PTSD, Re-Traumatization, a Lifeboat Mentality and Flood-Bond Politics

Yesterday, I learned about re-traumatization of people suffering PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) from Harvey. I had contacted Janice Costa, one of Kingwood’s leading psychotherapists to gain some insight. Keep in mind as you read this that neither Costa, nor I, have any idea how widespread this phenomenon is. However, Stephen Costello, the City of Houston’s flood czar, while speaking to a symposium on flooding at the University of Houston last year stated that 18% of Harris county’s residents suffered some sort of serious psychological distress after Harvey.

From presentation by Stephen Costello to Houston Geological Society in 2018 during a symposium on Flooding in Southeast Texas: The Science Behind the Floods. Costello said 18% of Harris County residents were suffering from “serious psychological distress” after Harvey.

I pointed out to Costa how the traffic on my site spiked when I posted The Night 11,000 Lake Houston Area Residents Became Homeless. Thousands of people have viewed it in the last week and are still viewing it. In fact, it’s my most popular flood post ever with the exception of the one with that snappy headline, Public Notice.

Trash Day in the Barrington after Harvey. Photo by Joy Dominique.
Trash Day in the Barrington after Harvey. Photo by Joy Dominique.

What Did I Tap Into?

I had accidentally tapped into some powerful emotions, but I wasn’t sure what or why and hoped Costa could help. Costa said victims sometimes feel such images and stories “validate” what they went through. “Yes! See. It was that bad!”

In the case of Harvey, it’s difficult for some people to let go, because they are constantly getting “re-traumatized” from related sources, she says. The examples below represent my interpretation of what she said, not literally what she said. I added dozens of examples that people have shared with me along the lines she mentioned.

Re-Traumatization, Day after Day

As if Harvey weren’t a big enough disaster, how about these complications? Do any of them sound familiar?

  • Flooding, but not having flood insurance, because you thought you were safely outside the 500-year flood plain
  • Power outages, spoiled food, Igloo coolers and grilling in the rain
  • Food lines, second-hand shops and shelter life
  • Separation from families, not being able to find loved ones in the shelter system
  • Loss of important papers, tax documents, and family albums
  • Losing the Bible that had been in your family for five generations
  • Gutting your own house, often with the help of strangers
  • Not being able to monitor everything they dragged to the curb
  • Seeing your life’s work piled on the street and picked over by looters
  • Your first Christmas without wallboard
  • Family heirlooms destroyed
  • Showering with a garden hose
  • Being displaced and dispossessed
  • Being forced to accept charity instead of feeling privileged to give it
  • Finding temporary lodging with friends, family or in hotels
  • Moving every few weeks so you didn’t wear out your welcome
  • Finding a vehicle and then finding out it had concealed flood damage
  • Stress at work from not being able to focus on your job while you rebuilt your life
  • The bad performance review at work that you knew was coming
  • Losing a business
  • Kids who cried themselves to sleep every time it rained
  • Breaking out in a cold sweat when you hear a helicopter
  • Feeling guilty about not being able to thank all the people who helped you
  • The two extra hours a day you didn’t get to spend with your kids because they were being bussed cross town to another high school.
  • Report cards that showed plummeting grades because your kids were traumatized
  • Educational handicaps that your kids may face for the rest of their lives as a result of effectively losing a year
  • Living in a camper
  • Your insurance benefits running out before repairs were completed
  • Losing your job
  • Losing your mind
  • Losing your spouse from all the stress
  • Trying to find money to rebuild
  • Living out of your car
  • Not having a car to live out of
  • Battling with the insurance adjuster
  • Battling with FEMA
  • Looking for help and battling a million other people looking for help
  • Struggling to find a contractor
  • Struggling to get the contractor to show up and do the work
  • Giving up the family vacation to supervise a contractor who didn’t show up
  • The contractor who ran off with your check
  • Finding out that the contractor hung your new front door upside down
  • Shoddy repairs with inferior materials
  • The City inspector who said the contractor did it all wrong
  • Lung ailments from breathing that unique Houston brew of mold, varnish, plaster dust and Clorox
  • Seeing friends and relatives succumb to the stress
  • Friends moving away to escape the stress
  • Going to the laundromat and using the machine next to the guy who was washing the clothes he had on
  • Living upstairs for a year and a half
  • Using your garage as a walk-in closet
  • Actually beginning to think of Taco Bell as haute cuisine
  • Learning to cook with a hot plate and a microwave
  • The stress zit that looked like a third eye in your forehead
  • Your favorite stores and restaurants being out of business for a year … or disappearing altogether
  • Going to college classes in a rented warehouse
  • Commuting two extra hours a day because the 59 bridge was out
  • Draining your retirement funds to rebuild
  • Then finding that wasn’t enough and tapping into your kids’ college funds
  • Not knowing how you’ll replenish them
  • Gaining 20 pounds from Chunky-Monkey stress relief
  • Jaw and neck pain from constantly grinding your teeth
  • FEMA and HUD help that arrived after you’d already rebuilt your home
  • Discovering that you lost all your repair receipts
  • Aches and pains from doing-it-all-yourself
  • Learning to love scratch-and-dent sales
  • Refurnishing your house from “Flooding Kingwood with Kindness”
  • Losing someone to cancer or heart-disease while trying to cope with everything else
  • The neighbor that abandoned the house next door…affecting your home’s value
  • Fearing what the next storm front could bring

