August 16, 2025 – At its August 18, 2025 meeting, the Board of Directors of the Southeast Texas Flood Control District will discuss dissolving the District and taking all action necessary, through legal counsel, to formally close out all banking accounts and to satisfy any outstanding debts. See the agenda here.
District Formed After Imelda
The Southeast Texas Flood Control District, LGC is a local government corporation of Hardin, Jefferson, Orange, Chambers, Liberty, Newton, Jasper and Tyler Counties. They created it to coordinate flood-control efforts among the sponsoring counties and regional drainage districts, conservation districts, municipalities and other regional entities and communities.
The counties adopted the resolution approving the district in 2020. That was shortly after Tropical Storm Imelda dumped as much as 43 inches of rain over parts of Southeast Texas from Galveston to Beaumont in 2019.
Tropical Storm Imelda in 2019 dumped more than 40″ of rain near Beaumont. NASA photo.
Hurricane Harvey had created even more devastation throughout the same areas just two years earlier.
Original Purpose of District Now Duplicated
The hope articulated in the articles of incorporation was that the District could protect residents, infrastructure, industry, businesses and housing against flooding by improving, enlarging and integrating damage-reduction systems.
When asked why the group was considering dissolving, Fred Jackson, Executive Director of the District, said that the need had not gone away but the group’s efforts were duplicated by other groups that had also sprung up.
I could find no website for the Southeast Texas Flood Control District. Several flood control experts in Harris County had never even heard of it. So, it appears the vision may not have come together quite the way the founders hoped.
Need for Flood-Mitigation Simplification to Facilitate Cross-Jurisdictional Solutions
The fate of the Southeast Texas Flood Control District underscores the difficulty of coordinating multiple government agencies from municipal to federal across wide areas. Rural areas may find it especially hard to navigate the jurisdictional labyrinth. That’s why the bipartisan bill to streamline FEMA recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is so important.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/16/2025
2909 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Imelda.jpg?fit=1100%2C751&ssl=17511100adminadmin2025-08-16 19:34:352025-08-16 19:45:48Southeast Texas Flood Control District Could Dissolve on Monday
8/15/25 – The San Jacinto River Authority and City of Conroe issued a joint press release about the settlement this morning of their nine-year legal battle over water rates. This press release just came in. I’ve added subheads to help highlight key points. Otherwise, the text between the lines is verbatim:
SJRA Directors Unanimously Approve
Conroe, Texas—Today the San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA) Board of Directors unanimously approved the execution of a Mutual Release and Settlement Agreement with the City of Conroe to end current litigation related to the SJRA Groundwater Reduction Plan (GRP). The City of Conroe considered and approved the Mutual Release and Settlement Agreement at a City Council meeting on Thursday.
End to Legal Squabbles is Mutually Beneficial
SJRA General Manager, Aubrey Spear, said “We appreciate the City of Conroe’s efforts in working with SJRA in reaching this settlement agreement. Putting this litigation behind us is best for all GRP participants and their rate payers. With Conroe’s payment and savings on legal fees, the wholesale water rates will go down. Ending the litigation also strengthens our partnership with Conroe to continue supplying water to its growing population.”
Conroe City Administrator, Gary Scott, said “After months of negotiations, I am pleased with an outcome that is truly beneficial to both parties. Securing additional water is critical to Conroe’s economic growth and long-term vitality. We recognize and appreciate the efforts of the San Jacinto River Authority in working with us. This agreement represents a shared commitment to the betterment of us all. This is a historic decision that sets Conroe on the path to the future.”
The agreement settles legal disputes between the parties dating back to 2016 when the City of Conroe disputed increases in wholesale water rates related to SJRA’s 2010 Groundwater Reduction Plan contract.
Conroe Agrees to Pay Full Amount
In the settlement, the City of Conroe agrees to pay the full amount that it has short-paid SJRA since 2017 to the present that it has been holding in escrow. Conroe also agrees to begin paying the current rate for treated surface water from Lake Conroe and the groundwater pumpage fee going forward.
SJRA Agrees to Provide More Surface Water and More
On the other hand, SJRA agrees to provide Conroe with additional surface water, reduce the term of Conroe’s GRP contract from 80 years to 40 years, forgive penalties and fees on past due amounts, and clarify in the contract that there is no obligation by the City of Conroe to participate in future GRP phases or expansion of the GRP water treatment plant.
Documents Not Yet Available
Agreement documents are in the process of being fully executed.
