8/10/2024 – Sometimes Randy Reagan must feel that he has struggled for most of his adult life against rising floodwaters, sand mines and the San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA). He has flooded six times in the last nine years. Still, he’s rebuilding on a lot he bought 30 years ago. But he’s doing it differently this time.
May 2024 Flood. Reagan property in background. Note roof of submerged vehicle in foreground.
Erosion of Country Lifestyle
Reagan grew up not far from the San Jacinto West Fork. He remembers a time as a child before Lake Conroe when the river ran clear and teemed with fish.
His wife grew up in the same neighborhood. Her parents were the first settlers in an area that came to be known as Bennett Estates between FM1314 and the San Jacinto West Fork.
They loved living near the river and all the abundant wildlife. So Reagan bought 5.5 acres for $10,000 back in the mid-’90s. He put a mobile home on it and started raising a family. He hunted all the meat his family ate from his own property and the surrounding forests. Life was good.
The 1994 flood was the highest ever in that area. The SJRA released 56,000 cubic feet per second (CFS) from Lake Conroe during the storm. So Reagan elevated his home a foot above the high water mark from that storm and figured he was safe.
But gradually, his dream of peaceful, country living turned sour. In the mid-2000s, two companies started mining sand near his home – one a few blocks north, the other immediately south of his property.
The mines accelerated runoff and erosion. They also changed local drainage patterns in ways that flooded his property.
In the meantime, upstream areas grew, also increasing runoff. And by the time I first met Reagan in early 2020, his property had flooded five times in four years. The worst: Harvey in 2017. Ninety-three inches of water invaded his home. That’s almost 8 feet! See that story here.
Eventually, Reagan tore down the mobil home. Repeat flooding had caused the foundation to shift and destabilized it. He and his wife began living in his workshop or with relatives.
Reagan tried to get a low-interest SBA loan through FEMA to rebuild. But they denied him because he had “let his flood insurance lapse after Harvey.”
“Of course I let it lapse,” said Reagan. “There was nothing left to insure. The home was gone.”
Fast Forward Four Years
The May flood this year swamped his property again after the SJRA opened the gates on Lake Conroe and began releasing 72,000 CFS, the second highest release rate in SJRA history.
Reagan points to high water mark on his shop from May 2024 flood – 52 inches.
Only Harvey exceeded that rate. SJRA released 79,000 CFS in 2017 during Harvey.
Since then, Reagan began planning his comeback against Mother Nature, the sand mines and SJRA.
His dream now is to build a foundation for a new home up 10 feet above the original level of the land. That would make the land higher than the Harvey high-water mark.
Then he wants to build a new home up on stilts, another ten feet above the elevated foundation. It would be elevated 20 feet above his first home on the property and more than 10 feet above Harvey. Hopefully, that will keep him safe for a few years.
The retired oil-field worker and bull rider is looking at designs from UB Homes. He also hired a MoCo excavation company, Graham Land Services, to excavate a pond at the back of the property.
Dirt from pond excavation (background) is being used to build up home pad (foreground).
Dirt from the pond is building up the foundation where his new home will go.
Pros and Cons of Rebuilding in Location that Floods
On the plus side:
Mining behind his property has ceased. He now has a 42-acre pond behind him. No one will ever build behind him and spoil his view.
He can still hunt on his property.
Despite the flooding, property values have appreciated. Not far away, a home recently went up for sale at $1.4 million.
Development in surrounding areas has brought shopping, services and hospitals closer to home without changing his country-living atmosphere.
The May flood deposited fish in Reagan’s pond, which are now thriving.
Randy Reagan property lower right.
On the minus side:
All the tractor work has taken a toll on Reagan’s aging body. He complains of aching joints and bulging disks in his back and neck. He’s also fighting knee and shoulder pain from a lifetime of backbreaking work in the oil fields and on his property.