My apologies to anyone I omitted!

More Re-traumatization!

Now consider the political systems around you. While we struggled individually, government offered help. Then came other kinds of re-traumatization.

The Lifeboat Mentality

In my opinion, people are looking for help and seeing hurt ahead. Many SAW the flood bond as a lifeboat. It buoyed their hopes and dreams for a return to safer shores. They were counting on the mitigation projects in it to protect them. Now, they feel thrown overboard by the struggle over prioritization of projects, i.e., who gets theirs first.

Our county judge called it “class warfare.” Fox News called it “bait and switch.” I call it maddening. I think residents rich and poor would agree.

Residents who suffer from PTSD, have suffered re-traumatization – so severely, so many times – that they may feel there is no escape. Political jousting just re-traumatizes them.

No one is telling them that more than half of the flood bond projects have started already.

Meanwhile, depression, anxiety and related illnesses are starting to surface. One of my dear friends lost her home to Harvey, her husband to cancer, and now is struggling with cardiac issues as she tries to rebuild her home. Alone.

Turning Negatives into Positives

Costa did offer a ray of hope. Some people have managed to find something positive in the flood experience, she said. For instance, those intent on remodeling might suddenly have the insurance money to do it.

One of my dreams is that Republicans and Democrats find a way to work together again. Maybe, collectively, we’ll find a way to create a functioning government that reduces flood risk and restores a sense of order to our lives in time to handle the next big hurricane. I think that would be a positive outcome from all of this. For all of us.

Posted by Bob Rehak on March 7, 2019 with help from Janice Costa

555 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Next Steps for Army Corps in Evaluating High-Rise Permit Application

Janet Botello, a USACE Evaluation Branch Chief, provided the following explanation about next steps in the Army Corps’ permit evaluation for the high-rise marina project in Kingwood.

Kingwood Greens Evacuation During Harvey by Elgene Muscat
High-rise marina project is at a cross-roads. Harvey Photo by Jay Muscat.

30 Days For Applicant to Respond

Said Botello, “As the comment period has closed, we are providing the applicant with those public comments we’ve received. Applicants have 30 days to respond to those issues and concerns raised during the comment period.”

Next Steps Contingent on Applicant Responses

Botello continued, “Once we receive those responses, we will be in a better position to determine if a public hearing will be held.”

Ms. Botello also stated,  “If we determine that additional information is needed for us to make a decision on this permit application that has not been already gathered from the public or applicant through our public interest review process, the Corps may decide to hold some type of public meeting.”

The Corps did not give a firm deadline for the decision on a public hearing.

Assuming that:

  • It takes a week or two to log, parse, process and transmit all the comments to Romerica…
  • And that it takes Romerica another month to respond…
  • And that it takes the Corps a few weeks to review their responses…

…my guess is that we should be hearing from the Corps in May as to whether a public hearing is needed.

They also leave open the possibility that a public MEETING may be needed if they need even MORE information/input. Please note: the Corps draws a distinction between public hearings and public meetings.

Difference Between Hearing and Meeting

At a hearing, citizens state their complaints and the Corps listens, but makes no comment and asks no questions. A meeting, on the other hand, is more of a dialog. The meeting Romerica scheduled is NOT the meeting that the Corps refers to.

I am told by people who have worked these kinds of issues with the Corps before that it can take months before a final decision is rendered. One engineer suggested it could take the rest of this year. The Corps did not provide a total time estimate.

