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Rosemay Fain’s Harvey and Imelda Stories

Rosemary Fain and Archie Savage live on three acres in Magnolia Estates, in far northeast Harris County just a block from the Liberty County line, about halfway between Luce Bayou and the San Jacinto East Fork. They’re more than two miles from each and never flooded before the development of Colony Ridge, one mile north. Since then, during both Harvey and Imelda, East Fork floodwater rose so high that it came through their property and started flowing down toward Luce Bayou. The water damaged their home, barn, garage, workshop, pool, hot tub, well, septic system, chicken coop and more. But they were lucky compared to neighbors who had homes swept off foundations. This interview discusses their attempts to recover and their advice for others.

Rehak: How long have you all lived here?

Fain: Archie’s lived here since 1995. I joined him in 2015.

Never Flooded Before Harvey

Rehak: Did the property ever flood before Hurricane Harvey?

Fain: No, not at all.

Rehak: OK. How far are you from the East Fork of the San Jacinto?

Fain: More than two miles.

And Then Came Harvey

Rehak: What happened during Harvey?

Fain: Well, we knew that the hurricane was coming. And we did as much as we could to prepare for high winds. But how could we prepare for that much water? We never expected that much. It just…it looked like a river.

It looked like we were sitting in the middle of a river.
Rosemary Fain

We had people calling from all over the country to make sure we were OK. Then we lost power. Power lines went down at Magnolia Boulevard and Plum Grove Road and there were kids riding four wheelers in the water!

I have video of the water. It was coming from the East Fork and running into that gully that goes to Luces Bayou. And it was just a torrent. It was just an absolute torrent.

Video of Hurricane Harvey in Magnolia Estates courtesy of Rosemary Fain

On FM1485, people were loading boats to go down Huffman/Cleveland Road and rescue people that had their homes washed completely off foundations. And the East Fork … Oh, my God, way up here. Way up here!

After, on FM1485, people with tractors were pulling cows out of the ditches.

Rehak: You’re kidding.

Fain: No.

Rehak: Dead cows?

Fain: A lot … dead. They found an awful lot of carcasses down in the culvert.

Imelda “Much, Much Worse”

Two years later, Imelda came along. And it was worse! Much, much worse. Kids were kayaking out on the street. That’s how bad it was.

*Kayaking down the street in front of Fain’s house during Imelda*

Rehak: Wow.

Fain: Archie had made it to work that morning and I called him and asked, “Do I need to start getting blankets and comforters to put in front of the door? And he says, “Honey, it’s water. Nothing’s going to stop it. If it’s coming in, it’s coming in.” And that’s when it came right up to the top step. It was within inches of coming in the house.

Video of Tropical Storm Imelda in Magnolia Estates courtesy of Rosemary Fain

Rehak: Did it undermine the corner of your house?

Fain: It messed up more than that.

Rehak: Catalog the losses for me. You lost some machinery in your wood shop.

Fain: We lost the jumper pump in our well house. Our septic system flooded. We had damage to the pier and beam foundation under our kitchen and dining room, where the foundation later collapsed – between Christmas and New Years of 2020. We had no idea how bad it was.

*Part of damage caused by delayed collapse of one corner of house after Imelda*

*Corner of the house in kitchen that bore the brunt of Imelda’s floodwaters.*

The pier-and-beam foundation and kitchen floor have to be completely replaced, as well as the bottom kitchen cabinets. We lost the motor and the heater to the hot tub, and the hot tub footings shifted, causing the hot tub to crack. We lost the motor to the pool. Our chicken and pigeon coops had to be demolished.

The neighbors behind us lost their sheep pens, but there were no sheep there at the time.

*Neighbors sheep pens destroyed by Imelda.*

And there’s now black mold in the well house and the garage shop.

And, you know, by law we can’t sell this place with the black mold issues. So, what do we do?

We can’t afford to fix it and we can’t afford to move. This house is paid for. It’s our investment for retirement. But we can’t afford to fix what needs to be fixed and sell it.

Insurance doesn’t cover black mold.

Who would have thought we’d need flood insurance this far from the river? We have it now. But we didn’t when the floods hit.

Poorly Drained Soils Now Much Worse

Rehak: What can you tell me about the soils around here? Were they a factor?

Fain: It’s all clay-based.

Rehak: How does it drain?

Savage: Not well. These properties, if there’s a lot of water, they’ll hold it a good while to where it should percolate down. But it doesn’t. It cannot go through clay. Harvey deposited a lot of silt. Since Harvey, it just seems like the ground is constantly saturated even during the summer. And, if you dig down two … two and a half feet, it gets really, really messy.

*Clay-based soil throughout area drains poorly.*

Rehak: When you first moved here, did you go up Plum Grove Road and explore?

Savage: You could tell that it was a low-lying area.

Rehak: A lot of palmettos up there?

Savage: Yeah.

Loss of Thousands of Acres of Forest, Wetlands with Colony Ridge

Fain: The first time I came out here, it was a very pleasant, beautiful little drive. I was really impressed with the canopy of the trees and this whole area. And I’m telling you, it just is such a shame what it’s come to. It was all woods and all trees, and now it’s just nothing but tore up roads and mud.

Rehak: How did the changes coincide with development of Colony Ridge?

Fain: We never flooded before Colony Ridge. All the problems came after they started clearing trees. I remember all the logging trucks coming up and down Plum Grove Road. And then in 2017, Harvey hit and it was just horrendous.

Rehak: Do you feel that if the development hadn’t happened you would have been safer?

Fain: Definitely. It was scary. I mean, I wish we had taken our little flat bottom boat and tied it to that tree.