Reliance on Groundwater Has Contributed to Subsidence
This is good news for both parties. It will reduce the amount they spend on legal fees that rate- and taxpayers have funded.
However, the press release did not address how it will affect the amount of groundwater that Conroe pumps aside from saying that SJRA will provide Conroe with “additional surface water.”
Subsidence in southern Montgomery County including Conroe and the Woodlands is among the most severe in the region. SJRA’s Water Treatment Plant and the Groundwater Reduction Plan were at the heart of the lawsuit. Both were intended to reduce subsidence. And they did briefly when the plant first came online in 2015. Then the Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District (LSGCD) started pumping huge amounts of groundwater, claiming there was no connection between the loss of groundwater and subsidence.
LSGCD says on their Resources Page under the subsidence tab that, “…the rate at which [their] compaction occurs is 10 times (10x) slower than the rate at which compaction occurs in Harris County.”
Regardless, a huge area is still sinking 8 to 12 millimeters per year. And most of Montgomery County is sinking at least 6 according to this subsidence map recently published by the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District.
Subsidence Has Triggered Faults
The subsidence has triggered faults in the area. That in turn has damaged homes, streets and drainage infrastructure. I spent a whole day last week taking a fault tour of the Woodlands with area residents. Below are three of dozens of pictures I took at day.
Fault line under the foundation cracked this Woodland’s home’s slab and walls.Front steps are now twice their original height because the front yard sank relative to the front door.Faulting damage in parking lot of Woodland’s High School.
Millimeters may not sound like much. But 12 millimeters per year is half an inch per year. During the life of a 30-year mortgage, that’s 15 inches…plus a lot of home and street repairs, and a lot of foundation leveling.
Inland subsidence has also been linked to flooding. It can change the gradient of streams and rivers, so water moves more slowly and builds higher during floods.
And differential subsidence (between two areas) can reduce the height of structures above floodplains. For instance, the subsidence rate in Conroe is far higher than subsidence at the Lake Houston Dam. That means homes north of the dam have less freeboard (height above expected floods). Said another way, it’s like tilting Lake Houston toward the homes north of the dam.
SJRA has not yet responded to questions about how the settlement will affect Conroe’s groundwater pumping.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/15/25
2908 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.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/10-year-Subsidence-Rates.png?fit=1624%2C1532&ssl=115321624adminadmin2025-08-15 15:55:562025-08-15 16:14:58SJRA, Conroe Settle Lawsuit after Nine Years
8/14/25 – A State of Texas lawsuit against the Triple PG sand mine that began in 2019 will now be tried, at the earliest, in 2026. Meanwhile problems at the mine have gotten worse. Breaches in their dikes that triggered the lawsuit have recurred. And five pipelines carrying highly volatile liquids (HVL) are now exposed and suspended over another breach.
Trial Date Set for Feb. 2026
According to the fourth revised scheduling order issued by a Travis County district court, the lawsuit brought by the State of Texas against the Triple PG sand mine in Porter will now go to a jury no earlier than February 2026.
The State first sued Triple PG in 2019 for mining sand in a pit whose dikes had been breached in at least two places. White Oak Creek was flowing through an area being actively mined and then out through Caney Creek into the headwaters of Lake Houston, which supplies drinking water for more than 2 million people.
The judge quickly issued an injunction against the mine’s owner. Mining briefly stopped while miners repaired the dikes. But the dikes failed again. And the mine briefly became an issue in a Houston mayoral election when Tony Buzbee visited the breach for a photo op in May 2019.
Tony Buzbee (plaid shirt) visited Triple PG breach into Caney Creek with camera crew in May 2019 during mayoral campaign.
On the legal front, the mine’s owner, a cardiologist from Nacogdoches, named Prabhakar R. Guniganti, transferred ownership of the mine through a series of shell companies and trust funds that he and his family controlled. This forced the attorney general’s office to sue one entity after another and name the cardiologist individually as a defendant.
In August and September this year, the parties will designate their expert witnesses.
During October and November, they will complete discovery.
In December, they will challenge each other’s expert witnesses and file remaining unheard motions.
In January, they will exchange witness and exhibit lists.
And the Jury Trial will begin on February 9, 2026.
However, the possibility exists that this could slip again as it has at least twice before. The judge originally scheduled this case for trial on October 10, 2023, and October 28, 2024.
General Reasons for Delays
Aside from specific legal maneuverings in this case, lawsuits in general can drag on for years. Many moving parts must align. And each step can take months or even longer. The main causes include:
1. Pre-trial Procedures Can Be Slow
Discovery – Both sides gather and exchange evidence, which can involve reviewing thousands of documents, deposing witnesses, and fighting over what’s admissible.
