Uncategorized Archives - Page 4 of 7

Special Steps to Take for Hurricane Preparation During COVID Pandemic

On top of normal disaster preparation advice, FEMA and the CDC have released special instructions this year for hurricane preparation during the COVID pandemic.

First, Cover All the Basics

Most of the basic advice remains the same. For instance:

Write down emergency phone numbers and keep them on the refrigerator or near every phone in your house. Program them into your cell phone too.
Prepare an emergency supply kit.
Locate the nearest shelter and different routes you can take to get there from your home. If shelter locations in your area have not been identified, learn how to find them in the event of a stormexternal icon.
Stockpile an emergency food and water supply.
Order an emergency medicine supply.
Purchase emergency power sources such as flashlights (don’t forget extra batteries).
Make sure you have required safety and personal items.
Safeguard important documents, including medical documents, wills, passports, and personal identification.
Make sure you have enough gas to get where you are going.
Know a safe place to shelter.
Stay informed with weather alerts, such as National Weather Service cell phone alertsexternal icon, NOAA Weather Radioexternal icon, or (@NWS) Twitter alerts.
Pet owners: Pre-identify shelters, a pet-friendly hotel, or an out-of-town friend or relative where you can take your pets in an evacuation. Local animal shelters may be able to offer advice on what to do with your pets if you are asked to evacuate your home.

See more CDC advice at this link.

Second, Protect Your Family from COVID During an Evacuation

This year, there are also some new twists because of COVID.

Find out if your local public shelter is open, in case you need to evacuate. Your shelter location may be different due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In your go-kit, include items that can help protect you and others from COVID-19, such as hand sanitizer, or bar or liquid soap if not available, and two cloth face coverings for each person. Face covers should not be used by children under the age of 2. They also should not be used by people having trouble breathing, or who are unconscious, incapacitated, or unable to remove the mask without assistance.
Practice social distancing. Stay at least 6 feet (about 2 arms’ length) from other people outside of your household.
Follow CDC COVID-19 preventive actions—wash your hands often, cover coughs and sneezes, and follow shelter policies for wearing cloth face coverings. Avoid sharing food and drink with anyone if possible.
Follow disaster shelter policies and procedures designed to protect everyone in the shelter, particularly older adults (65 and older) and people of any age who have serious underlying medical conditions. These people are at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19.
Avoid touching high-touch surfaces, such as handrails, as much as possible. If not possible, wash hands or use hand sanitizers containing 60% alcohol immediately after you touch these surfaces.
Keep your living area clean and disinfect frequently-touched items such as toys, cellphones, and other electronics.
If you feel sick when you arrive at the shelter or start to feel sick while sheltering, tell shelter staff immediately.

Special Advice for Children

To help your children stay healthy in a shelter:

Teach and reinforce everyday preventive actions for keeping children healthy.
Make sure children aged 2 and older wear cloth face coverings. Face covers should not be used by children under the age of 2. They also should not be used by people having trouble breathing, or who are unconscious, incapacitated, or unable to remove the mask without assistance.
Be a good role model—if you wash your hands often, your children are more likely to do the same.
Watch your children to ensure they stay at least 6 feet away from anyone who is not in your household.
Watch your child for any signs of illness and tell shelter staff if your child may be ill.
Try to deal with the disaster calmly and confidently, as this can provide the best support for your children. Help children cope with emergencies.

Improve Your Situational Awareness

For monitoring upstream flooding levels, I find these two sites extremely helpful.

USGS Water on the Go – Includes information from almost every gage in the country. Especially useful if traveling. The app finds your location and automatically links to the gages nearest you.

Harris County Flood Warning System – Includes gages from Harris and surrounding counties, inundation mapping, customized alerts, historical flood levels, and more. Very powerful.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/13/2020 with photo by Julie Yandell of her Harvey evacuations

988 Days after Hurricane Harvey

HCFCD Finishes Clean-Out of Its Portion of Rogers Gully; But Mouth Bar Remains

Aerial photos taken on April 21, 2020 show that Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) finished its Rogers Gully project in the Walden area of Lake Houston south of FM1960. However, a significant mouth bar remains in the portion of the ditch owned by the City of Houston.