Slow Recovery and Then More Disaster

Rehak: How has the recovery been?

Fain: FEMA came out and they cut us a check for $357.

Rehak: $357!

Fain: And there is nothing available for Imelda. Project Recovery … I’ve called them twice, emailed them, and they haven’t responded at all.

Rehak: Are you in the City of Houston?

Fain: No, this is New Caney. But we’re in Harris County. The Liberty County line is about a block east.

Rehak: Tell me more about the damage to the corner of your house?

Fain: We just didn’t know the extent of the damage under our house after Imelda. We were just thankful that it didn’t get in. Then all of a sudden the whole corner of the house collapsed more than a year after the storm.

One day between Christmas and New Years of 2020, I walked into the kitchen to get dog food and I saw the whole corner of the house had collapsed. I went, “Oh, my God, oh, my God, Archie! There’s something going on in the kitchen.”

*Close up of corner of the house that collapsed suddenly 15 months after Imelda.*

We started pulling the flooring and floorboards away. I marked the wall and it’s gotten much worse since. We just had no idea what the extent of the damage was.

And now it looks like the window has closed for any assistance. So we’re having to repair this essentially on our own. Insurance will cover some of it, but they’re not going to cover all of it.

*Refrigerator resides in front entry hall until repairs to kitchen can be made.*

Disabled and Trying to Recover With One Income

Rehak: You’re disabled now?

Fain: Yes, I can’t work anymore.

Rehak: How has the COVID situation affected Archie’s job?

Fain: He’s been lucky. They cut him back to forty hours. There’s no overtime, but he’s been very fortunate to keep his job through all this.

Rehak: He’s the sole breadwinner. That has to make doing all these repairs tougher.

Fain: Oh yeah!

Rehak: Is there anything else around here, besides Colony Ridge, that may have affected flooding?

Fain: Not in our neighborhood. There are no new homes going in at all. It’s been built out for a long time.

Doesn’t Want to Move, But Can’t Afford to Fix

Rehak: If you could sell this house right now without taking too much of a loss on it, what would you do? Would you find another place in the country?

Fain: We’re so close to retirement, we don’t really want to move. But if we did, it would definitely be to a place in the country. And away from anywhere with a hurricane, tropical storm or any of that.

Rehak: Until you’ve gone through a few of them, it’s hard to imagine the destruction.

Fain: Well, I’ve been through two in five years now, Harvey and Imelda. I’d never been through one before.

Rehak: Did this place flood during Tropical Storm Allison?

Fain: No. Archie told me that he could see the trees leaning, leaning, leaning in front. And then he went to the back and he’d see them lean in the other direction. But it didn’t flood.

Rehak: What about during Ike?

Fain: Same thing. Wind, but no water near the house.

Advice to Others

Rehak: If you could tell the world one thing, what would it be?

Fain: If you see development going on around you or your neighborhood … get involved. Make sure they understand they’re being watched. If they don’t do things right with their drainage, it could ruin your neighborhood and ruin your home and ruin your life.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/17/2021 based on an Interview with Rosemary Fain and Archie Savage

1237 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Endangered Species Spotted in Kingwood’s East End Park

Natural buffers of green space between rivers and residents are one of the best ways to reduce flooding. And they come with side benefits! Like occasionally spotting endangered species.

Ken and Debbie Beeney are avid birders who frequent Kingwood’s East End Park, where they have helped document more than 140 species of birds, many of them rare, threatened, or even endangered – such as the Henslow’s Sparrow. The presence of such species helps indicate the environmental health of a community. And on that score, Kingwood is doing well, indeed.

History of East End Park

Back in the 1980s, Friendswood Development had hoped to build another subdivision in the area of East End Park. But because of wetland issues, the EPA issued a “cease and desist” order in 1988. The developer then donated East End Park to the Kingwood Service Association (KSA) to turn it into a community amenity.

The dirt from the streets Friendswood cut in Kings Point built up the area that has now a 43-acre tall-grass meadow within the larger 158-acre nature park bordering the San Jacinto East Fork.

*Representative scenes from East End Park*. *The park has 5.5 miles of trails and boardwalks.*

Fast Forward 33 Years

In addition to providing hiking and jogging trails, the park provides a refuge for migrating birds. In winter, the grass goes to seed and the birds use that as a fly-through buffet.

*Part of East End Park from the air. Lower meadow in center.*

After consulting with the Houston Audubon Society and the Lake Houston Area nature club, KSA decided to mow the meadow each year after the spring migration. Mowing helps prevent the forest from encroaching on the meadow. The timing also allows the tall grass to regrow and reseed before the fall migration. That helps preserve a healthy supply of seed and cover that attracts all those species.

Beeney Photographs Henslow’s Sparrow

The Beeneys, who are members of the Lake Houston Area Nature Club, write, “Could you please extend our thanks and gratitude to KSA for timing the mowing of the meadow to accommodate the wintering birds who need this type of habitat.”

*Endangered* *Henslow’s Sparrow photographed in Kingwood’s East End Park on January 9, 2021, by Ken and Debbie Beeney.*

“Saturday January 9th, we spotted a rare bird, the Henslow’s sparrow. This is the first observed Henslow’s at East End Park. Henslow’s is listed as an endangered species in Canada. Additionally, seven U.S. states have listed Henslow’s Sparrow as endangered, five have listed it as threatened, and four have listed it as a species of Special Concern. Grassland conservation efforts have been responsible for the reversal of some long-term declines among local populations of this species.”

“Our bird walks in December and January have yielded high numbers of sparrows in the grassy meadow. Species include; LeConte’s, Chipping, Savannah and Swamp Sparrows. The overwintering sparrows need the tall grasses for protection from predators and as a food source.”