He wishes SJRA would pre-release water from Lake Conroe at much slower rates in advance of major storms, but has little hope that they will. “This May flood could have been totally avoided if they would have let water out sooner,” said Reagan. “SJRA needs to start operating the Lake Conroe Dam a lot better than what they’re doing.”
Reagan feels SJRA places Lake Conroe recreation above the protection of downstream property.
He feels he would have to move north of Huntsville to find the kind of flood-safe country living he once enjoyed. “It’s hard to get a piece of country living anymore in Montgomery County. It’s all going away,” said Reagan.
A Pioneer Spirit
Reagan typifies the struggle many Houstonians feel. He loves nature and living near water – until floods exact their terrible price. Still, he returns. To fight for a life he loves.
Reagan takes a break from moving in front of the property being raised for a new home.
I admire the fact that he’s not waiting for others to protect him from the ravages of West Fork flooding. By elevating his property and home, he’s protecting himself and his family.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/10/24
2538 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240810-440497047_452461260667459_6359157880369095417_n.jpg?fit=1100%2C825&ssl=18251100adminadmin2024-08-10 18:05:542024-08-10 18:36:31One Man’s Struggle Against Rising Floodwaters, Sand Mines and SJRA
8/5/24 – Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) has released its final report on Hurricane Beryl. The amazingly detailed, fact-filled, 30-page report by Jeff Lindner, Harris County’s meteorologist, covers the storm’s origins, rainfall, storm surge, high-water marks, wind speeds, flooding, and more for locations throughout the County.
Every sentence contains nuggets of information that you can use to amaze your friends, relatives in other states, and insurance agents.
Wind Speeds Up to 99 MPH
I’m not joking about insurance agents. One homeowner told me an adjuster denied her claim based on the fact that the wind was “only 37 MPH.” This report shows both average wind speeds and gusts. According to the official report, peak gusts in the Lake Houston Area were 69 MPH – almost double what the adjuster said.
Kyle Field at Texas A&M recorded the highest gust – 99 MPH.
Highest Storm Surge since Ike
Have a home near the shore? You may be interested to know that Beryl produced the highest storm surge since Hurricane Ike in 2008.
Storm surge averaged 5-7 feet above ground level along the coast, near the west side of Galveston Bay, Clear Lake, and the lower San Jacinto.
Water levels at the ship-channel turning basin reached 9 feet above ground level.
The high surge levels are likely the result of freshwater descending in watersheds as wind drove seawater into the upper portions of the ship channel.
Rainfall Intensity
Rainfall intensity was very high in places at times.
The Houston Transtar Center in the Buffalo Bayou watershed received 9.9 inches in 6 hours. There’s only a 2% annual chance of that (meaning it was a 50-year rainfall at that location). Transtar also received the highest 24-hour total – 12 inches (a 4% annual chance or 25-year total).
Out of 193 gages, 82 (42%) recorded an inch of rainfall in 15 minutes.
Rainfall Totals
Rainfall totals were less impressive due largely to the speed of the storm.
Most of the county received 24-hour totals of 6-9 inches. Higher totals generally fell south of I-10.
Six-hour rainfall amounts averaged 4-7 inches across most of the county.
Rainfall rates on the Atlas 14 chart for both 6- and 12-hour periods generally fell between 2- and 10-year events.
24-Hour Rainfall Totals during Beryl. HCFCD report also contains totals from shorter time periods.
The report noted that storms before Beryl had left the ground highly saturated. That increased runoff.
Only 10 Homes in County Flooded
Channel flooding was moderate. Approximately 10 structures flooded throughout the county. All suffered flooding in the past. They were built in areas with very low elevations.
Forty out of 193 gages reached or exceeded “flooding-likely” levels. That means the channels were full to the top of their banks.
Had the storm moved slower, Beryl could have been a very different story!
2.26 million homes lost power – some for up to 11 days. The Lake Houston Area was among the hardest hit because of the dense forests here. The density adds a degree of difficult for both maintenance and repair crews.
Note uprooted tree to left of bend in trail still leaning over power lines in Kings Forest. Photo taken 8/4/24.
