detention and retention ponds
Lining channels with grass to reduce erosion and sediment deposition downstream
Control of housing density
Use of green technologies in home building

If every new home and development “retained its rain,” no one downstream would face increased flood risk.
The mantra of floodplain managers

But, alas, that costs money. And for every ten thousand dollars that you increase the price of a home, you also price X number of people out of the market. Not just the home buying market, but the Houston market.

Cost of Land Can Be 40% of New Home’s Cost

According to one homebuilder, land now accounts for 40% of the cost of a new home. So, we constantly see pushback from developers who hire engineers willing to find a way to make questionable projects happen. And that’s how we get places like Colony Ridge – a development that didn’t exist 10 years ago that is now larger than any city in Liberty County – built on wetlands.

*A small part of the Colony Ridge expansion now underway. Photo taken at end of June, 2021.*

Ironically, Colony Ridge is just upstream from Luce Bayou which has received the least flood-mitigation funding since 2000.

Pay Now or Pay Later

*Harris County Flood Control Capital Improvement Spending since 2000.*

The Colony Ridge expansion area above will drain into Luce which runs through Huffman downstream. One can only guess how long it take for flooding to strike there and how long it will take to find a solution now that a developer has permanently altered the landscape and destroying even more wetlands.

Sensible regulation and enforcement could reduce future flooding risk at no cost to the public. But upstream county commissioners are eager to experience the financial freedom that a larger tax base will bring. And their residents aren’t eager to pay for someone else’s flood mitigation.

And that is why fighting future flooding will always be a two-front war.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/8/2021

1409 Days since Hurricane Harvey

The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.

Baseless Claims of Historic Racism, White Supremacy in Allocation of Flood Funds

Members of the Northeast Action Collective (NAC) have falsely alleged “historic racism” in the allocation of flood-mitigation funds. And without evidence, the group also cited “a rising white supremacist movement” in Harris County as a reason to move money from high-income to low-income watersheds “as quickly as possible.”

Analysis of historical funding data obtained from Harris County via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request shows that minority and low-income watersheds have received the lion’s share of funds since 2000. Yet at the 6/29/21 Harris County Commissioners Court meeting, NAC members claimed the opposite.

From Baseless to Bizarre

“Historic racism” and “white supremacy” were just two of dozens of baseless and bizarre claims in the group’s manifesto.

NAC also claimed that:

It is “fighting for better drains and more regular drain upkeep.” NAC then blames the Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) for being insensitive to residents needs. Perhaps that’s because HCFCD is not responsible for street drainage; the City and (in unincorporated areas of Harris County) Precinct Commissioners are.
“The City won’t pay attention to neighborhoods where Black and Brown people live” … even as they complained to County Commissioners.
HCFCD has “underfunded” Greens and Halls Bayous for decades while ignoring the fact that the entire county was underfunded before the 2018 flood bond.
HCFCD needs more transparency, even though NAC ignored readily available information about HCFCD spending.
The flood bond was supposed to counteract historic racism, even though the language approved by voters never mentions race.

These claims deserve closer scrutiny. Let’s look at some of the most serious falsehoods.

Racial Equity Not in Flood-Bond Language

NAC claims the flood-bond promised racial equity in the distribution of funds; it didn’t. The text of the flood bond never mentions race, minorities, historic underinvestment, income, social justice, social vulnerability or any of the other things NAC says it does. Those concepts were all heaped onto the one mention of “equitable” in the bond language (paragraph 14G). It puts equity in a geographic context with a prefatory clause focused on political boundaries. (“Since flooding issues do not respect jurisdictional or political boundaries, the Commissioners Court shall provide a process for the equitable distribution of funds…).

Areas, such as Lake Houston, asked to include that because flood mitigation requires upstream detention in other counties. The inability to cross political boundaries for flood mitigation would handicap areas near the county line forever.

Historic Racism Not Evident in Funding

NAC claims “historic racism” in flood mitigation funding, but refuses to acknowledge historic advantages in funding:

Eight minority and low-income watersheds (out of 23 total) received 71% of all HCFCD capital funds between 2000 and Harvey. ($1.1 billion out of $1.5 billion.) The other 15 higher income watersheds split the remaining $400 million. So “historic racism” in funding does not exist, at least not in Harris County and not at HCFCD. See links to data and related articles below.
Out of 23 watersheds, Halls and Greens Bayou Watersheds alone received $222 million between 2000 and Harvey. That’s 15% of all funding during those years.
They also received another $200 million out of $1.1 billion spent since Harvey – 18%.

*HCFCD Capital-Improvement Spending between 2000 and Harvey arranged by percentage of low-to-moderate income (LMI) residents. Halls has the highest LMI % and Little Cypress the lowest.* *The top eight watersheds (darker blue) have LMI percentages above 50%; the others below. Data obtained via FOIA request.*

*New detention basin at Hopper and US59, photographed in April. One of four new basins in the Halls Bayou watershed that doesn’t exist according to NAC.*

“Rising White Supremacist Movement” Not Seen in Funding or Evidence

NAC claims, “The most viable path to equity is to reallocate money for projects in wealthier watersheds to projects in watersheds with predominantly BIPOC and LMI residents.” (BI-POC stands for Black, Indigenous and People of Color. LMI stands for Low-to-Moderate Income.) But NAC doesn’t stop there.