To see the original public notice with project specs, maps and details, click here.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 3/5/19

554 Days since Hurricane Harvey

High-Rise Developer Sets Public Meeting … After Close of Public Comment

Mark your calendars. Monday, March 18th, 6:30 to 8:30 P.M. at the Kingwood Community Center.

The invitation reads, “Kingwood residents and interested parties are cordially invited to come and learn about The Herons development. This will be a great opportunity to meet the developer and his team. The main discussion topics will be: 

  • USACE Corp Process 
  • Phases of the Development 
  • Current and Future Initiatives of Romerica”

 GUEST PANEL INCLUDES: 

R. Thomas Sankey, PWS, CSE Senior Project Manager / Senior Ecologist, SWCA 

Melvin G. Spinks, P.E., CFM, President, Civil Tech Engineering, Inc.

Gabriel Haddad, Developer, Romerica

“Free” Meeting

Aside from saying that the meeting is “free” and open to the public, they don’t say much more. For instance, it’s not clear whether the panel members will take questions from the audience.

The public comment period for this closed on March 1. But I did think it was sporting of them not to charge admission.

Personally, I kind of wish they were addressing the issue of evacuation.

Woodland Hills Drive During Harvey by Julie Yandell
Woodland Hills Drive During Harvey by Julie Yandell. Evacuation is not on the agenda published by the developers.

No New Info Yet from Corps

The Corps has not yet responded to questions about whether they will hold a public hearing related to this project, whether a Corps represetative will be there, or when the Corps intends to rule on the permit. This is NOT a Corps meeting.

Posted by Bob Rehak on March 4, 2019

553 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Watch Your Pipes Tonight!

Decades ago, I had a house that flooded due to frozen pipes. It wasn’t pretty, but it was expensive. So this warning goes out to all those residents who may still be working on flood repairs and don’t yet have insulation back in place.

ALERTHOUSTON Freeze Warning Issued for Houston from Midnight – 9 AM Tuesday

Weather Information The National Weather Service has issued a Freeze Warning for Houston from midnight to 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 5. As of 6PM, Monday, NWS predicts temps in the City could go down to 27 degrees.

In northern counties, though, the situation is more severe. Temps could fall below freezing by 9PM and go as low as 24 along a line from Brenham to Livingston.

A Freeze Warning means sub-freezing temperatures are highly likely. Cold weather can pose a danger to the health and safety. Proper care should be taken to reduce exposure to these conditions.

Protective Actions

When cold weather occurs, Houstonians should remember to protect the Four ‘P’s: People, Pets, Pipes, and Plants.

People

  • Dress in warm, layered clothing, including gloves, a coat, and a hat when you are outside.  
  • Never leave children or the elderly in vehicles during cold weather, as they can act as refrigerators and expose anyone inside to sub-freezing temperatures. 
  • Never use a generator, grill, camp-stove, or any gasoline, propane, natural gas or charcoal-burning device to heat your home (or any enclosed area). These devices can generate carbon monoxide, which cannot be seen or smelled, but is deadly. 
  • Check on family, friends, and neighbors who may be susceptible to this week’s cold weather and/or not have access to housing and heating, including the elderly and those with special needs.
  • The Coalition for the Homeless is coordinating information for partner agencies and the general public and is keeping an updated list of those resources for individuals who may be experiencing homelessness: 

Pets

  • Protect your pets by ensuring that they have a warm, safe place to sleep. The best place for a pet to sleep is in a heated environment.
  • Do not shave your dog down to the skin in winter.  A longer coat provides more warmth.
  • Never leave your animal in a car during cold weather. Cars can act as refrigerators in the winter, holding in the cold and causing animals to freeze to death.
  • For more cold-weather tips for pets, visit the ASPA’s ‘Cold Weather Safety Tips’ webpage: http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/general-pet-care/cold-weather-safety-tips

Pipes

  • During cold weather, pipes may freeze and rupture, causing water leaks and damage to your home. Protect your home by opening the cabinets under kitchen and bathroom sinks to allow air from your home’s heater to warm the pipes under the sink. 
  • Insulate outdoor faucets and pipes with insulation or newspaper, and be sure to disconnect and drain hoses from outdoor spigots.

Plants

  • Protect plants from freezing by covering them with plant-cover fabric, or a light blanket with plastic sheeting on top of it.
  • Bring in potted plants or group them together, near the edge of a building. Remember that soil in containers can get just as cold as the air temperature, and cause the roots to freeze, even if the above-surface leafs survive.