*Looking west from shoreline of Lake Houston. Harris County Flood Control excavated accumulated sediment earlier this year in the visible portions of Rogers Gully.*

*Looking east from same position, shows work still remains in the City-owned portion of Rogers Gully.*

Project Did Not Extend to Lake Houston

The channel repair project extended from Trophy Place to approximately 1,400 feet downstream. Matt Zeve, Deputy Executive Director of HCFCD, said “We had worked this location a year ago, and the sediment accumulated in this spot again very quickly, so we had to come back.”

However, he added, “We won’t be getting the mouth bar.” The mouth bar is yet another one of the jurisdictional issues that plague homeowners around Lake Houston. The map below shows the HCFCD right-of-way in yellow. City of Houston (COH) is the red (actually COH owns all of the lake area even though it doesn’t show up on the map).

*HCFCD excavated the yellow portion of Rogers Gully.*

Zeve also said, “The mouth bar will have to be handled by another dredging contract that will come after the COH executes the $30 million program.” The $30 million program refers to the Huberty Amendment to SB500 passed during the last legislature.

The April photo of the mouth bar above was taken after a large rain when the lake level was up slightly. When the level is down, here is what the problem looks like.

Still shot from Jack and Greg Toole’s video. Used with permission.

The Rogers Gully mouth bar still appears to have the potential to back water up and contribute to neighborhood flooding.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/10/2020

985 Days after Hurricane Harvey and 234 after Imelda

Grand Parkway Will Open Vast New Upstream Areas to Development

TxDOT has recently cleared a vast swath of forest stretching 13 miles east of US59 to lay the groundwork for the next section of the Grand Parkway.

Almost 25X larger than 610 Loop

When complete, the Grand Parkway will form the third ring around Houston.

610 formed the first ring. It has a perimeter of 37 miles and encompasses an area of 94 square miles.
Beltway 8 formed the second ring. It has a perimeter of 87 miles and encompasses an area of 535 square miles.
The Grand Parkway, when complete, will have a perimeter of 180 miles with an area of 2274 square miles.

That’s almost 25 times larger than the Loop 610 ring.

Map of Completed/Incomplete Segments

The TxDOT map below shows the completed (open) and incomplete (under construction) segments of the Grand Parkway (SH99).

More about Section H

Section H runs north and east of the Lake Houston area through sparsely populated areas that drain back toward Lake Houston. The major streams: White Oak Creek, Peach Creek, Caney Creek, San Jacinto East Fork and Luce Bayou.

*Section H of the Grand Parkway (SH99). Construction began summer 2017 and should last through spring 2022. For a giant, poster-sized PDF showing street names, click here.*

Recent Aerial Photos Show Status of Construction

Here’s a look at the status of construction between US59 and Plum Grove Road. All aerial photos taken March 6, 2020.

*Looking east from Monday Hargrave road*.

*Looking east toward Plum Grove Road by the cement plant.*

*Looking east from over Plum Grove Road.*

*Looking southwest toward where the East Fork San Jacinto crosses under FM1485*

*Looking SW toward Redbud Drive (bottom right) across FM1485*

*Looking SW across Caney Creek. That water in the upper left is the northernmost pond of the Triple-PG sand mine.*

*Looking SW while over the intersection of Sullivan Road and Thelma Lane.*

*Looking SW toward East Community Drive from over the Martin Marietta New Caney Yard*. *That’s the 59 overpass in the far upper right.*

*Looking SW toward Loop 494 cutting under supports for new bridge.*

*Looking south down 494 from over the Grand Parkway.* *US59 cuts through the upper right of the frame.*

*Looking NE from SW corner of SH99 and US59. (This image taken Jan. 20, 2020.)*

One Quarter of Loop Stretches Through 4 Counties

Combined, Segments H and I-1 will stretch 37.5-miles. It will be a controlled-access toll road with intermittent frontage roads from US 59 North (the Eastex Freeway) near New Caney to US 90 near Dayton to I-10 East (the East Freeway) near Mont Belvieu. This segment of the new road will stretch through four countries: Montgomery, Harris, Liberty, and Chambers.