Twenty-eight days after the storm, dead trees and limbs still clog streets and lean on power lines.
Intense rainfall occasionally caused flooding of streets and roadways. Portions of SH288, I-10 and I-45 flooded and became impassable at times.
Beaches eroded along most of the upper Texas Coast. High tides and storm surge overtopped and destroyed entire dune systems.
Beryl also damaged coastal roadways, beach access walkways, and private as well as public properties.
High-Water Marks
A table on page 30 compares the high-water marks at dozens of locations with those from previous storms dating, in some cases, back to 1973.
At Clear Creek and I-45, Beryl flooding reached almost as high as Tropical Storm Allison (7.7 feet in Beryl vs. 7.8 feet in Allison).
HCFCD did not record any high-water marks in the Lake Houston Area.
Deaths
As of July 31, Hurricane Beryl had directly caused five deaths in Harris County: three from drowning, two from falling trees.
Additionally, the County recorded 13 indirect deaths: eight heat related, five recovery related.
The report notes that Beryl continues a recent trend of more fatalities occurring in the aftermath of landfalling storms than from the storms themselves.
I’m not quite sure what to infer from that. Is our preparation for flooding getting better? Or is our infrastructure maintenance getting worse?
2533 days since Hurricane Harveyand 28 since Beryl
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Beryl-24-hour-rainfall-totals-in-Harris-Cty.jpg?fit=1100%2C725&ssl=17251100adminadmin2024-08-05 15:55:412024-08-05 19:30:13HCFCD Releases Final Report on Hurricane Beryl
8/3/24 – Yesterday was a start. Kingwood residents and political leaders met in several areas hard hit by Hurricane Beryl to discuss ways to improve recovery efforts. The idea: to start a dialog about steps that Houston Public Works, CenterPoint, community leaders, and residents can take together to reduce disruptions from future flooding and power outages.
Connectedness of Issues and Domino Effects
The recovery discussions took place on streets still clogged with debris that were near power line corridors, greenbelt trails, a school and two sewage “lift stations.”
Centerpoint representative addresses group including Houston City Council Members Fred Flickinger (center) and Twila Carter (right); State Rep. Charles Cunningham (upper right); and Dee Price, KSA President (striped shirt).
Lift stations pump sewage uphill to treatment plants. When treatment plants are downhill, gravity does the work – a much more reliable solution. Without power, or when flooded, sewage from the lift stations can back up into people’s homes and overflow.
The City of Houston has hundreds of such lift stations. And during Beryl, Houston Public works shuttled backup generators back and forth between them. They tried to buy enough time to keep the lift stations from backing up and overflowing.
Unfortunately, the shuttling didn’t work in parts of Woodstream Village. There, residents talked about backed up sewage flowing from homes into streets and then Lake Houston.
Chris Kalman, Woodstream resident, talked about how problems are becoming progressively worse. “Centerpoint was awfully quiet when asked about repeated power outages in this area going on 18-plus years now. No real answer.”
The solution, according to a Public Works spokesperson Greg Eyerly, is to buy more generators. But that could take years in a city struggling with other urgent budget issues. And recovery can’t wait.
Cambio (left), State Rep. Cunningham (center) and Eyerly (right) discussing lift stations in Woodstream.
Preventing/Reducing Outages
Related recovery discussions about preventing or reducing power outages took place throughout the morning. According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s final 2004 report on Utility Vegetation Management, “tree touches” are generally cited as the single largest cause of electric power outages. They occur when trees, or portions of trees, grow or fall into overhead power lines.
In Kingwood, trees have grown up under or around power lines in many places. In fact, many residents have commented that if not for recent Beryl-related trimming, they would’t even have known power lines were there.
Trees touching power lines near Deerwood Elementary where group first gathered yesterday.Power to nearby residents was out for 9.5 days after Beryl.