Sign Up for Alerts

AlertHouston is the City of Houston’s official emergency notification service. For updates on this situation, visit houstontx.gov/emergency.

To sign up for alerts, visit https://www.houstonemergency.org/alerts/.

Some Personal Advice

After having my pipes freeze once, I never wanted it to happen again. So I set my faucets to drip at a slow rate whenever we get a hard freeze warning like this. Remember, hot water freezes before cold, so it’s most important to drip your hot water faucets – if you are going to do it. This is counter-intuitive. It’s like something out of Roswell. But it’s real. It’s called the Mpemba Effect. I’m sure all of the science classes in the Humble ISD will be buzzing about this tomorrow. In the meantime, good luck tonight.

Posted by Bob Rehak on March 4, 2019

552 Days after Hurricane Harvey

Senator Creighton Introduces Bill that Could Speed Up Flood Planning, Mitigation

In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, many officials complained bitterly that money from the State’s “rainy day” fund couldn’t be used for flood mitigation projects. Former Harris County Judge Ed Emmett often said, “If Harvey wasn’t a rainy day, I don’t know what is!”

Creighton Introduces Bill That Could Speed Flood Mitigation

Responding to a need that many recognized, in February, Texas State Senator Brandon Creighton introduced SB 695. On March 1, it went to the Senate Water and Rural Affairs Committee. It relates to state policies and programs that affect the funding of flood planning, mitigation, and infrastructure projects.

SB 695 went to the Senate Water and Rural Affairs Committee last Friday.

Creighton’s bill would appropriate $3 billion from the state’s economic stabilization fund to a dedicated flood infrastructure fund. The purpose: to make low- or no-interest loans to cities, counties, and water authorities for:

(1) planning for flood protection;

(2) preparing applications for obtaining regulatory approvals at the local, state, or federal level;

(3) activities associated with administrative or legal proceedings by regulatory agencies; and

(4) preparing engineering plans or specifications to provide structural or nonstructural flood mitigation or drainage.

$3 Billion In Ready Cash Could Streamline Process

The main benefit: the bill provides ready cash in emergencies, such as Harvey, to jumpstart mitigation projects.

Because of the complicated way that grant funding now works, political entities must often apply for grants to raise the money for a local match to then apply for a larger grant. The result: lengthy delays.

Example: it took 18 months to obtain $2 million for a San Jacinto River Basin Study that will take another 12-18 months to execute. By the time people start acting on the findings, it could be another year or two.

Hopefully, Creighton’s SB 695 will reduce the time between problems and solutions so that Texas citizens face less flood risk. Click here, to download and review the full text.

Bill Deserves Bi-Partisan Support

This important bill deserves everyone’s support, Democrats and Republicans alike. It could be one of the most important pieces of legislation taken up this year. My understanding is that former Harris County Judge Emmett, Harris County Flood Control and Houston Stronger all backed the idea.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 3/4/2019

552 Days after Hurricane Harvey

Why Most Flood-Bond Projects Approved to Date Appear to Favor Upstream Locations

A knowledgeable reader with an engineering background looked at this morning’s post about flood-bond projects approved to date. He made an observation that, frankly, fleetingly occurred to me also. He said that the majority of the projects seem to be upstream rather than down. He also questioned the wisdom of that. Should we not start downstream and work back up? That way, he said, you don’t accelerate water rushing downstream to get caught behind a mouth bar. His fear: it could make flooding worse in downstream communities.

Official Flood Control Response

HCFCD logo

So I called Matt Zeve, the Deputy Executive Director at Harris County Flood Control. I related the reader’s concern and asked him why the commissioners approved the projects that they have.

It comes down to three things. said Zeve.

  • First and foremost, Flood Control didn’t want to stop any projects that were in the works and about to kick off when the bond was passed. Flood control was already pretty far down the road with most of the projects that have been approved.
  • Second, they have responded to extreme community pressure in some cases.
  • Third, the availability of partner funding accelerated some projects, too. For instance, two weeks ago, the County received commitments from FEMA, City of Houston, Montgomery County and the SJRA for the San Jacinto River Basin Study. The county quickly approved its share also. The intent: to honor commitments from partners that extend County funding.