Regards, Ken and Debbie Beeney

Park Has Many Values

In addition, to attracting wildlife, areas such as East End Park attract people. East End is one of the busiest parks in Kingwood. The Lake Houston Area Nature Club meets there at 7:30 a.m. on the second Saturday of each month from September through May for guided nature walks.

The park helps PROTECT wildlife. But we shouldn’t forget that it also provides a valuable amenity for residents and protects homes from flooding. During Harvey and Imelda, the ENTIRE park went underwater. Can you imagine if Friendswood had built homes there!

Ultimately, the donation by Friendswood let them salvage some value out of the land by improving home values in the rest of Kingwood. This should be a valuable lesson for all developers as areas upstream start to develop.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/16/2021 with thanks to KSA, Ken Beeney and Debbie Beeney

1236 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Flood Decision-Support Toolbox Enhanced by State, Federal Team

The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) and the federal Interagency Flood Risk Management (InFRM) team (composed of USGS, FEMA, the Army Corps, and National Weather Service) has enhanced their Flood Decision-Support Toolbox. The Toolbox is an interactive online application that provides maps and data that simulates the extent of flooding and shows historical flood extents. It can be used for analyzing potential scenarios, flood risk assessments, damage analysis, and more.

How It Works

Here’s how the Flood Decision-Support Toolbox works:

Go to https://webapps.usgs.gov/infrm/fdst/?region=tx

2. Observe current conditions OR select historical peak floods.

*Historical peak floods at US59 and the West Fork. Note the increase in recent years*, *likely due to upstream development and/or climate.*

3. Explore the flood map library by selecting a flood level (river stage)

4. In the “Buildings” Layer, select ALL or INUNDATED BUILDINGS ONLY

5. Note the damage estimates in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

*In the case of a simulated Harvey flood, near the gage at US59, 739 buildings would be inundated at an estimated total cost of $84,914,000.*

*But at 52.5 feet (the beginning of the “major” flood stage), 83 buildings would flood. Estimated total damage: $1,494,000.*

The magic of this toolbox is that you can see exactly which buildings will flood at any given level.

What is your appetite for risk?

Potential Uses

The Flood Decision Support Toolbox also provides real-time data from USGS streamgages connected with flood inundation models to interactively display a range of flood conditions at streamgage locations. The result is a dynamic tool for flood risk assessment that enables planners, emergency responders, and the public to visually understand a flood’s extent and depth over the land surface.

TWDB worked closely with USGS to incorporate building footprints on Texas maps. The Toolbox can now display potential damage to structures within the range of the USGS gages. This will give users the ability to estimate the economic impacts of different flood events on their communities and property. The TWDB has also provided building footprints outside of the current gage ranges in preparation for future mapping updates.

That can help guide:

Rescue efforts
Evacuations and evacuation routes
Mitigation decisions
Property purchases and investment decisions
Risk estimates
New construction and development
Permitting decisions

The site displays flood scenarios that range from minor to major flood events. New updates let users save and share inundation maps with different data layers through a unique URL.

Collaborative Effort

“This collaborative effort,” said Jeff Walker, Executive Administrator of the TWDB. “provides Texas-specific data that will help communities understand their local flood risks and make cost-effective mitigation decisions.”

The InFRM team was formed in 2014 and launched the Flood Decision Support Toolbox in 2019.

The TWDB is the state agency charged with collecting and disseminating water-related data, assisting with regional water and flood planning, and preparing the state water and flood plans.

Posted by Bob Rehak based on information provided by TWDB

1235 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Groundwater Management Area 14 to Hold Joint Planning Committee Meeting on January 20

Mark your calendar and sign up now. Groundwater Management Area 14 (GMA 14) will meet by webinar Wednesday, January 20th at 10 AM to continue the process of developing a set of desired future conditions for area aquifers. The standards will eventually determine groundwater availability and affect other issues such as subsidence.

*GMA 14 includes the 15 colored counties above. Each color represents a different Conservation District.* *Montgomery County (dark blue) has the Lonestar Groundwater Conservation District.*

GMA 14 engages in a joint planning process and includes representatives from Bluebonnet, Brazoria County, Lone Star, Lower Trinity, and Southeast Texas groundwater conservation districts, plus two subsidence districts. GMA 14 spans 20 counties. It is one of 16 groundwater management areas in the state of Texas.

High Stakes

Groundwater availability is a growing concern in the management area due to subsidence, water table reduction, wells running dry, the triggering of geologic faults, impacts to infrastructure, foundation issues, and providing a sustainable basis for future growth.

The last available subsidence maps, for instance, showed the north Harris and south Montgomery County area sinking 2 feet relative to the Lake Houston Dam.

*Pumping 115,000 acre feet per year would cause up to 3.25 feet of subsidence in southern MoCo. That’s far more than the 1-foot in the Desired Future Conditions definedby GMA14.*

*The same amount of pumping would cause up 3 feet of subsidence in parts of Kingwood and Huffman*, *and a foot or more in much of the rest of Harris County.*

Because aquifers travel under several counties, what happens in northern Montgomery County can impact southern Harris and Galveston counties, especially where people live closer to sea level.

How Much is Safe to Pump?

In determining groundwater availability targets, this month’s meeting will focus on:

Socioeconomic Impacts Reasonably Expected to Occur
Feasibility of Achieving the Desired Future Conditions
Other Relevant Information (including fault movement).