Unfortunately, from a recovery/electric reliability point of view, Kingwood is in a region that experiences frequent high winds and heavy rainfall. The heavy rainfall supports fast growth of tall trees. And frequent high winds push those trees into power lines.
So another major focus of recovery discussions included:
CenterPoint vegetation management practices, especially maintenance intervals (which they avoided disclosing)
Trees that fall from trail association property onto CenterPoint power lines
Removal of debris that can clog storm sewers
Who is responsible for what
How one group’s performance or lack thereof can affect electric reliability and related issues for others.
Need for a New Approach Involving Trail and Community Associations
At-Large City Council Member Twila Carter said, “CenterPoint must have a collective conversation, resulting in a plan with KSA, the HOAs and Trail Associations to address maintenance. The thoughts of “In the past, that’s the way we’ve always done it,” or “the way it’s always been” no longer work for this community. We need to address the community as it is today, not how it was planned 50 years ago.”
District E City Council Member Fred Flickinger said, “A meeting between the trail associations and CenterPoint will make a significant difference. It was the best thing to come out of today.”
Flickinger was referring to a discussion with Dee Price, KSA President. Price agreed to set up a meeting with Kingwood trail associations, community associations, CenterPoint and the council members.
Flickinger continued, “There has to be significantly more aggressive vegetation management in the future.”
Kaaren Cambio, Dan Crenshaw’s assistant, explained how the homeowner and trail associations around Lake Conroe regularly inspect resident properties for trees and branches that threaten power lines. She said they send letters to residents requiring them to take down such trees or trim them back.
CenterPoint can trim back limbs and trees that encroach on their easements. But CenterPoint cannot take down trees on private property. That includes trail association property. So recovery needs to be a cooperative effort.
Chris Bloch, a long-time Bear Branch Trail Association (BBTA) Board Member, was not at the meeting, but observed, “The number of trees and limbs that fell during Beryl was easily 2X+ what we had during Ike. I attribute this to two summers of drought which stressed the trees and then an exceptionally wet spring.”
Costs of Burying Power Lines Not Clear
Flickinger also said, “I’m pushing for more underground electrical lines. I want to see the analysis of the costs. I know it’s expensive, but I believe we are paying for it incrementally every time there is a storm.” Flickinger cited lost wages, the cost of backup generators, debris cleanup, and more.
CenterPoint responded that the costs of burying wires are location specific and the costs of repairing underground cables, when cut, are much higher. However, CenterPoint offered no specifics about the cost of burying power lines in Kingwood.
Impacts on the Elderly and Ill
Cambio also talked extensively about the impact of power outages on hospitals plus nursing and retirement homes.
Many operate in multi-story buildings. Elderly in wheel chairs rely on elevators. But without power, they are trapped. They can’t get up or down stairs to get to doctors. Nor do they have power for dialysis, breathing machines, etc.
Kingwood Hospital had a backup generator. But, reportedly, it was insufficient to power the entire facility.
Cambio recommended changes to state law, requiring hospitals, nursing homes and retirement homes to have sufficient backup-generator power to operate elevators and air conditioning.
The only problem: According to Chris Coulter of Texas Power Agents, such backup generators require regular maintenance. They also require oil and fuel, such as gasoline, which may be hard to find during widespread power outages. After Beryl, the lines I found at functioning gasoline stations stretched for more than a half mile.
Voluntary Best Management Practices May Not Be Enough
I asked Coulter, who was not at yesterday’s roving recovery meeting, for recommendations about how to improve electric reliability.
He immediately focused on vegetation management and tied the growth of vegetation over time with the increasing frequency of power outages.
The FERC report cited above says that utility vegetation management programs represent one of the largest recurring maintenance expenses for electric utility companies in North America.
Coulter jokingly characterized companies like CenterPoint as “tree trimming companies that happen to distribute power.”
“The odds are that every single electric customer in the US and Canada has, at one time or another, experienced a sustained electric outage as a direct result of a tree and power line conflict.”
This FERC report is well written and easy to understand. It makes dozens of common-sense recommendations to improve electric reliability. I recommend it.