Those all sounded like valid reasons. Zeve also acknowledged that in an orderly world, he would have preferred moving from downstream to upstream. Perhaps that may happen as the priority order of bond projects becomes finalized.

Update on Rest of he Priority List

Zeve emphasized that the Flood Control District is working on a rational basis for prioritizing the remainder of the projects on the flood-bond list using criteria, such as worst-first.

But in reality, other factors like partner funding may alter the order. I have to believe that if FEMA came up with $50 million to remove the mouth bar, the dredgers would attack it tomorrow.

Zeve now estimates that the new list should be posted by end-of-day Monday. Check back. We’ll see how Rev 2.0 changes the order now that the low-to-moderate income (LMI) ranking has been removed.

Posted by Bob Rehak on March 2, 2019

550 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Flood Bond Projects Approved to Date by Harris County Commissioners Court

Six months have passed since the passage of the Harris County Flood Bond last August. Several projects have been approved so far that could benefit the San Jacinto watershed.

Tributary Map Showing Where the Water Fell During Harvey

This watershed map shows the volume of water carried by each tributary during Harvey.

Map of upper San Jacinto watershed basin shows streamflows during Harvey in cubic feet per second (CFS). Source: San Jacinto River Authority.

Flood Bond Projects Approved to Date

Projects approved so far:

  • Z-10 will resurvey and remap floodplains country wide. Contractors will factor in new rainfall data and use advanced modeling technologies to provide more accurate information on flooding risks.
  • CI-012 provides major maintenance for Cypress Creek, an upstream tributary.
  • CI-035 will update the 2003 Texas Water Development Board Regional Drainage Plan for Major Tributaries of Cypress Creek.
  • F-20 approved right-of-way acquisition and floodplain preservation, also for Cypress Creek.
  • Project C-58, final design of Drainage Improvements Along HCFCD Unit F101-06-00 (San Jacinto and Galveston Bay).
  • C-17, the San Jacinto River Watershed Study in cooperation with the SJRA, Montgomery County, and the City of Houston.
  • F-14, drainage improvements near Kingwood
  • F-110, drainage improvements in the Huffman area that drain to the San Jacinto, Luce, and Cedar Bayou watersheds.
  • F-19, right-of-way acquisition and floodplain preservation along Spring Creek.
  • Voluntary Home Buyout programs are also in progress county wide and will affect many Forest Cove residents south of Hamblen Road as well as in Humble.

Current Principles Guiding Prioritization

After the equity flap, version 2.0 of the principles that guide project prioritization has been posted online, but a re-prioritized project list has not as of 8:30 am Saturday morning.

How to Track Flood Bond Project Status

To track the progress of projects near you, Harris County Flood Control updates this interactive map constantly. Click on the icon to see a description and the project status.

To see the full list of projects approved for the bond fund, click here. They are arranged in alphabetical order by watershed. San Jacinto River Projects start on page 9. However, don’t overlook related tributary projects, such as additional upstream detention on Spring and Cypress Creeks.

Posted by Bob Rehak on March 2, 2019

550 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Last Day to Protest High-Rise Development in Kingwood

A reminder. If you want to protest the high-rise development planned for Kingwood, today is the last day to email the Army Corps of Engineers and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The deadline: midnight tonight.

The proposed high-rise development would wrap around the Barrington and border the soccer fields at River Grove Park. It includes 5000 condos, and multiple high rises from 25 to 50 stories tall. Developers, who are being sued for fraud by investors, are attempting to finance the project with EB-5 visas for foreigners.

High Rises in Area Apparently Deed-Restricted to Single-Family Residential

The development would take place in an area apparently deed restricted to single-family residential. Developers have refused to meet with the public to answer questions concerning the development or how they plan to get around the deed restrictions.

Where to Find More Info

To learn more about the controversy, visit the high-rise page of this website. There, you will find:

  • A brief summary of the issues
  • Links to the Army Corps’ Public Notice
  • Previous posts on the subject
  • Sample letters that people and groups have written already.

Causes for Concern

Many of reasons exist to protest this development. Besides the 8,800 cars it would add to Kingwood Drive, the lack of evacuation routes, apparent deed restriction violations, impacts on wildlife including bald eagles, loss of wetlands and streams, flooding, adequacy of the market survey, safety issues (building high rises so near a floodway), water pollution from a giant marina operation, school over-crowding, and the experience of the developers.

How and Where to Protest

The Corps states explicitly that if they don’t hear from you, they assume you have no objections.