In all, GMA 14 considers nine factors in the join planning process:

Aquifer Uses and Conditions
Water Supply Needs and Management Strategies
Hydrological Conditions
Environmental Impacts
Impact on Subsidence
Socioeconomic Impacts
Private Property Rights
Feasibility of Achieving the desired future conditions
Other Relevant Information

MEETING INFORMATION

________________________

GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT AREA 14

JOINT PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING

January 20, 2021 at 10:00 AM

Via GoToWebinar.com

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PARTICIPATING

The Groundwater Management Area 14 Meeting will begin at 10:00 A.M.
Click the following link to register for Groundwater Management Area 14 – January 20, 2021 Meeting: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5586548623672514573
Once the registration is completed, an email will be sent with information on logging into the meeting and/or phone numbers and access codes to dial into the meeting should you wish to attend by telephone. Please choose one method or the other to join to avoid audio feedback.

Note: Participation via video conference is not required. If you wish to address the Board, during the public comment period, please fill out and submit the online speaker registration form.

You may also register as a speaker at the beginning of the meeting. Registration as a speaker will require providing:

first and last name;
email address
phone number.

Any person participating in the meeting must be recognized and identified by the Chairman each time they speak.

Go To Webinar Information

https://www.gotomeeting.com/webinar/join-webinar

GMA 14 Speaker Registration Form

:http://www.setgcd.org/meetingshearings/
_______________________________

AGENDA

The agenda includes:

Call to order;
Confirmation of receipt of posted notices;
Welcome and Introductions;
Public comment;
Discussion and possible action to approve minutes of November 18, 2020 GMA 14 Joint Planning Meeting;
Update from Texas Water Development Board and discussion of any related items of interest to GMA 14;

Meeting will be convened as a meeting of the GMA 14 Joint Planning Interlocal Agreement Participants.

Presentation and discussion by Districts or Interlocal Agreement Participants of recent activities of interest to or impacting the GMA 14 planning group;
Discuss and consider current Desired Future Conditions as they relate to recent static water level measurements within GMA 14 Member Districts;
Presentation, discussion and consideration of “socioeconomic impacts reasonably expected to occur” (as required by Texas Water Code 36.108 (d)(6));
Presentation, discussion and consideration of “the feasibility of achieving the desired future conditions” (as required by Texas Water Code 36.108 (d)(8));
Presentation, discussion and consideration of “any other information relevant to the specific Desired Future Condition” including but not limited to fault movement related to groundwater pumping (as required by Texas Water Code 36.108 (d)(9));
Discussion and possible action regarding the DFCs and the path forward for GMA 14 to accomplish statutory mandates for Round 3 Joint Planning;
GMA 14 Interlocal Agreement financial report;

GMA 14 Interlocal Agreement Participants meeting will be adjourned, and the meeting of the GMA 14 District Representatives will reconvene.

Discussion and possible action regarding next meeting date, location, and agenda items;
Meeting Adjourned.

GMA 14 – January 20, 2021 Agenda

Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/14/2020

1234 Days since Hurricane Harvey

City of Houston Couldn’t Even Give Away Harvey Aid Due to Bureaucratic Bungling

As a December 31st deadline expired, approximately $162 million – allocated by HUD to reimburse homeowners in the City of Houston for repairs they made after Harvey – remained unused. The City had worked on the reimbursement program for TWO years. Yet in all that time, the City’s Department of Housing and Community Development successfully processed only 120 applications for reimbursement of repairs. Grants awarded to those 120 families totaled a mere $2,024,000 out of the $164 million allocated – just 1.2% of available funds.

Desperate Families Needlessly Left Empty Handed

Meanwhile, flooded families:

Never received applications, despite repeated calls and emails from potential applicants
Received an application only hours before the deadline expired on the New Year’s weekend
Received incomplete and misleading information.

Regarding the last point, an email sent to residents at the 11th hour failed to inform them that they just needed to start the application and sign it before January 1st. Instead, residents were told that they needed to complete the application before December 31 (i.e., before the end of the day on December 30).

A two-step application process, engineered by the City, complicated and delayed aid. Residents first had to fill out a survey to qualify to fill out an application. The City then tried to sort the survey respondents into priority groups. This increased the workload, created management complexity, and delayed the filing of formal applications for years while the deadline passed.

Had everyone just been invited to fill out an application early on, no one would have missed the deadline.

Help From GLO Refused

Worse yet, after missing one interim deadline after another, the City refused to let the Texas General Land Office (GLO) help. The GLO oversees HUD funds distributed in Texas. It had sent a team to Houston to help train City employees. However, the City refused to allow the GLO team into the Housing and Community Development offices.

As the final deadline loomed, it became apparent that the City wasn’t coming close to meeting its performance goals and that aid would not reach people who needed it. As a last resort to help flood victims, the GLO tried to terminate its contract with the City and take over the City’s Harvey-aid program. But the City sued the GLO to prevent the takeover. That cost even more precious time.

Before the final deadline, the GLO notified the City that it should alert all potential applicants and the media so that they, in turn, could spread the word about the impending deadline. The GLO even provided a sample press release that the City could tweak for local media. Instead, the City posted a notice on Twitter and social media. That severely limited the reach of the message.

Confusion Reigned

To this day, lawsuit settlement talks between the City and GLO continue. Meanwhile, the GLO provided the City of Houston with funds for the Homeowner Assistance Program (HoAP), which included its reimbursement program.

But according to Jennifer Coulter, a would-be applicant who called the City, the City swore the GLO had taken control. The resident then called the GLO. GLO correctly said, “No, the City has it.” The back-and-forth continued until she was told the deadline passed.

*The Coulter family lived in a trailer in their driveway for almost two years as they repaired their home.*

Resident Chris Johnsen flooded 4 feet during Harvey. After waiting 3.5 years for help, he received an email from Housing and Community Development minutes before the close of business on December 30. It erroneously told him he needed to complete and sign the application before December 31.