Because of “a rising white supremacist movement in Texas and the county, and decades of underinvestment, the only strategy rooted in justice is to move as much money as quickly as possible to low-income watersheds.”
Northeast Action Coalition

Then NAC claims that its members do not believe that “current HCFCD leadership is actually committed to racial equity or justice.” I guess they don’t get out in the neighborhood much and look at all the flood-mitigation projects going in!

*One of three new detention basins under construction in the Greens Bayou Watershed. It doesn’t exist either according to NAC.*

Demand for Transparency That Already Exists

The NAC manifesto also demands, “full transparency on spending.” Yet:

HCFCD supplied historical funding data going back more than two decades. NAC and partner organizations ignored it.
All HCFCD spending is audited.
HCFCD’s website details spending and projects in each watershed.
It also shows – by watershed – all active construction and maintenance projects, and their value.
All HCFCD expenditures are approved by Commissioners in open, public meetings.

When Commissioners Ellis and Garcia claim that all the funding is going to rich watersheds and none to poor watersheds, they should know better. They approved all the money going to low-income areas!

The Real Problem

In the 18 years between 2000 and Harvey, the Flood Control District had only $1.5 billion to spend on capital improvement projects. Even with partner funding, that works out to only a little more than $80 million per year. According to multiple sources, for decades HCFCD had to save up money – sometimes for years – to afford construction projects. So, in some years, there were NO flood-mitigation projects at all, anywhere in the county.

Despite that, eight LMI watersheds received $1.1 billion out of $1.5 billion total dollars. That’s 71% of all capital spending – hardly “historic racism” or evidence of “white supremacy.” The other 15 more affluent watersheds combined got only 29%.

The sad fact is that no one in Harris County got enough flood-control dollars to prevent flooding before Harvey. It took Harvey to wake voters up to the need for better flood control.

In fairness, as I have shown in related articles below, minority, low-income watersheds did suffer a disproportionate share of damage in the last two decades. But dollars have flowed to that damage. Those damaged communities have received the vast majority of flood-mitigation funds.

Halls and Greens didn’t flood because of racism. And shouting racism from the rooftops won’t fix their flooding problems. It will only cloud issues and divide people.

For More Information

In early March, I submitted a FOIA request to Harris County for capital improvement funds by watershed dating back to 2000. Here is the county’s response: HCFCDs historical construction funding by watershed.

I then compiled a summary spreadsheet that includes related information, such as population and watershed size, also supplied by the County in response to my FOIA request.

After analysis, I published these findings:

Also, here are several articles with aerial photos that show what the money bought.

Finally, here’s an article about how Commissioner’s filled a potential shortfall in partnership funds to prevent possible delays in construction of flood mitigation projects. Trust To Fully Fund Flood Mitigation Projects Without Partner Assistance For At Least Next Six Years.

Posted by Bob Rehak on July 7, 2021

1408 Days after Hurricane Harvey

The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.

Reminder: Floodgate Meeting at Kingwood Community Center on Thursday, July 8

On Thursday, July 8, Mayor Pro Tem Dave Martin will host a pubic meeting to discuss the status of adding more floodgates to the Lake Houston Dam. Preliminary engineering finished earlier this year. In March, the Coastal Water Authority board approved Black & Veatch to begin final engineering.

Need for More Gates

The Lake Houston Area Task Force identified more and higher capacity floodgates as a key element in the area’s flood-mitigation strategy. The current gates have one-fifteenth the capacity of those at the Lake Conroe Dam. That makes it difficult to shed water from Lake Houston before people flood if Lake Conroe opens its gates as it did during Harvey.

During Harvey, Conroe released 79,000 cubic feet per second. That was one third of all the water coming down the West Fork between Humble and Kingwood. All by itself, that 79,000 CFS would have been the ninth largest flood in West Fork history. And that made the difference between flooding and not flooding for thousands of homes and businesses near the lake.

During Harvey, the peak flow over the spillway was five times the average flow over Niagra Falls. A wall of water 11 feet tall cascaded over the spillway above. Enough to fill NRG stadium in 3.5 minutes.

*Lake Houston Dam During Harvey*. *The proposed crest gates would go in the far upper left of the spillway.*

Floodgate Meeting Details

See the meeting details below.

Thursday, July 8, 2021
At the Kingwood Community Center (4102 Rustic Woods)
Doors Open 5:30 PM
Dredging Update Starts 5:45 PM
Gate Update Starts at 6 PM

Chief Recovery Officer, Stephen Costello, will provide a very brief update on Lake Houston Dredging operations at 5:45 p.m. before the Spillway Improvement Project program begins.

The program to discuss the Lake Houston Dam Spillway Improvement Project will start at 6:00 p.m. and conclude at 7:45 p.m. But don’t worry about sitting through a 2 hour meeting.

The main presentation by Black & Veatch, the project engineers, will be followed by a short Q&A session. The meeting will then transition into breakout sessions. Breakout tables will let residents engage with project management staff and engineers in small groups to ask more detailed questions.

Project Benefits

The Lake Houston Dam Spillway project will increase the outflow capacity of the Lake Houston Dam. The project proposes installing new crest gates in the existing uncontrolled spillway. This will allow for a rapid decrease of water levels in Lake Houston in advance of storm events to prevent or reduce upstream flooding. Engineers estimate the recommended alternative could help about 35,000 residents and 5,000 structures. It’s important for people to understand that if they flooded from streams or channels far from the lake during Harvey, this may not help them.

Funding

A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program provides $4.3 million for engineering and positions the city to receive another $42.7 million for construction.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/6/2021 based on info provided by Dave Martin’s Office

1407 Days since Hurricane Harvey