So please take ten minutes to email your objections to:

Army Corps of Engineers: swg_public_notice@usace.army.mil

TCEQ: 401certs@tceq.texas.gov. (Water-quality issues only)

Feel free to copy from the letters of others. Make sure you include the project number in the subject line of your email: SWG-2016-00384

Posted by Bob Rehak on March 1, 2019

549 Days since Hurricane Harvey

The thoughts in this post represent my opinions on matters of public policy. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP statutes of the great State of Texas.

County Suggesting New Way to Prioritize Flood-Bond Projects

Harris County Flood Control has developed a new way to prioritize bond projects after a trial ballon turned into a lead balloon. Initially the county ranked projects based, in part, on readily available income statistics to achieve its equity goal in ranking projects.

However, giving low-to-moderate-income (LMI) neighborhoods higher priority than affluent neighborhoods facing greater flood threats hardly seemed fair. It sparked a tsunami of criticism.

When flood control shared its initial formula for ranking projects with small groups of community leaders, they pushed back immediately. They argued that the worst flooding problems should be tackled first. As a result, the county developed an alternative formula that didn’t rely on income.

Homes in Barrington in 500-year flood plain during Harvey. Photo courtesy of Julie Yandell. She was forced to flee with her husband and 81-year-old neighbor when waters rose without warning.

Factors in Initial Proposal

Version 1.0 of the prioritization attempted to rank-order projects based on seven factors, each given different weights.

  • Existing Conditions – Drainage Level of Service (How Bad Things Currently Are) – 20%
  • Equity (LMI) – 20%
  • Flood Risk Reduction (Looking only at # of Structures, not their Value) – 20%
  • Long-Term Maintenance Costs – 5%
  • Minimizes Environment Impacts (To reduce Permitting Delays) – 5%
  • Potential for Multiple Benefits – 5%
  • Project Efficiency (Cost of project/# of Structures Benefitted) – 15%

Problems with Version 1.0

Scoring projects using these criteria pushed Kingwood – one of the hardest hit areas in the city – farther down the list in most cases. Therefore the leaders of the Lake Houston Area Grass Roots Flood Prevention Initiative sent a letter to the new County Judge listing these concerns.

  • Failure to appropriately recognize benefits from multi-million dollar partnership matching grants
  • Failure to capture full flooding impacts and full project benefits by not considering commercial property, schools, hospitals, and senior-care facilities
  • Not recognizing benefits to LMI areas received from projects executed in non-LMI areas
  • Not considering Costs/benefits of pre-Harvey Capital Improvement Projects
  • Lack of inclusion of URGENT NEED criteria in the matrix

To see the entire letter, click here.

Version 2.0 Already Published

Based on initial feedback, Harris County Flood Control has already posted version 2.0 of the ranking formula. The goal: to provide a defensible methodology for determining when one project will start versus another.

Differences in Version 2.0

Version 2.0 of the formula:

  • Takes LMI consideration out
  • Adds an eighth criteria, “Do we have a funding partner for a project? Yes/No?”
  • Changes weighting to give more urgency to parts of town that historically have had a lower level of service.
  • Looks at some old criteria in new ways.

Here are the new weights and criteria:

  • Flood Risk Reduction – 25%
  • Existing Conditions Drainage Level of Service – 20%
  • Lack of Service – 15%
  • Project Efficiency Weighting Factor – 15%
  • Partnership Funding – 10%
  • Long Term Maintenance Costs – 5%
  • Minimizes Environmental Impacts – 5%
  • Potential for Multiple Benefits – 5%

“You Have to Start Somewhere”

“You have to start somewhere,” said Zeve. “We’re trying to be as transparent as possible so people understand the order in which we attack projects.”

Harris County Flood Control posted a new web page to address misconceptions surrounding the prioritization process.

To see the thinking process behind how the new formula works, click here.

Revised Project List To Be Posted Soon

The revised project-priority list has not yet been posted. That should happen tonight or this weekend according to Zeve. They need to score and calculate many factors for hundreds of projects. I can’t wait to see the outcome. More news to follow tomorrow.

How to Be Heard

If you would like to participate in this process, or send written comments, please email Gabe Baker at gabe.baker@cjo.hctx.net.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 3/1/2019

549 Days since Hurricane Harvey

SJRA Board Votes to Maintain Lake-Lowering Policy for Another Year

At its February 28th meeting, the San Jacinto River Authority voted to maintain its lake-lowering policy for another year. The policy calls for lowering Lake Conroe one foot below normal pool level (from 201 feet to 200) during the wettest months in Spring and two feet during the peak of hurricane season.