He was out of town when the application arrived at 4:08 PM on December 30th, but submitted it after he returned. The City rejected his application. When he complained, the City told him, “Unfortunately we are not able to accept the application because it is past the deadline of 12/31/2020.”

Adding Insult to Injury

Being flooded during Harvey and financially devastated during reconstruction were bad enough. But being denied aid through the City’s bureaucratic bungling added insult to injury. Ironically, the City requested and received a nearly $30 million increase in the amount of aid available for reimbursements part way through the program…and didn’t make a dent in it. The amount increased from $135,691,299 to $164,117,633.

Meanwhile, people are moving on with their lives and giving up. But maybe that’s the City’s intention.

The Big Question: Why?

The Department of Housing and Community Development’s avowed goal with Harvey relief is to focus on those “most in need and most at risk.” People who can afford to repair their own homes and then seek reimbursement generally do not fall into that category. By law, at least 70% of HUD reimbursement funds must go to LMI (low-to-moderate income) households.

However, the 70% requirement does not apply to each individual program within Houston’s total aid allocation. It’s an average requirement across all programs. So the entire $164 million allocated for reimbursements could have gone to non-LMI households without jeopardizing the City’s LMI requirement.

This has all the hallmarks of a conscious decision to limit reimbursement aid after requesting more. Why?

One observer suggested that spending less on reimbursements will let the City funnel those funds into multifamily housing instead.

Death of Hope

96,410 homes flooded in Houston during Harvey (see page 15) and could theoretically have been eligible for reimbursements. But only 120 received reimbursement checks by the end of 2020 – again, about 1.2%. See below.

In contrast, the GLO started its own reimbursement program (for the 48 counties in which it is administering the program) on February 28, 2019, and has already completed the program with nearly 3,000 reimbursements approved for more than $85 million.

This brings to a sad, sorry end one of the darkest chapters in Houston’s history. The end of the program means the death of hope for families desperate for assistance. Many cashed in retirement savings and their children’s college funds to rebuild their homes after Harvey.

The City claims hundreds of additional families filed applications before the end of the year for reimbursements. But the GLO has not yet confirmed those.

The City is allowed to process applications received before January 1. But the City can no longer accept applications.

Reimbursements: A Small Part of a Much Bigger Problem

On January 4, the City updated its HUD-compliance website. It showed that out of approximately $1.28 billion dollars that HUD set aside for City of Houston residents, the City still had not submitted applications for almost $800 million dollars (62.5% of the total). Said another way, the City could not achieve almost two thirds of its aid-distribution goals in two years.

The City has not returned calls, texts and emails from ReduceFlooding.com requesting comment and the City’s perspective.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/13/2021

1233 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Thousands of Acres in East Fork, Luce Bayou Watersheds to be Developed as Part of Kingland

Back in 2015, HHF and Land Advisors advertised 8,673 acres of timberland for sale that bracketed the State Highway 99 extension in Montgomery, Harris and Liberty Counties. They called the property “Kingland” and billed it as one of the largest undeveloped areas left in the Houston area – perfect for a masterplanned community.

Subsequently, CH B-Kingland LLC (the owner) sold 4,394 acres in Liberty County to Colony Ridge in 2016.

Colony Ridge has already started the process of clearing and developing most of their purchase, north and east of the new Grand Parkway (SH99). But ironically, Colony Ridge’s construction practices are sending rivers of mud down the once pristine river and bayous where Kingland could itself soon start developing also.

North of Lake Houston, South of Colony Ridge, Spanning 3 Counties

Here’s a 2017 map of the 4000+ acres remaining in Kingland after the partial sale to Colony Ridge.

*From 2017 sales brochure by HHF and Land Advisors. Map shows remaining parts of Kingland not sold to Colony Ridge, the area to the north.*

Here’s what the property looks like from the air in January.

*From near the San Jacinto East Fork looking east. SH99 bisects property. Photo January 1, 2021*

*Reverse angle. Looking northwest across Kingland from where SH99 turns south. You can see part of Colony Ridge in the upper right.*

Development Usually Follows Concrete

TXDoT says this section of the Grand Parkway should open sometime in the spring or summer of 2022. When it does, you can expect development in this area to accelerate rapidly.

Castle Hill Partners in Austin, the company that owns CH-B Kingland LLC, did not return phone calls re: its development plans. However, since tollway construction is moving from west to east, it would make sense to develop the western portions in Montgomery and Harris Counties before moving east into Liberty County.

Kingland’s 2017 sales brochure shows that almost half of the western section lies in Montgomery County along the San Jacinto East Fork. The remainder of the western section lies within Harris County. Both portions lie partially within the City of Houston’s Extra Territorial Jurisdiction.

*Western section of Kingland shows a 41.3 acre detention pond*, *plus seven smaller ponds. But it’s unclear whether they will lie in the floodway or floodplain.*

FEMA’s National Flood Hazard Layer Viewer shows the extent of the floodway and floodplains in that area.

*Crosshatched area = floodway. Aqua = 100 year floodplain. Brown = 500 year.*

Wetlands pockmark the entire area, too.

*Source: USGS National Wetlands Inventory.*

I interviewed a family in that small development south of Kingland property that straddles the Harris/Liberty County Line and discovered that they flooded from the East Fork during both Harvey and Imelda. They live more than 1.5 miles from the nearest mapped floodplain. However, that could soon change when the new post-Harvey flood maps are redrawn.

Anyone downstream on the East Fork or Luce needs to keep a close eye on this one. It has the potential to further alter the hydrology of the watershed.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/11/2021

1231 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 480 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.