Already, TxDOT is expanding the section between FM2100 and Huffman Cleveland Road to handle anticipated traffic. And it hasn’t even been built yet!

One of the avowed goals of this project: to foster economic development. It’s certainly going to do that. All those people who moved to Porter and New Caney for a rustic lifestyle on large lots nestled away in the woods, will soon see changes. Your new neighbor could be Perry Homes and the next Woodridge Village or Artavia.

For more information, see:

Posted by Bob Rehak on 3/26/2020

940 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Childhood Terror From Harvey: Ulrich Family’s Experience and Letter to SJRA Board

Colleen Ulrich gave me permission to share her family’s Hurricane Harvey experience. She captured the terror in this letter to the San Jacinto River Authority Board. It supports the continued seasonal lowering of Lake Conroe to provide a buffer against flooding until other mitigation measures can be put in place. Her home did not flood UNTIL AFTER the Lake Conroe release.

Full Text of Ulrich Letter

Dear SJRA Board Members,

The purpose of my email is to petition all SRJA Board Members to approve the temporary, seasonal lowering of Lake Conroe for 2020.
As an introduction, I have been a resident of Kingwood since August 2005 when I evacuated from New Orleans due to Hurricane Katrina. We never moved back because our family fell in love with our adopted state of Texas and our adopted home town of Kingwood. I live in the Barrington neighborhood with my husband and 10-year-old daughter. Our home was flooded with 2 feet 2 inches of water in August 2017.

*Colleen Ulrich’s vehicle during Hurricane Harvey after Lake Conroe release*. *This photo and those below courtesy of Colleen Ulrich. All used with permission.*

Childhood Memories

One of the issues that those opposed to the temporary, seasonal lowering of Lake Conroe is that they feel deprived of their ability to enjoy the lake and to create fun summer time boating memories for their families and children. As a mother and Kingwood resident, I am petitioning you to vote in favor of the temporary, seasonal lowering of Lake Conroe to ensure the safety of my child and all of the children of Kingwood and to ensure none of the Kingwood area children have any memories similar to the ones that were created from the flood in August 2017.

*Colleen Ulrich’s dining room during Hurricane Harvey after the SJRA opened the flood gates on Lake Conroe.*

Our daughter, Alexandra, was 7 1/2 at the time and her memories include sitting on our stairwell alone in our home while my husband carried me on his back to be evacuated by boat because the quickly rising water was too high and the current too strong for me to walk by myself. Alexandra’s memories include riding in that same boat out of our neighborhood and seeing the houses with up to 4 feet of water in them. Alexandra’s memories include having her childhood bedroom destroyed by floodwaters.

I promise you that these memories will never fade for her.

*The Ulrich living room after the Lake Conroe release during Harvey.*

Fun Vs. Safety

So I petition to the Board, what is more important – creating fleeting childhood memories of a boat ride in the summer on Lake Conroe or averting traumatic childhood memories of a flood?

What is more important – the perceived Lake Conroe falling property values or the safety of our children and residents?

I am in agreement that the lowering of Lake Conroe and Lake Houston are both temporary solutions. And of course these temporary solutions should be revisited once all of the other permanent measures including the installation of additional gates in Lake Houston are put in place. But until that time, I pray that you will make the right decision and keep the temporary, seasonal lowering in place until permanent measures can ensure the safety of all the children and of all the residents of Kingwood and the surrounding areas.

*Ulrich kitchen, cabinets and appliances destroyed.*

*The piano that’s not so grand since Harvey.*

Video of Evac

For your consideration, my husband recorded this video and posted it on YouTube so we can remind others of the trauma of that day. This was his boat ride out of Barrington.

I appreciate your service to our community and your consideration of my appeal to approve the lowering of Lake Conroe.