Motions and Hearings – Lawyers may file motions to dismiss, suppress evidence, or get summary judgment. Each motion needs time for responses and court rulings.
Scheduling Conflicts – Courts juggle many cases, and attorneys may have other trials or deadlines.
2. Complexity of the Case
Many Issues – Multi-defendant cases or lawsuits involving technical subjects (e.g., environmental law, patents) require more experts, more evidence, and more coordination.
Specialized Evidence – Expert reports, forensic analysis, or financial audits can take months to produce.
3. Negotiation and Settlement Efforts
Even if both sides want to settle, negotiations can stall while parties evaluate risk, await rulings on key motions, or try mediation.
4. Appeals and Interlocutory Delays
If a court rules on an important issue before trial, one side might appeal immediately. This “pause” can last a year or more before the trial even resumes.
5. Strategic Delays
Parties may deliberately slow the process to pressure the other side—by increasing costs, waiting for evidence to weaken, or banking on a change in law or circumstance.
6. Court Backlogs
In busy jurisdictions, there can be long waits simply for your turn on the docket—especially after events like the COVID-19 pandemic, which created major case backlogs.
Dikes Open and Pipelines Exposed
In July, mining continued with the dikes wide open again.
The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration regulation §56.20010 regarding retaining dams specifies that “If failure of a water or silt retaining dam will create a hazard, it shall be of substantial construction and inspected at regular intervals.”
TCEQ also has requirements for constructing dikes and levees. Note the paragraph on page 2 about structural integrity. “Construction must be based upon sound engineering principles. Structural integrity must withstand any waters which the levee or other improvement is intended to restrain or carry, considering all topographic features, including existing levees.”
Pipeline Issues Now Added to Complaint
Breaches aren’t the only issue at the Triple PG mine (now operated under the name Texas Fracsand). The daredevils operating the mine have exposed five pipelines carrying highly volatile liquids.
Triple PG Breaches and Exposed Pipelines on July 24, 2025
I alerted the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality after discovering this, but have not yet heard of the outcome of their investigation.
When went back today to see if the operator had addressed either the breaches or the pipeline issues, I found no changes.
The breeches were still wide open and the pipelines unprotected.
Pray that we don’t see any more delays in the jury trial.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/14/25
2907 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.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/20250814-DJI_20250814160312_0143_D-2.jpg?fit=1100%2C619&ssl=16191100adminadmin2025-08-14 17:40:112025-08-14 17:42:04Triple PG Sand-Mine Lawsuit Slides to Year 7 as Problems Get Worse
8/12/2025 – The San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA) will hold a special meeting of its board of directors on Friday, August 15, 2025, at 10 AM. It will be held at the SJRA’s Administration building at 1577 Dam Site Road, Conroe, TX.
Directors will consider one item in executive session – settlement of its lawsuit against the City of Conroe. The dispute concerns Conroe’s Groundwater Reduction Plan contract with the SJRA.
To provide public comment, you must appear in person. However, you can still watch the meeting via the Internet here.
Several years earlier, SJRA developed a Groundwater Reduction Plan to reduce the demands on the Gulf Coast Aquifer system made by a fast growing population in Montgomery County. Growth was depleting aquifers and lowering water levels in wells faster than water was being replaced.
So, SJRA signed contracts with a number of municipalities to help migrate them to surface water. But that required SJRA to build a surface water treatment plant at Lake Conroe. To do that, the SJRA sold bonds totaling $550 million, which it is now trying to repay.
But Conroe and other municipalities balked at the price of SJRA water. And they began pumping cheaper groundwater while disputing evidence of subsidence.
Half-billion dollarSJRA water treatment plant at Lake Conroe Dam
It’s hard to track developments in this case because it has moved back and forth from Montgomery County District Court to the Ninth Judicial Court of Appeals in Beaumont and the Texas Supreme Court several times.
Many of the appeals are on limited aspects of the case. In 2020, the Supreme Court of Texas ruled that Conroe could not invoke governmental immunity against the SJRA. Their ruling provides a good summary of the issues in the case at that time.
Case Still Not Decided in Second Trip to Supreme Court
The litigants later went into mediation. That didn’t produce a settlement, so the parties started appealing various aspects of the arbitration. Eventually, the case circled back around to the Supreme Court of Texas in 2024.