New Wetland Mitigation Bank Proposed for Areas Upstream from Lake Houston

LH Ranch, Ltd has proposed a new wetland mitigation bank for the area upstream from Lake Houston. Part of the land borders the San Jacinto East Fork, opposite Lake Houston Park. Another part to the east stretches across Luces Bayou.

Why Have Mitigation Banks in General?

Such banks provide a way to encourage conservation. They do that by giving ranchers, farmers and other landowners economic incentives, usually in the form of tax breaks, not to develop land. This page by the Texas Agricultural Land Trust explains how the process works. (The Bayou Land Conservancy also offers advice for those interested.)

Developers, pipelines, etc., whose projects will cause unavoidable resource losses elsewhere, negotiate “credits” with such organizations to offset the impacts of their developments.

About the Proposed Lake Houston Mitigation Bank

*LH Ranch would put conservation easements on 952 acres to create two wetland mitigation banks.*

Threatened and Endangered Species

Preliminary indications are that no known threatened and/or endangered species, or their critical habitat will be affected by the proposed work.

Goals of Mitigation Bank

The primary goals of the Lake Houston Mitigation Bank are to protect the water quality of the San Jacinto River system including Luce Bayou and Lake Houston.

From a conservation perspective, restoration projects within the proposed bank could:

Reduce sediment flowing into Lake Houston by 4,000 – 6,000 tons per year
Increase flood storage and reduce pulse flows that exit the property
Restore the ability to transport an amount of sediment adequate for the stream’s watershed
Provide habitat and refuge to wildlife
Establish a dynamically stable forest both resistant and resilient to disturbance
Ensure the longevity and function of the system through long-term conservation measures.

From a mitigation perspective, the bank would also:

Provide resources to allow for compensation of unavoidable (but authorized) impacts to aquatic resources elsewhere
Meet the need for stream and wetland mitigation credits within the service area of the Bank
Meet the need for mitigation outside the service area when approved by USACE.

Specific Actions to Enhance Property

If this proposal is approved, the applicant would:

Place the entire 952.65 Ac. mitigation bank within a perpetual conservation easement held by an accredited land trust.
Restore 53,264 linear feet (ten miles) of severely entrenched, intermittent stream channels that currently have limited access to a floodplain and are actively eroding an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 tons/yr. into the Luce Bayou/San Jacinto/Lake Houston system.
Enhance 1,342 linear feet of severely entrenched, intermittent stream channels.
Protect more than over 10,000 linear feet of Luce Bayou, 10,000 feet of high-quality, unimpaired intermittent tributaries to Luce Bayou, and nearly 5,000 linear feet of ephemeral streams.
Enhance 315.44 acres of stream buffers to reduce erosion, increase flood storage, improve wildlife habitat, and enhance intermittent stream channels.
Establish 150.64 acres of wetlands, approximately half of which are forested, to increase flood storage, water quality, and wildlife habitat.
Restore 6.58 acres of isolated, non-jurisdictional wetlands and reconnect them to intermittent stream channels.
Enhance 107.75 acres of wetlands impacted by previous silviculture operations and invasive species infestation.
Preserve 53.46 acres of high-quality forested wetland habitat associated with the floodplain of Luce Bayou.
Enhance 280.07 Ac. of forested upland buffer habitat to provide additional protection for wetlands and streams within the Bank.

Why This Is Needed

This area has experienced tremendous population growth. Counties within the proposed service area have added nearly 1-million people with an average 16% growth rate from 2010 to 2017.

The extension of SH 99 (the Grand Parkway) will open up vast new areas to development, including a large portion of the mitigation bank’s proposed service area. Additional mitigation banks are necessary to meet increasing demand because of this growth.

This geographic area also possesses a high degree of low-lying wetland areas and streams compared to higher areas. Here are some aerial photos of the area taken January 1, 2021. Timber on the property was recently thinned, something mentioned in the project’s prospectus.

Army Corps Seeking Public Comment

The US Army Corps of Engineers seeks public comment on the LH Ranch proposal which you can find here.

The applicant proposes the establishment and operation of western and eastern tracts within a larger parent tract of the Lake Houston Mitigation Bank (LHMB). The Western Tract is 351.46 acres. The Eastern Tract is 601.19 Acres. The combined tracts total 952.65 acres.

The restoration and enhancement of wetlands and streams would serve as compensatory mitigation for unavoidable, permitted impacts to “waters of the United States.” That designation triggers Corps involvement in the permitting process.

Currently, the site is undeveloped.
Army Corps of Engineers

The Corps has issued a public notice based on information furnished by the applicant. This project information has not yet been verified by the Corps.

A preliminary review of this application indicates that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is not required. However, that could change depending on input received.

The applicant’s prospectus contains hundreds of maps, photos and descriptions of what they intend to do. (Caution: 151 megabyte, 418 page file.) But don’t let that scare you. For those who want to understand how this fascinating process works, it’s a good read.

CLOSE OF COMMENT PERIOD: All comments pertaining to this Public Notice must reach this office on or before 29 January 2021. If no comments are received by that date, it will be considered that there are no objections.

Comments and requests for additional information should reference file number, SWG-2019-00077 Lake Houston MB, and should be submitted to:

Mitigation Banking Program / Policy Branch Regulatory Division
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
P.O. Box 1229
Galveston, Texas 77553-1229 409-766-3869
Phone 409-766-6301 Fax
Email: swg_public_notice@usace.army.mil

Rehak’s Take

Personally, I feel this project would benefit the Lake Houston Area. There’s little downside, because it’s directly upstream from us. It ensures sensitive wetlands will never be developed. That will help reduce flooding.