Coulter also referred me to NERC, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation. NERC describes itself as “… an international regulatory authority whose mission is to assure the effective and efficient reduction of risks to the reliability and security of the grid.”
Coulter said that NERC rules recognize different sizes of lines in regard to vegetation management requirements. Heavy fines apply if vegetation is ignored around lines that carry more than 100 kV.
However, lines that carry less power often get neglected – something that hampers recovery.
Coulter said that many of his Kingwood customers told him about seeing several such lines for the first time after Beryl. They didn’t even know the lines were there because they were so badly overgrown!
Said Coulter, “The NERC rules are very specific about frequency and minimum vegetation clearance distances for larger transmission (above 100 kV). Fines are steep so the utilities pay close attention and abide by the rules. However, Kingwood has a large spiderweb of distribution lines that are below that bright-line designation.”
Perhaps the fines need to apply to smaller power lines.
Next Step: Broaden the Discussion
Dee Price is reaching out to trail and community associations to set up a meeting about vegetation management. It will also involve our elected representatives, CenterPoint and Houston Public Works.
At a minimum, I came away from yesterday’s discussions with a feeling that we need to:
Raise awareness of vegetation management issues within the community
Handle those on private property that could affect electric lines by ourselves
Report problems on or near CenterPoint easements that they may not be aware of.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/3/24
2531 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 26 since Beryl
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240802-RJR_3715.jpg?fit=1100%2C733&ssl=17331100adminadmin2024-08-03 17:43:442024-08-03 19:23:45Planning a Better, Faster Recovery from the Next Storm
One Man’s Struggle Against Rising Floodwaters, Sand Mines and SJRA
8/10/2024 – Sometimes Randy Reagan must feel that he has struggled for most of his adult life against rising floodwaters, sand mines and the San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA). He has flooded six times in the last nine years. Still, he’s rebuilding on a lot he bought 30 years ago. But he’s doing it differently this time.
Erosion of Country Lifestyle
Reagan grew up not far from the San Jacinto West Fork. He remembers a time as a child before Lake Conroe when the river ran clear and teemed with fish.
His wife grew up in the same neighborhood. Her parents were the first settlers in an area that came to be known as Bennett Estates between FM1314 and the San Jacinto West Fork.
They loved living near the river and all the abundant wildlife. So Reagan bought 5.5 acres for $10,000 back in the mid-’90s. He put a mobile home on it and started raising a family. He hunted all the meat his family ate from his own property and the surrounding forests. Life was good.
The 1994 flood was the highest ever in that area. The SJRA released 56,000 cubic feet per second (CFS) from Lake Conroe during the storm. So Reagan elevated his home a foot above the high water mark from that storm and figured he was safe.
But gradually, his dream of peaceful, country living turned sour. In the mid-2000s, two companies started mining sand near his home – one a few blocks north, the other immediately south of his property.
The mines accelerated runoff and erosion. They also changed local drainage patterns in ways that flooded his property.
In the meantime, upstream areas grew, also increasing runoff. And by the time I first met Reagan in early 2020, his property had flooded five times in four years. The worst: Harvey in 2017. Ninety-three inches of water invaded his home. That’s almost 8 feet! See that story here.
Eventually, Reagan tore down the mobil home. Repeat flooding had caused the foundation to shift and destabilized it. He and his wife began living in his workshop or with relatives.
Reagan tried to get a low-interest SBA loan through FEMA to rebuild. But they denied him because he had “let his flood insurance lapse after Harvey.”
“Of course I let it lapse,” said Reagan. “There was nothing left to insure. The home was gone.”
Fast Forward Four Years
The May flood this year swamped his property again after the SJRA opened the gates on Lake Conroe and began releasing 72,000 CFS, the second highest release rate in SJRA history.
Only Harvey exceeded that rate. SJRA released 79,000 CFS in 2017 during Harvey.
Since then, Reagan began planning his comeback against Mother Nature, the sand mines and SJRA.