Regards,

Colleen Ulrich

Address and Phone Number Withheld for Purposes of This Post

Tell the SJRA Board about your Harvey experience and why you would like to see them continue lowering Lake Conroe seasonally until other flood mitigation measures can be put in place. Come to the next board meeting and tell them in person or write them by visiting https://www.sjra.net/about/board/. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the email form.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/18/2020

872 Days after Hurricane Harvey

Photo of the Day #242

After Harvey, a giant dune formed at the confluence of the east and west forks of the San Jacinto. Foster’s Mill (left) and Kings Point (right) were among two of the hardest hit areas in Kingwood by Hurricane Harvey. Blockages like this constrict the cross section of the river and retard the flow of water into Lake Houston, worsening flooding behind them. Photo taken 9/14/2019, two weeks after Harvey.

Trump Says Texas Made a Fortune Off of Harvey

Not sure how I missed this one, but for the historical record, a story appearing the the Houston Chronicle on October 18th reports that President Trump told a rally in Dallas that Texas “made a fortune” off of Harvey. I know some victims who might dispute that claim.

View C-Span clip from Dallas Trump rally.

If you think this is biased reporting, you can watch the video yourself. Someone posted the clip on C-Span.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/29/2019

791 Days after Hurricane Harvey

Lake Houston Area Wednesday Evening River, Lake Report

Here is a river, lake report for the Lake Houston area on the Wednesday evening of Imelda. Top line: West Fork, no problems. East Fork, expect some flooding. Lakefront residents: no problem. Details below.

Storm Did Not Behave as Predicted

On Wednesday, as Imelda became more disorganized and lifted north, the Lake Houston Area remained lucky for the most part. A predicted rain band along US 59 never materialized. Instead, the storm seemed to shift slightly east as you can see in this radar image from 7:52 p.m.

Heavy Rain Mostly to South and East At This Hour

Despite nearly 8 inches of rain that fell near the Lake Houston Dam…

*Source: USGS via Coastal Water Authority*

…the lake level itself is still half a foot below normal (actual 41.85 vs. normal 42.38).

Not Much Action on West Fork

The gage at US 59 received about 4 inches of rain.

*Source: Harris County Flood Warning System*

The gage at West Lake Houston Parkway received a little more than 5 inches.

For the most part, as you can see from the bar graphs above, the rainfall, while heavy at times, was also spread out.

The real news for West Fork residents (Humble, Kingwood, Spring, Atascocita) is that areas further west and north received even less rain.

*Source: Harris County Flood Warning System: All gages selected.*

In fact, every gage around Lake Conroe received less than an inch of rain.

Lake Conroe Still Far Below Normal Level

As a result, Lake Conroe is still 2.2 feet below normal and not releasing any water.

And that means, the West Fork is far from flooding tonight.

West Fork remains 7 full feet below flood stage, despite a slight rise of about a foot and a half today.

East Fork at FM1485 in Danger of Flooding

The East Fork, however, is a different story. The heavy band of rains that fell over Lake Houston itself also extended up the East Fork. Areas like New Caney, Splendora and Patton Village received 8 to 10 inches. And as a consequence, the East Fork at FM1485 is about to come out of its banks. Compare the graph below to the one just a couple hours ago. The river has risen another foot during that time.

The National Weather Service expects the East Fork to crest in the New Caney area at 63.1 feet late tomorrow and Friday.

If it reaches that, it will be about a ten-year flood.

What Next?

The big question remaining is, “What will happen with Imelda tonight and tomorrow?”

For Downtown Houston and points north and west (including The Woodlands, Conroe, Katy, Sugar Land, Kingwood, and Humble), Matt Lanza of Space City Weather predicts: “Periods of heavy rain through the night. It may be more dry than wet in many locations, and at this point, I don’t see much reason to be too worried about things in those areas. We will watch late tonight for some heavier rain perhaps in the city of Houston or up toward Spring, Kingwood, and Humble.”