Justice Busby delivered the opinion of the court at that time. In the first paragraph, he signaled judicial impatience. As if speaking to a third party about the SJRA and Conroe, Busby wrote “So far, their taxpayers and ratepayers have been funding only procedural and jurisdictional skirmishes distantly related to the merits of the dispute.”
The Supreme Court sided with SJRA on several limited issues and remanded the case back to the trial court for additional deliberations. Again.
In 2022, various parties owed the SJRA close to $30 million. This is one of those cases where neither side can afford to lose and the lawyers have every incentive to keep it going.
Subsidence Continues as Case Continues
It will be interesting to see what happens Friday.
In the meantime, I’ve spoken to more residents of the Woodlands whose homes and lives are being undermined by subsidence-related faulting. But more on that in a future post.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/12/2025
2905 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/20100405-2016_09_30_AERIAL_SJRA-WTP_26.jpg?fit=1200%2C818&ssl=18181200adminadmin2025-08-12 19:06:562025-08-12 19:16:59SJRA Calls Special Board Meeting to Discuss Settlement of 9-Year-Old Lawsuit
8/11/25 – The correlation between flood damage and flood-mitigation spending by Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) keeps dropping, indicating an increasing influence of other factors, such as race, on spending.
At the end of 2021, the coefficient of correlation between flood-mitigation spending and flood damage was .84. Statisticians consider that a strong correlation.
By the end of Q1 2024, it had dropped to .67, a positive but moderate correlation.
By the end of Q2 2025, it had dropped further to .64.
What is Coefficient of Correlation?
Coefficient of correlation measures the strength of association between two variables, for instance hours spent studying and exam scores.
Statisticians consider a correlation of 1.0 extremely strong. It is the highest possible and means that for every unit of change in one variable, there is a corresponding unit of change in another. As the coefficient decreases, the strength of the relationship also decreases.
Values close to +1 or -1 (e.g., 0.7 to 0.9 or -0.7 to -0.9) indicate a strong relationship.
Values between 0.3 and 0.7 (or -0.3 and -0.7) suggest a moderate relationship.
Values below 0.3 (or -0.3) indicate a weak relationship.
Less than Half of HCFCD Spending Today Explained by Flood Damage
Squaring the coefficient of correlation yields the coefficient of determination. That tells you the proportion of the variance in the dependent variable that’s explained by the independent variable.
Squaring .64 yields 41%. So, flood damage today accounts for less than half of Harris County’s flood-mitigation spending.
Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis’ has relentlessly pushed variousprioritization formulas that rely increasingly on race while de-emphasizing damage and flood risk. In fact, his formula now totally ignores flood risk.
The major changes in his formula coincide with the drop in the correlation between flood damage and flood-mitigation spending. The 2022 Prioritization Framework marked the beginning of the huge drop in the correlation.
But in fairness, also understand that special circumstances may apply to investments, such as HCFCD’s Frontier Program. It buys land in developing watersheds for huge, regional detention basins, then sells capacity back to developers. Still…
Notice how the lines in the graph below diverge for some watersheds. Some have proportionally more dollars than damage and vice versa for others. Clearly, politics have skewed spending.
A higher correlation would show the two lines more closely matching each other.Also note that the damage figures include five major floods since 2001. They are extracted from HCFCD Federal Reports.
The watersheds where the two variables most greatly diverge reduce the coefficient of correlation.
Where does your watershed stand in the dollar derby? Do you think you’re getting your fair share?
Here are the actual dollars and damaged structures in a table format. The last column shows the dollars per damaged structure.
Coefficient based on Spending and Damage Columns.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/11/2025
2904 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Corellation-Damage-Dollars.png?fit=2254%2C1354&ssl=113542254adminadmin2025-08-11 22:14:272025-08-12 12:37:00Correlation Between Flood Damage, Mitigation Spending Keeps Dropping
8/10/25 – A reader asked me, “How could the July 4 Guadalupe flood tragedy happen?”
He sent me an article that quoted an associate professor from Syracuse University who studied FEMA’s flood maps. The professor said that people knew Camp Mystic buildings were in the 100-year floodplain. Then she said, “It’s a mystery to me why they weren’t taking proactive steps to move structures away from the risk…”
The good professor obviously doesn’t live in Texas. In the endless news coverage of the tragedy, some little known statistics have gone undiscussed. They put the Guadalupe tragedy in a larger context.
We also have 6,258 hospitals, emergency medical services, fire stations, police stations and schools in 1% annual chance floodplains. Camp Mystic is hardly alone.