Extra Safety from Flooding

Until other mitigation measures can be put in place, the plan gives downstream residents an extra measure of safety from massive releases like those experienced during Hurricane Harvey. Those include dredging and additional flood gates for Lake Houston.

This is good news for the Lake Houston Area where Harvey made approximately 11,000 people homeless overnight.

Complaints from Lake Conroe Association in January Meeting

The Lake Conroe Association set the stage for conflict last month. The Association testified that last year’s lowering had a negative impact on business and home values in the area. They also maintained that the Board had acted unilaterally – without consultation – and that the project was only supposed to last through the end of dredging.

Having been at last year’s meeting where the proposal was discussed, I would disagree with these statements. The board considered dredging and gates for Lake Houston. The board also acted on the report of a consultant hired to review the proposal.

Mark Micheletti, a SJRA board member, said the board had received no complaints from businesses on the lake and that a check with realtors found no negative effect on home prices.

Reportedly, the Lake Conroe Association had also collected signatures on a petition asking for the policy to be reversed. At today’s meeting, the room was crowded with spectators, but I did not see the Association’s president, Mike Bleier. The association presented no petition.

The cataclysmic impacts on Lake Conroe’s economy did not materialize. Because of evaporation, the lowering really only amounted a little more than a foot in the fall.

Speaking for Kingwood

During the public comment section of the meeting, three Kingwood residents, Bill Fowler, Amy Slaughter and I, spoke FOR continuing to lower the lake. So did one Lake Conroe resident who flooded during Harvey.

I pointed out the fact that dredging was NOT yet complete and that the river still had an exaggerated flooding response to moderate rainfalls because of sediment dams. Fowler talked about normal evaporation levels in the lake and how the lowering was not as great as the targets would imply. Slaughter mentioned the impact of flooding on her family and recent Supreme Court rulings on inverse condemnation.

The Lake Conroe resident said he wished the Lake were lowered year round. He flooded during Harvey and thought that the lower levels would actually help Lake Conroe home values.

“But what if there’s a drought?”

When it came time to speak AGAINST the lowering, one man spoke up. He used water conservation as his main argument and posed the specter of drought.

When the board began debating the measure, Jace Houston, SJRA’s general manager, pointed out that many people misunderstood the measure. He said that the SJRA was not going to lower the lake beyond the 1- and 2-foot levels in the policy. If the lake was already down a foot due to evaporation, for instance, the SJRA would release no additional water.

Chuck Gilman, Director or Water Resources and Flood Management, thenshowed a series of slides that led to discussions about:

  • Lake-lowering strategy
  • Progress of the current West Fork dredging and Lake Houston Gates projects
  • Rainfall averages and historical lake levels by month
  • How the lowering and subsequent raising of the lake worked last fall
  • Staff recommendations
Graph presented by Chuck Gilman showed how gradual lowering and natural refilling of Lake Conroe worked last year.
Gilman also showed a slide discussing the status of additional gates for Lake Houston.

To see all the slides in the original high-resolution PDF format, click here.

Brenda Cooper, a new SJRA Board Member, then mentioned that some Lake Conroe residents had approached her to voice their disapproval of the project.

Motion Passes Unanimously

Board President Lloyd Tisdale finally called for a voice vote. “All members present voted FOR the lowering,” said Mark Micheletti, one of the Lake Houston Area’s two members on the SJRA board. “The vote could not have gone better from the Lake Houston area’s perspective.”

The SJRA will continue to lower Lake Conroe seasonally. The measure will come up for discussion again next February.

Community Reaction

Bill Fowler, Vice Chair of the Lake Houston Area Grass Roots Flood Prevention Initiation, said, “I was impressed by the Board’s firm grasp of the importance of lowering Lake Conroe on a seasonal basis for downstream residents. Their willingness to help until permanent solutions can be implemented impressed me.”

Kaaren Cambio, another SJRA board director from the Lake Houston area, said, “I’m happy that the board is balancing the needs of both upstream and downstream communities.

Amy Slaughter, the Kingwood lawyer whose home flooded badly, said, “They did the right thing.”

Posted by Bob Rehak on February 28, 2019

548 Days After Hurricane Harvey