His dream now is to build a foundation for a new home up 10 feet above the original level of the land. That would make the land higher than the Harvey high-water mark.
Then he wants to build a new home up on stilts, another ten feet above the elevated foundation. It would be elevated 20 feet above his first home on the property and more than 10 feet above Harvey. Hopefully, that will keep him safe for a few years.
The retired oil-field worker and bull rider is looking at designs from UB Homes. He also hired a MoCo excavation company, Graham Land Services, to excavate a pond at the back of the property.
Dirt from the pond is building up the foundation where his new home will go.
Pros and Cons of Rebuilding in Location that Floods
On the plus side:
On the minus side:
A Pioneer Spirit
Reagan typifies the struggle many Houstonians feel. He loves nature and living near water – until floods exact their terrible price. Still, he returns. To fight for a life he loves.
I admire the fact that he’s not waiting for others to protect him from the ravages of West Fork flooding. By elevating his property and home, he’s protecting himself and his family.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/10/24
2538 Days since Hurricane Harvey
HCFCD Releases Final Report on Hurricane Beryl
8/5/24 – Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) has released its final report on Hurricane Beryl. The amazingly detailed, fact-filled, 30-page report by Jeff Lindner, Harris County’s meteorologist, covers the storm’s origins, rainfall, storm surge, high-water marks, wind speeds, flooding, and more for locations throughout the County.
Every sentence contains nuggets of information that you can use to amaze your friends, relatives in other states, and insurance agents.
Wind Speeds Up to 99 MPH
I’m not joking about insurance agents. One homeowner told me an adjuster denied her claim based on the fact that the wind was “only 37 MPH.” This report shows both average wind speeds and gusts. According to the official report, peak gusts in the Lake Houston Area were 69 MPH – almost double what the adjuster said.
Kyle Field at Texas A&M recorded the highest gust – 99 MPH.
Highest Storm Surge since Ike
Have a home near the shore? You may be interested to know that Beryl produced the highest storm surge since Hurricane Ike in 2008.
Storm surge averaged 5-7 feet above ground level along the coast, near the west side of Galveston Bay, Clear Lake, and the lower San Jacinto.
Water levels at the ship-channel turning basin reached 9 feet above ground level.
The high surge levels are likely the result of freshwater descending in watersheds as wind drove seawater into the upper portions of the ship channel.
Rainfall Intensity
Rainfall intensity was very high in places at times.
The Houston Transtar Center in the Buffalo Bayou watershed received 9.9 inches in 6 hours. There’s only a 2% annual chance of that (meaning it was a 50-year rainfall at that location). Transtar also received the highest 24-hour total – 12 inches (a 4% annual chance or 25-year total).
Out of 193 gages, 82 (42%) recorded an inch of rainfall in 15 minutes.
Rainfall Totals
Rainfall totals were less impressive due largely to the speed of the storm.
Most of the county received 24-hour totals of 6-9 inches. Higher totals generally fell south of I-10.
Six-hour rainfall amounts averaged 4-7 inches across most of the county.
Rainfall rates on the Atlas 14 chart for both 6- and 12-hour periods generally fell between 2- and 10-year events.
The report noted that storms before Beryl had left the ground highly saturated. That increased runoff.
Only 10 Homes in County Flooded
Channel flooding was moderate. Approximately 10 structures flooded throughout the county. All suffered flooding in the past. They were built in areas with very low elevations.
Forty out of 193 gages reached or exceeded “flooding-likely” levels. That means the channels were full to the top of their banks.
Had the storm moved slower, Beryl could have been a very different story!
Other Damage
Power outages that resulted from high winds blowing trees into power lines created by far the largest impact to infrastructure.
2.26 million homes lost power – some for up to 11 days. The Lake Houston Area was among the hardest hit because of the dense forests here. The density adds a degree of difficult for both maintenance and repair crews.
Twenty-eight days after the storm, dead trees and limbs still clog streets and lean on power lines.