One in Five Texans Lives in a Floodplain
The Texas State Flood Plan shows that 5,884,100 people live in Texas floodplains (100- and 500-year). The last full census shows that 29,145,505 people live in Texas. That means 20% of the state’s population lives in a floodplain. One in five people!
Only 2% of the people living in the Guadalupe River Basin live in floodplains. But 42% of all the people living in the San Jacinto watershed live in a floodplain.
Column 3 shows people living in 100-year floodplain (1% annual chance) and Column 4 shows the number in the 500-year (.2% annual chance) floodplain.The last column shows percentages of 5,884,100 that totals in the 100+500 column comprise.
And don’t forget, those numbers are all based on pre-Atlas 14 maps. Reportedly, Atlas-14 maps will show floodplains growing 50-100%. And Atlas-15 maps are already in the works. So, the numbers above understate the real dimensions of the problem.
In my opinion, the real question is not “How could the tragedy happen?” It’s “How could it NOT happen?”
Still, the professor raises a valid question.
Problems Don’t Get This Big By Accident
Why do so many Texans live in floodplains? A combination of things has created this perfect storm. Since starting this blog, I’ve written 2,876 articles about flooding. And I see certain recurrent themes:
Collectively, we have a bad case of willful blindness. Regulations don’t keep pace with reality. For instance, Montgomery County still hasn’t adopted updated drainage regulations which have been on the table for years.
People make bad home building and home buying decisions because of antiquated flood maps.
Flooding happens just infrequently enough that when something goes wrong, people can blame it on climate change or God.
Not all of these may apply to the Guadalupe river basin. But I’ve documented them multiple times in the San Jacinto basin. They form a starting point for investigation into the Guadalupe tragedy.
A Problem Too Big To Solve
At this point, in my opinion, the State’s flooding problem is too big to solve. The state flood plan comes with a $54 billion price tag. But we don’t have a dedicated source of funding to address the problems in it.
Worse, collectively we:
Keep kicking the can down the road by making endless plans to solve flooding, but rarely implementing them.
Don’t assume others will protect you. Protect yourself. Start by demanding accurate estimates of risk that we paid for a long time ago. That would at least make people aware of the flood risk they truly face. Then they can decide whether to take that risk.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/10/2025
2903 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240815-Residential-Bldgs-in-1-percent-Floodpolain.jpg?fit=1100%2C833&ssl=18331100adminadmin2025-08-10 15:45:072025-08-10 22:42:37Guadalupe Flood Tragedy: How Could It NOT Happen?
In late July, the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee introduced a bipartisan FEMA-reform bill.
Committee leaders say it “provides the most robust legislative reform of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and federal disaster assistance programs in decades.”
The Fixing Emergency Management for Americans (FEMA) Act of 2025 (H.R. 4669) was introduced after feedback the Committee received on the draft from Members of Congress and the emergency management stakeholder community.
The Committee hopes Congress will take the bill up when it returns from its August recess.
Streamlining Disaster Response and Recovery
According to the Committee, the FEMA Act streamlines the federal government’s disaster response and recovery programs while also making FEMA a cabinet-level agency once again, directly accountable to the President.
Sponsors say the bill rewards effective state and local preparedness, protects taxpayers, cuts red tape, and ensures that relief efforts are fast, fair, and free from political bias.
“The American people need an emergency management system that works quickly and effectively, not one that makes disaster recovery more difficult,” said Committee Chairman Rep. SamGraves of Missouri.
“But time and time again, we’ve heard the same story from state and local officials, emergency managers, and disaster victims,” said Graves. The federal process is too slow, complicated, and disconnected from the realities on the ground. Communities trying to rebuild are forced to navigate a maze of complicated rules, conflicting timelines, and mountains of burdensome paperwork.”
Comments from Both Sides of Aisle
He added, “FEMA is in need of serious reform, and the goal of the FEMA Act of 2025 is to fix it. This bill does more than any recent reforms to cut through the bureaucracy, streamline programs, provide flexibility, and return FEMA to its core purpose of empowering the states to lead and coordinating the federal response when it’s needed.”
Ranking Member Rick Larsen from Washingtonsaid. “This bipartisan bill will make FEMA stronger and more efficient, giving it the tools it needs to provide relief to disaster-impacted communities.”
Rep. Daniel Webster from Florida said, “I know firsthand the damage that hurricanes and natural disasters bring, and how important effective preparation, response and relief is when tragedy strikes. By streamlining FEMA and cutting red tape, we ensure that federal disaster response is faster, more efficient, and accountable to the American people.”