Jeff Lindner, Harris County Meteorologist, says, “Some of the high resolution models continue to suggest additional banding will develop and impact the region into the evening and overnight hours, but confidence remains low on where any sustained banding may develop. The most likely outcome is the potential for more sustained banding over the eastern portions of Harris County generally along and east of I-45 and SH 288.”

“Additional rainfall amounts of 2-4 inches with isolated amounts up to 6 inches will be possible in this area with totals west of I-45 generally less than 2 inches,” says Lindner.

Given wet grounds east of I-45, the expected rainfall would likely lead to significant amounts of run-off and rises on the East Fork of the San Jacinto River.

Comparing Today to May 7 on East Fork

Someone on FaceBook asked me, “What does this mean for East Fork Kingwood residents?” The answer is, “If you didn’t flood on May 7, you probably don’t have to worry now.”

We received an almost identical amount of rain on May 7 at that FM1485 gage, 9.4 inches then vs. 9.48 today.

During the May 7th event, the East Fork also crested at 63 feet. So use that as your go-by. If you did not flood then, you will probably not flood this week…unless…we get much more rain. Stay tuned to Mother Nature.

Posted by Bob Rehak at 8:30 p.m. on 9/18/2019

750 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Sh%t Southern Women Say in a Hurricane

Sometimes humor is the best way to deal with a difficult situation. This has to be the funniest video I have seen in a long time! Written and directed by Julia Fowler. From the Southern Women Channel.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/13/2019 with thanks to Jacque Havelka for the link

745 days since Hurricane Harvey

Trivia: What Percent of Atlantic Hurricanes Form After Today?

In my post last week about lake lowering during the peak of hurricane season, I observed that we have had a pretty quiet month since Hurricane Barry. In response, Jeff Lindner, Harris County Flood Control’s meteorologist, emailed me today and gave me this amazing piece of hurricane trivia.

Q. What percentage of Atlantic hurricanes form on average after August 20th?
A. 85%.

Lindner added: “While the Atlantic basin has been very quiet since Barry in mid July, we have seen seasons before where there has been no or very little August activity and still managed to see near normal or even above normal activity by season end. With that said conditions in the basin should discourage development through the end of August. But note, usually 85% of the Atlantic basin tropical activity takes place after August 20^th.”

*Hurricane Harvey reached peak intensity on August 25th, 2017. Image courtesy of NOAA.*

Something worth remembering as we approach the second anniversary of Hurricane Harvey next week.

In fact, NOAA has just increased the chances for an above-normal tropical hurricane season this year. It has to do with the end of el Nino.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/19/2019

720 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Harris County Flood Control Updates Kingwood Portion of Its Website

Harris County Flood Control District has just completed an update of the Kingwood-related pages on its web site.

Just hours before the May 10 storm hit, HCFCD pulled this giant tree off a downed power line that had fallen into Ben’s Branch during the previous storm. The location was across the street from Bear Branch Elementary.

Flood Control Web Site Updates Include

Major updates include:

Landing page discusses HCFCD post-flood actions completed through May, 2019.
Latest status of dredging project
New pictures of channels taken during May, 2019 storms
New channel assessment reports

Additional Data

If you’re not familiar with the Flood Control web site, you should be. It’s a treasure chest of information. It contains Interactive project maps plus everything you could want to know about:

2018 Flood Bond
County’s drainage network and numbering system (for identification and reporting purposes)
Mowing
County’s flood warning system
Floodplain Reference Marks
Flood insurance
The history of flooding in our area
Community services
And much more.

Openness and Transparency

The web site is just part of the County’s commitment to openness in its business dealings. Explore it and take advantage of it. It’s both deep and broad…loaded with information for residents as well as professionals. Few government agencies go to these lengths to maintain transparency.

Related Site Includes Info about Floodplain Management/Construction

For anyone exploring floodplain construction, the Harris County Engineer’s site is also a gold mine of information. It will help you understand the standards for developers. If you see something that doesn’t look right, this will help you understand whether the developer is playing by the rules or cutting corners.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/6/2019

646 Days since Hurricane Harvey