Intense rainfall occasionally caused flooding of streets and roadways. Portions of SH288, I-10 and I-45 flooded and became impassable at times.
Beaches eroded along most of the upper Texas Coast. High tides and storm surge overtopped and destroyed entire dune systems.
Beryl also damaged coastal roadways, beach access walkways, and private as well as public properties.
High-Water Marks
A table on page 30 compares the high-water marks at dozens of locations with those from previous storms dating, in some cases, back to 1973.
At Clear Creek and I-45, Beryl flooding reached almost as high as Tropical Storm Allison (7.7 feet in Beryl vs. 7.8 feet in Allison).
HCFCD did not record any high-water marks in the Lake Houston Area.
Deaths
As of July 31, Hurricane Beryl had directly caused five deaths in Harris County: three from drowning, two from falling trees.
Additionally, the County recorded 13 indirect deaths: eight heat related, five recovery related.
The report notes that Beryl continues a recent trend of more fatalities occurring in the aftermath of landfalling storms than from the storms themselves.
I’m not quite sure what to infer from that. Is our preparation for flooding getting better? Or is our infrastructure maintenance getting worse?
For More Information
To read the full Final Report on Hurricane Beryl, click here. You can compare reports on other major storms here.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/5/24
2533 days since Hurricane Harvey and 28 since Beryl
Planning a Better, Faster Recovery from the Next Storm
8/3/24 – Yesterday was a start. Kingwood residents and political leaders met in several areas hard hit by Hurricane Beryl to discuss ways to improve recovery efforts. The idea: to start a dialog about steps that Houston Public Works, CenterPoint, community leaders, and residents can take together to reduce disruptions from future flooding and power outages.
Connectedness of Issues and Domino Effects
The recovery discussions took place on streets still clogged with debris that were near power line corridors, greenbelt trails, a school and two sewage “lift stations.”
Lift stations pump sewage uphill to treatment plants. When treatment plants are downhill, gravity does the work – a much more reliable solution. Without power, or when flooded, sewage from the lift stations can back up into people’s homes and overflow.
The City of Houston has hundreds of such lift stations. And during Beryl, Houston Public works shuttled backup generators back and forth between them. They tried to buy enough time to keep the lift stations from backing up and overflowing.
Unfortunately, the shuttling didn’t work in parts of Woodstream Village. There, residents talked about backed up sewage flowing from homes into streets and then Lake Houston.
The solution, according to a Public Works spokesperson Greg Eyerly, is to buy more generators. But that could take years in a city struggling with other urgent budget issues. And recovery can’t wait.
Preventing/Reducing Outages
Related recovery discussions about preventing or reducing power outages took place throughout the morning. According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s final 2004 report on Utility Vegetation Management, “tree touches” are generally cited as the single largest cause of electric power outages. They occur when trees, or portions of trees, grow or fall into overhead power lines.
In Kingwood, trees have grown up under or around power lines in many places. In fact, many residents have commented that if not for recent Beryl-related trimming, they would’t even have known power lines were there.
Unfortunately, from a recovery/electric reliability point of view, Kingwood is in a region that experiences frequent high winds and heavy rainfall. The heavy rainfall supports fast growth of tall trees. And frequent high winds push those trees into power lines.
So another major focus of recovery discussions included:
Need for a New Approach Involving Trail and Community Associations
At-Large City Council Member Twila Carter said, “CenterPoint must have a collective conversation, resulting in a plan with KSA, the HOAs and Trail Associations to address maintenance. The thoughts of “In the past, that’s the way we’ve always done it,” or “the way it’s always been” no longer work for this community. We need to address the community as it is today, not how it was planned 50 years ago.”
District E City Council Member Fred Flickinger said, “A meeting between the trail associations and CenterPoint will make a significant difference. It was the best thing to come out of today.”
Flickinger was referring to a discussion with Dee Price, KSA President. Price agreed to set up a meeting with Kingwood trail associations, community associations, CenterPoint and the council members.
