Funding - Reduce Flooding

Almost from the day voters passed the historic $2.5 billion Harris County 2018 Flood Bond Referendum, people started arguing over whose projects should be developed first.

This led to a debate about equity and passage of an equity prioritization framework that favors low-to-moderate-income (LMI) neighborhoods.

Activist groups in watersheds that have received hundreds of millions of dollars in funding now claim they have received none and blame it on racism and white supremacy. One group has even demanded the cancellation of projects in affluent watersheds so that even more money can be diverted to theirs in the name of “equity.”

The US59/Townsen Blvd. area in Humble flooded by the West Fork of the San Jacinto during Harvey. Almost every business between the West Fork and FM1960 flooded. Four years later, many have yet to come back.

will this get any of the $750 million in CDBG-MIT funds from the GLO?

Raw Data

Links below and to the right lead to articles about funding.

This 37-page report is the first in a series of monthly reports from HCFCD on flood-bond spending to date. It goes through August 2021.

The information below was provided by Harris County in response to a Freedom of Information Act Request.

This spreadsheet contains spending data on capital improvement projects (not normal maintenance) by watershed as of the end of the first quarter of 2021. It is broken down as follows:

Since 2000
Since Harvey
1/1/2000 to 12/31/2009
1/1/2010 to 12/31/2019

It also includes breakdowns for items such as design, right-of-way acquisition, buyouts, and construction.

Finally, I also requested additional data about each watershed to help put the spending in perspective. For instance:

Square Mileage
Population
Percentage of population with Low-to-Moderate Income (LMI)
Number of Damaged Structures in Major Storms (Allison, Tax Day, Memorial Day, Harvey)

With this information, I compiled a master spreadsheet that showed spending, spending per square mile, spending per capita, damage by storm, total damage, and rank orders for each watershed during various periods.

Harris County Flood Control Capital Improvement Spending By Watershed since 2000.

I have also flown over the more “controversial” watersheds and photographed flood mitigation projects that “don’t exist” according to some activists and politicians arguing for an even greater share of the pie.

Analysis/Findings

With all this information, I have compiled a series of articles related to funding for those who wish to make informed decisions.

For more information and analysis of the data, see the links below and to the right.

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

How Crenshaw Saved Kingwood Project from Chopping Block

1/30/26 – A four-million dollar earmark secured by U.S. Representative Dan Crenshaw for widening the Walnut Lane Bridge in Kingwood saved the entire $44 Million Kingwood Diversion Ditch Project from being killed by the Democratic members of Harris County Commissioners Court. Crenshaw requested the funding in 2023. Congress awarded it in 2024. Then in 2025, […]

HUD Clears GLO of Discrimination in Distribution of Harvey-Mitigation Funds

1/29/26 – An investigation by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) found the Texas General Land Office (GLO) did not discriminate against minorities or low-to-moderate income Texans in the distribution of Hurricane Harvey Flood Mitigation Funds. The investigation reviewed more than 80,000 pages of documents. Two Houston groups – the Northeast Action […]

We Must Make Addressing “Worst Flooding First” a Campaign Issue

1/7/26 – The final Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) spending numbers are in for 2025. And they show a disturbing story of deception that calls for political change. The latest numbers show that HCFCD is fixing the worst flooding last, not first, as promised. See the two graphs below. Compare Spending to Flood Height […]