“FEMA’s mission is to help Americans in their darkest hour,” said Rep. Greg Stanton of Arizona. “The solution is not to tear FEMA down – it’s to work across the aisle to build FEMA up. This bipartisan bill takes common-sense steps to streamline the agency and make sure communities get disaster assistance quickly, efficiently and fairly.”
Restores FEMA’s original status as an independent agency.
It would report directly to the President and be overseen by its own inspector general. Returning FEMA to a Cabinet-level agency will empower the Administrator to lead a coordinated, government-wide response to disasters.
Puts disaster-impacted states in the driver’s seat
It would help dollars reach communities faster, inject common sense, and cut red tape that can drag out disaster recovery for decades. It would speed up rebuilding with faster, project-based grants. States could prioritize the highest need projects, without waiting years for reimbursement.
The bill would also incentivize states to make their own investments in mitigation, rainy-day funds, and private insurance policies.
This legislation also reforms federal permitting and procurement processes to speed up rebuilding projects and eliminate unnecessary delays.
Helps disaster aid work better for survivors, while saving taxpayer dollars
Disaster survivors will complete a single, streamlined application when applying for assistance, significantly reducing the paperwork burden.
FEMA must provide clear, understandable notices to disaster survivors, ending the confusion caused by complex and jargon-filled denial letters.
The Act alsoremoves disincentives that discourage donations from charities, so more non-federal support is available for disaster survivors. And it gives states more flexibility to determine the best emergency housing solutions.
Strengthens efforts to protect communities before a disaster occurs
The FEMA Act 2025 overhauls FEMA’s existing mitigation framework.
States can pre-vet mitigation projects through a peer-review process to speed up funding when disaster strikes and combine funds from federal programs to expedite the completion of critical projects.
The Act also clarifies building code requirements, so states can tailor standards to the hazards they face. And it encourages homeowners to invest in cost-effective mitigation improvements to reduce long-term disaster costs.
Prevents politicization of disaster aid and demands greater transparency and accountability from FEMA
The Act strictly prohibits any political discrimination in providing disaster recovery assistance. And it would create a public website that tracks disaster spending nationwide.
It would also eliminate outdated, conflicting, and unnecessary rules and regulations.
And it would assess: disaster fraud risks related to insurance coverage, identify theft, public alerting systems, and cost savings associated with the reforms in the discussion draft.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/9/2025
2902 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/HumbleFloodFromHCFCD-e1761946748900.jpg?fit=1100%2C821&ssl=18211100adminadmin2025-08-09 18:30:522025-08-10 17:34:56Bipartisan FEMA-Reform Bill Introduced in U.S. House
8/8/25 – The Mercer Stormwater Detention Basin at FM1960 and the Hardy Tollroad along Cypress Creek illustrates the difficulty HCFCD will face as it attempts to build 11 comparable basins in the next year and a half.
The Mercer Basin, originally projected to take one year – on an expedited schedule – has taken more than two years already and is still many more months from completion.
If HCFCD maintains that pace for the other basins, it could miss a critical U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development deadline.
One (Arbor Oaks) is already in construction. But ten more projects valued at $289 million remain to be bid. Is there enough time to complete them before HUD’s immovable February 28, 2027, deadline?
The next ten basins don’t have 2.5 years. So unless HCFCD picks up its pace, low-to-moderate income areas across Harris County could lose a quarter billion dollars in funding. They can’t afford that.
Neither can areas like Lake Houston. Because Commissioners Court will start cancelling projects here to divert funds to the areas that lost grants.
Huge Difference Between Original and Actual Timeline
At 512 acre feet, the Mercer Basin is slightly larger than average. Construction experts tell me that a basin that size should take a year to build. And, in fact, that was the estimate Rodney Ellis gave a community meeting.
But the project slid from the git-go. The county didn’t advertise it to potential bidders until 8/4/23. Then it took HCFCD four months to select a winning bid and issue a “notice to proceed” to the contractor.
Photos Taken 8/8/25 Show Construction Still Far From Complete
And the job, which was supposed to be finished a year ago this week, is still in construction. Worse, construction may not finish this year, according to a contractor I talked to who saw the pictures below.
Looking W at South Mercer detention basin at FM1960 and Hardy. FM1960 on left. Looking S toward FM1960 at same basin. Hardy Tollroad in upper right.Looking N at balancing culvert between two Mercer basinsNorth basin is closer to completion but still not done.It appears contractors are still installing backslope interceptor swales and drain pipes.Looking S at both basins with Cypress Creek snaking through frame from right to left.