Flickinger continued, “There has to be significantly more aggressive vegetation management in the future.”
Kaaren Cambio, Dan Crenshaw’s assistant, explained how the homeowner and trail associations around Lake Conroe regularly inspect resident properties for trees and branches that threaten power lines. She said they send letters to residents requiring them to take down such trees or trim them back.
CenterPoint can trim back limbs and trees that encroach on their easements. But CenterPoint cannot take down trees on private property. That includes trail association property. So recovery needs to be a cooperative effort.
Chris Bloch, a long-time Bear Branch Trail Association (BBTA) Board Member, was not at the meeting, but observed, “The number of trees and limbs that fell during Beryl was easily 2X+ what we had during Ike. I attribute this to two summers of drought which stressed the trees and then an exceptionally wet spring.”
Costs of Burying Power Lines Not Clear
Flickinger also said, “I’m pushing for more underground electrical lines. I want to see the analysis of the costs. I know it’s expensive, but I believe we are paying for it incrementally every time there is a storm.” Flickinger cited lost wages, the cost of backup generators, debris cleanup, and more.
CenterPoint responded that the costs of burying wires are location specific and the costs of repairing underground cables, when cut, are much higher. However, CenterPoint offered no specifics about the cost of burying power lines in Kingwood.
Impacts on the Elderly and Ill
Cambio also talked extensively about the impact of power outages on hospitals plus nursing and retirement homes.
Many operate in multi-story buildings. Elderly in wheel chairs rely on elevators. But without power, they are trapped. They can’t get up or down stairs to get to doctors. Nor do they have power for dialysis, breathing machines, etc.
Kingwood Hospital had a backup generator. But, reportedly, it was insufficient to power the entire facility.
Cambio recommended changes to state law, requiring hospitals, nursing homes and retirement homes to have sufficient backup-generator power to operate elevators and air conditioning.
The only problem: According to Chris Coulter of Texas Power Agents, such backup generators require regular maintenance. They also require oil and fuel, such as gasoline, which may be hard to find during widespread power outages. After Beryl, the lines I found at functioning gasoline stations stretched for more than a half mile.
Voluntary Best Management Practices May Not Be Enough
I asked Coulter, who was not at yesterday’s roving recovery meeting, for recommendations about how to improve electric reliability.
He immediately focused on vegetation management and tied the growth of vegetation over time with the increasing frequency of power outages.
The FERC report cited above says that utility vegetation management programs represent one of the largest recurring maintenance expenses for electric utility companies in North America.
Coulter jokingly characterized companies like CenterPoint as “tree trimming companies that happen to distribute power.”
FERC and NERC Guidlines
This FERC report is well written and easy to understand. It makes dozens of common-sense recommendations to improve electric reliability. I recommend it.
Coulter also referred me to NERC, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation. NERC describes itself as “… an international regulatory authority whose mission is to assure the effective and efficient reduction of risks to the reliability and security of the grid.”
Coulter said that NERC rules recognize different sizes of lines in regard to vegetation management requirements. Heavy fines apply if vegetation is ignored around lines that carry more than 100 kV.
However, lines that carry less power often get neglected – something that hampers recovery.
Coulter said that many of his Kingwood customers told him about seeing several such lines for the first time after Beryl. They didn’t even know the lines were there because they were so badly overgrown!
Said Coulter, “The NERC rules are very specific about frequency and minimum vegetation clearance distances for larger transmission (above 100 kV). Fines are steep so the utilities pay close attention and abide by the rules. However, Kingwood has a large spiderweb of distribution lines that are below that bright-line designation.”
Perhaps the fines need to apply to smaller power lines.
Next Step: Broaden the Discussion
Dee Price is reaching out to trail and community associations to set up a meeting about vegetation management. It will also involve our elected representatives, CenterPoint and Houston Public Works.
At a minimum, I came away from yesterday’s discussions with a feeling that we need to:
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/3/24
2531 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 26 since Beryl