That’s especially important with Colony Ridge upstream us. And with a proposed new 8,000 acre development called Kingland just north of the mitigation bank about to kick off. (More on that tomorrow.)

There’s only one potential drawback. In the future, if the Flood Control District ever wanted to do a major drainage project in those areas, it couldn’t because they will be protected by a conservation easement. However, the San Jacinto River Basin Master Drainage Study did not identify either of the areas in this mitigation bank as a priority for a regional detention basin.

All things considered, I’d lock this in now. When the areas north of the mitigation bank are developed, the wetlands will provide some insurance against flooding … sooner rather than later.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/10/2021

1230 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 479 since Imelda

HCFCD Will Begin More Work on Ben’s Branch Starting January 19

Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) will begin repairing the next section of Ben’s Branch on January 19. The repairs will take place in the channel between Kingwood Drive and the natural portion of Ben’s Branch at the end of Rocky Woods Drive.

*Project limits for next phase of Ben’s Branch clean out. Kingwood High School in lower center of frame.*

Project Purpose

Jose Predraza of Stuart Consulting is coordinating the project. He said, “The purpose of this project is to restore the conveyance of Ben’s Branch. It has been reduced over the years due to erosion and sedimentation. The project will include implementing erosion repairs, repairing side slope failures, repairing or replacing outfalls, rectifying flow lines, and removing excess sediment.”

Contractors will remove approximately 22,000 cubic yards of sediment deposited by floods over the years.

Continual cycles of deposition and erosion have clogged, deformed and narrowed the creek.

The Kingwood Area Drainage Analysis showed that Ben’s Branch had been reduced to a 2-year level of service in places. That means, it will flood in a 2-year rain.

The analysis did not specify whether this was one of those places, but outside the natural portion of the stream, this is currently the most constricted part. Other parts of the channel have already been restored, i.e., from Woodland Hills Drive to Northpark Drive and south of Kingwood Drive to the YMCA.

*Red lines represent approximate outlines of original high banks near Rocky Woods. Area between red lines has filled with sediment and then the creek has eroded down through it again* repeatedly. *Photo 1/8/2021.*

“Erosion repairs include the placement of fill material, placement of 3”x5” granular fill, and the placement of grade #1 riprap,” continued Pedraza. “Channel cross sections will be reconstructed with a maximum 5:1 (H:V) slope where necessary. This project will be conducted wholly within the existing channel right-of-way.”

Schedule

Pedraza estimates construction will last 145 days – not quite five months. If weather cooperates, contractors should complete the work in early June.

The project originally was scheduled to start in October 2020. But several delays occurred.

Initially, rain delayed completion of the survey.
Then, geotechnical investigations led to additional design time.
Finally, getting approval to cross CenterPoint’s power-line easement took additional time.

Access Routes

Trucks do not have enough room to turn around within the work area, so one-way traffic will be the rule. Trucks will enter the work area by coming up Woods Estates Drive to Cedar Knolls and entering the greenbelt from there. They will then follow the Centerpoint easement to the work area. Finally, they will exit by going south toward Kingwood Drive, cutting across the ditch, and coming out behind the old H-E-B.

Contractors will then haul the excavated dirt to nearby TCEQ-approved landfill sites outside of the .02% annual chance (500-year) flood plain.

Daily schedules are being coordinated with Kingwood High School start/stop times to reduce traffic congestion and improve safety.

Benefitting Residents, Schools and Businesses

When complete, the creek will be able to handle much more water than before without coming out of its banks…as much as it could when Friendswood originally excavated it.

This will be a vast improvement, especially for those who live near the creek in Kings Forest and Bear Branch, many of whom flooded during Harvey.

The work should reduce the flood risk for Kingwood High School also. The school first flooded in 1994. During Harvey, the building flooded to the second floor. It suffered $67 million dollars in damages and lost another $10 million in contents. The Humble ISD had to close Kingwood High for seven months and bus kids to another high school where they alternated “shifts” with the students from that high school.

Kingwood High also flooded during Imelda, but had less damage.

Finally, the work will also benefit the shopping center on the northwest corner of Kingwood Drive and West Lake Houston Parkway. Every store in the center flooded badly during Harvey. Many businesses still have not returned. The center nearly flooded again during Imelda. Water flowed through the parking lot and was inches from coming into stores.

*Paths along the high banks represent the original edges of the channel. Everything between them has filled in over time, reducing conveyance.* *Photo 1/8/2021.*

Funding

The Ben’s Branch project will be funded through the HCFCD maintenance budget and a grant from USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/9/2021

1229 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Giant Leak at Hallett Mine…Again

On December 22, I received an email from a Montgomery County resident named Jody Binnion. He lives near the Hallett sand mine on the San Jacinto West Fork and can see the mine from his home. Binnion said that the level of a 170-acre pond had dropped at least 2-3 feet and maybe more – overnight. He went to investigate and found a giant repair at a corner of the pit near the West Fork. Hallett had already patched the breach, he said.

*Photo Courtesy of Jody Binnion, 12/22/2020 at 9:56 am.* Looking toward 170 acre *Hallett* *pond that dropped several feet*.

Here’s what the patched area looked like from the air ten days later on January 1, 2021.

*Looking SE toward the West Fork and US59.* *The West Fork arcs through the frame on the right.*

By the time I shot the scene above from the air, the pond had virtually refilled – either with process water, rainwater, or both.

It’s hard to say with certainty whether this breach was intentional. Binnion arrived after the hole had already been plugged. The TCEQ says it has opened an investigation.