Mercer Took 2X Longer than Predicted – So Far
From the invitation to bid to today has been 735 days – five days more than 2 years!
Even if all CDBG-DR projects in play went out for bids tomorrow, only 569 days remain until the ultimate, immovable deadline of Feb. 28, 2027. Even worse…
According to HCFCD’s latest bid schedule, 8 of 10 projects on HUD’s list won’t even go out for bid for another 2 to 10 months.
Mercer should have taken a year to finish from the invitation to bid, but has taken two years and could take another half year.
The other DR projects will have 18 months, but could take another 2 to 10 months before they even start bidding.
You can see the concerns. No margin for error. No weather delays allowed. And HCFCD still might not have enough time to complete projects.
George P. Bush announced this money was coming to Harris County more than four years ago when he was still commissioner of the Texas General Land Office. It took HCFCD (and the Harris County Community Services Department) four years to figure out how they wanted to spend the money he allocated. Now they’re leaving 18 months or less to actually build the projects.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/8/2025
2901 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.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/20250808-DJI_20250808115626_0074_D.jpg?fit=1100%2C619&ssl=16191100adminadmin2025-08-08 20:41:442025-08-09 07:09:32Mercer Basin Illustrates Risks of HCFCD Slowdown for Quarter Billion in HUD Funding
8/7/25 – Lina Hidalgo threw another temper tantrum in Commissioners Court today, left and never returned. She also received a censure from her colleagues, the commissioners.
Worse, Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) seems adrift. Current HCFCD leadership seems to have no sense of urgency. Eight years after Harvey, less than a quarter of flood-bond IDs have been completed. And once again, despite tight deadlines that could mean the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, HCFCD brought no construction or capital improvement contracts to Court today for approval or even bidding.
Flood Control Slowdown
Eight years ago this month, Hurricane Harvey struck Harris County. It caused an estimated $125 billion dollars of damage. It dramatized our vulnerability and the need for improvements in flood control.
To address those needs, voters approved a $2.5 billion bond. Partners pledged another $2.7 billion.
Out of that money, HCFCD still has $3 billion waiting to build scores of projects. Yet…
Not one construction bid was brought to Commissioners Court for approval today.
Ability to Deliver Projects At Critical Time In Doubt
In the seven years since passage of the flood bond in 2018, HCFCD has completed only 43 of 181 Bond IDs. And yet, see what HCFCD asked for in Commissioner’s Court today. It’s typical of recent meetings.
Today’s agenda provides a glimpse of HCFCD’s ability to deliver projects and its priorities. Forty-two Flood-Control-related items were listed.
I summarized today’s flood-related agenda items below under their agenda category headings.
#13 – Approval of a methodology for charging indirect costs
#17 – Budget transfers
County Engineer
#24 – A 2-acre easement
#25 – A 15-acre easement
#53 – An agreement with a MUD to build a pedestrian bridge across a channel
#155 – Correction to a deed
#156 – Correction to another deed
Flood Control District
#157 – Mowing agreement with a MUD
#158 – Trail maintenance agreement with a MUD
#159 – Mowing reimbursement for a MUD
#160 – Landscaping maintenance agreement for one residential lot
#161 – Abandon an easement
#162 – Abandon another easement
#163 – Engineering agreement to re-certify a levee
#164 – Change order adding 120 days to a maintenance agreement
Economic Equity and Opportunity
#172 – Letter of non-objection for a foreign trade zone
Auditor
#270 – Approval of payroll
Purchasing
#289 – Bid approval for erosion and slope repair
#300 – Vision insurance for next calendar year
#301 – Dental insurance for next calendar year
#305 – Life insurance for next calendar year
#306 – Disability insurance for next calendar year
#314 – Pest management services
#315 – Tree removal services
#319 – Group medical insurance for next year
#339 – Change in contract amount for channel repair job
#356 – Inventory adjustment
Precinct 1
#366 – Maintenance agreement with City of Houston for detention basin
Transmittals
#451 – Transmittal of tax rate
#452 – Advertisement of channel-repair project
#456 – Tree-trimming and tree-removal contract
#460 – Mowing contract
Executive Session
#476 – Flood Control’s nominee for Appraisal District
Emergency/Supplemental Items
#490 – Contract with corrugated metal pipe provider
#491 – Repair contract for South Harris County
#492 – Channel rehab
#502 – Contract to supply modular buildings
#510 – Vehicle leases
#520 – Flood-bond update discussion (requested by Ramsey)
#521 – Flood-control maintenance discussion (also requested by Ramsey)
A Crisis of Leadership
Harris County government under the current administration has slowed to a crawl. Taxes go up. Yet delivery of service is down. Instead of doing more with less, Lina Hidalgo is doing less with more.
We have a crisis of leadership that started with a brain drain when political appointees under Lina Hidalgo replaced experienced, professional department heads.
Then despite performance issues, many of those new heads were given massive pay increases. For instance, HCFCD’s new department head received a raise of almost $90,000 per year despite declining performance.
So, who is pushing projects ahead? It’s certainly not the county judge. She blew another gasket today. It was an embarrassing meltdown of epic proportions…shocking even by Harris-County standards.
At approximately 6:45 PM, Precinct 3 Commissioner Ramsey initiated a discussion of Rules of Conduct at Decorum during Commissioners Court Meetings.
Immediately after the members present adopted the rules, Ramsey made a second motion to censure Lina Hidalgo for her tantrum today and a previous use of profanity when children were present. That motion also passed. In legislative terms, a censure is a formal reprimand or strong rebuke of a member’s conduct or character.
Ramsey Addresses HCFCD Issues
Just before executive session Ramsey also addressed issues at HCFCD and the progress of projects. He specifically mentioned that no construction or capital improvement projects were on the agenda today, and requested an update from HCFCD on when projects were going out for bid.
Ramsey also reminded people that HCFCD promised to come back to court in September with details about what could and couldn’t be done within the available time and budget, and what would have to be phased.
Ramsey concluded with an admonishment. “We have some real severe deadlines that we’ve got to meet,” he said.
The sad thing is that by the time the next election rolls around, hundreds of millions of dollars in HUD funding could be off the table. It’s not gone yet. But the County needs to solve its leadership crisis if it ever hopes to reduce flood risk with that money.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/7/2025
2900 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.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/20250807-Hidalgo-Unhinged.jpg?fit=1100%2C619&ssl=16191100adminadmin2025-08-07 19:22:162025-08-07 23:04:02Leadership Crisis in Harris County Government
8/6/25 – Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) has initiated a large-scale study called SAFER that will involve 11 of the county’s 23 watersheds and benefit two others – Addicks and Barker.
SAFER stands for “Solutions for Advancing Floodplain Evaluation and Resilience.” The map below shows the study area. The study does not include the northern and eastern portions of the county.
This six-minute video explains the scope, goals and timetable of the study. (And it prominently mentions flood tunnels.) However, it also mentions integrating those with other flood-mitigation solutions.
Target: Federal Funding
A study of this scope is much broader than normal. One of the major goals is to achieve federal funding. Toward that end, the study is targeting Congresses annual Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) in 2028 as the deadline.
HCFCD is following a rigorous process outlined in Section 203 of WRDA that allows local agencies to follow Army Corps procedures and qualify for federal funding at the end of the road, as if the Corps had developed the study.
The goal: to make the county more resilient to future flood events.
Disciplined Process
The process will help ensure the U.S. Congress approves the SAFER Study recommendations, which will require large-scale federal funding to implement.
The study will evaluate established flood risk reduction measures, such as increasing channel capacity and constructing stormwater detention basins, as well as large-scale stormwater tunnels.
While the SAFER Study is a new feasibility study, it builds on current Flood Control District initiatives and data-driven projects already completed. This includes current and past capital projects, MAAPnext (ongoing) and completed investigations of stormwater conveyance tunnels.
The SAFER study will result in a Draft Feasibility Report that evaluates the costs, benefits, and viability of proposed flood-risk management solutions. The accompanying Environmental Impact Statement, led by USACE, will assess any potential environmental impacts of the proposed solutions.
Estimated Timeline
Key milestones include:
Public scoping meetings in summer 2025
Development and evaluation of alternatives through 2026
The release of a Draft Feasibility Report and Draft Environmental Impact Statement in 2026–2027
HCFCD hopes to submit the Final Report to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works in 2027 and secure Congressional funding the following year.
Upcoming Virtual Meetings
HCFCD will hold community engagement meetings in each phase. Two upcoming virtual meetings will give you a chance to comment:
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/20250624-SAFER-Study-Area.jpg?fit=1100%2C705&ssl=17051100adminadmin2025-08-06 14:31:082025-08-06 14:37:37HCFCD SAFER Study will Cover Half of Harris County