History of Breach

The area had leaked several times before, starting in 2015 according to Google Earth imagery. But the leaks were all relatively minor. The forest between the pond and the river even survived Harvey.

But then, in early February of 2019, Binnion noticed a radical drop in the level of the pond for the first time. Binnion photographed the breach and reported it to TCEQ, but never heard back from the Commission. A Google Earth image taken a little more than 2 weeks later confirms that rapidly rushing water mowed down a 250-foot-wide swath of trees more than 600 feet long. Google Earth also shows fresh repairs in the area. See below.

*The trees between the upper pond and the river survived Harvey, but were destroyed sometime the week of February 4, 2019. Note repairs to breach when this photo was taken on 2/23/2019.*

The Harris County Flood Warning System shows that the HCFCD gage at US59 and the West Fork recorded only about a quarter inch of rain during that week (February 4, 2019).

A quarter inch of rain in a week makes a storm-induced breach unlikely.

*Between 2/2/2019 and 2/8/2019, the gage at 59 and the West Fork registered only about a quarter inch of rain. Only an eighth of an inch fell before the breach.*

Ironically, that week I was meeting with TACA, Hallett, other sand miners, the TCEQ, State Rep. Dan Huberty, and Lake Houston Area leaders in Austin that week. It was about greater setbacks from the river for sand mines! But I question whether setback was the issue in this case.

Area Started to Regrow

When I photographed the area on September 2020, vegetation was growing back in.

*Photo taken 9/11/2020.* *Looking toward Hallett’s pit (the white one) with West Fork in foreground*.

Aerial Photos of Latest Breach

But then on Jan. 1, 2021, I flew over the area again. This time, I saw – from the air – the blowout that Binnion photographed ten days earlier from the ground. See the pictures below.

*Latest breach. Looking SE. Pit on left, West Fork on right.* *Pond in upper middle is an abandoned mine.*

*Reverse angle. Looking NW, back toward Hallett Mine on upper level. River is behind helicopter.*

It’s unclear whether all of this happened at once. It rained 1.04 inches in the week before Binnion photographed the breach just before Christmas. It rained another 1.44 inches in the two days before January 1. I took the aerial photos above on New Year’s Day, with the exception of the one taken last September.

Excess Sedimentation Can Lead to Flooding

Sedimentation from sand mines, along with natural erosion, has been linked to flooding in the Humble/Kingwood corridor where the West Fork lost much of its conveyance capacity after Harvey. It has cost taxpayers more than $100 million so far to remove the excess sediment. The dredging program continues after more than 3 years.

This sandbar formed on the West Fork of the San Jacinto during Harvey. The Army Corps of Engineers says it blocked the river by 90%. Note how shallow the river was in the areas where water was getting through. This picture was taken two weeks after Harvey. The Corps has since removed the bar as part of a larger effort to restore West Fork conveyance.

If we are ever to reduce the sedimentation problem, we must first get past the fiction that sand mines are not contributing to it. Hallett isn’t the only mine with these issues. The West Fork San Jacinto has 20 square miles of sand mines between I-45 and US59. I have photographed leaks at all but one of them during the last three years, including the New Year’s Day flight.

The photo below shows the confluence of the West Fork and Spring Creek at US59. Guess which way the sand mines are?

*West Fork comes from the top of the frame and Spring Creek from the left. Water flows toward the right. Photo 1/1/2021.*

This confluence looks this way most months, but not all.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/7/2021

1227 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.

Houston Parks Board to Begin Construction of West Fork Greenway This Month

The Houston Parks Board announced Tuesday that it will begin construction of the San Jacinto Bayou Greenway along the West Fork of the San Jacinto. Construction will start “sometime in January.”

Project Scope

“The new 3-mile Bayou Greenway segment will run from Woodland Hills Drive to Ross Road,” said Lisa Kasianowitz of the Parks Board.

The San Jacinto Greenway project will include:

New off-street trails as well as use of existing residential streets for the trail system
Trail connection for Kingwood residents at Woodland Hills Drive to access the greenway trails
Parking for greenway users within the former Riverview Townhomes Community
Planting of native trees, meadows and wildflowers
Benches and seating areas
Interpretive and directional signage
Trash cans and recycling containers

Work Schedule, Precautions

Construction work will take place Monday through Friday between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. “Crews may work on Saturdays to make up for any weather delays,” said Kasianowitz. “We expect to minimize potential disruptions. But some noise and dust are associated with this project. So we appreciate the community’s patience.”

Construction should conclude in late 2021 to early 2022. The Parks Board urges residents to remain cautious around construction, intersections, and connecting streets. The Board also requests the public not to enter areas surrounded by orange construction fencing.

Maintenance

After construction, the Houston Parks Board will implement its Conservation and Maintenance program. That includes:

Weekday visits from their Conservation and Maintenance team
Weekly trash pickup
Bi-weekly mowing of grass along the trail
Upkeep of the trail and amenities
And any necessary flood cleanup within the greenway.

Future Expansion

In the future, San Jacinto Bayou Greenway will connect into and through Harris County Precinct Four’s Edgewater Park, which is in development. It will also connect to Precinct 4’s Spring Creek and Cypress Creek trail systems.

San Jacinto Bayou Greenway is part of a citywide initiative called Bayou Greenways 2020. For this project, the Houston Parks Board has partnered with the City of Houston, Houston Parks and Recreation, and Harris County Flood Control District.

The Parks Board’s Bayou Greenways 2020 initiative will create a continuous park system along Houston’s major waterways. The program will transform more than 3,000 underutilized acres along the bayous into linear parks. It will also connect 150 miles of hike-and-bike trails.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/6/2021

1126 Days since Hurricane Harvey