If you are not happy with the results below please do another search
Flat terrain is one of the most under-appreciated aspects of flood risk. It complicates virtually every aspect of flood control. Flat terrain increases flood risk primarily by reducing the speed of runoff. It causes water to pool rather than drain away. Also, lack of gradient lets floodwaters spread wider, increases sedimentation, backs water up into storm […]
4/1/26 – In my quest to summarize the most important “lessons learned” since Hurricane Harvey, here’s Lesson #3: Floodplain Encroachment. Floodplain encroachment is consistently rated one of the most important drivers of flooding worldwide. Think about it. If people didn’t build in floodplains, no one would flood. But that’s only part of the story. Floodplain […]
10/2/25 – Houston City Council Member Fred Flickinger’s Town Hall Meeting on 9/30/25 contained updates on more than 20 infrastructure projects. Yesterday, I discussed three projects related to the Lake Houston Dam: the Gates, Repair, and Replacement Projects. Today, let me focus on 13 more. They include the Lake Houston Dredging and Maintenance District; the […]
8/23/25 – ChatGPT produced a detailed Flood Resilience Plan for Harris County for free in less than three minutes. Meanwhile, after almost a year, the engineering firm hired by Harris County for $3 million is still trying to define a vision for the plan. Flood Resilience Plan on Agenda for Tuesday’s Commissioners Court Meeting Item […]
8/4/2025 – The San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA) has unveiled a ten-year flood-mitigation plan for the river basin. For the most part, it’s built around continuations of previous efforts. Regardless, it’s interesting to see what SJRA hopes to focus on in the future. The plan contains eight main elements: Let’s look at each. Spring Creek […]
6/23/25 – Two West Fork pit captures caused by floods in early 2024 are now more than a year old and untouched. “Pit capture” is when a river punches through the dikes of a sand mine and starts flowing through it. Photographs taken on 6/22/25 from a rented helicopter show that the San Jacinto West […]
3/31/25 – In the first two parts of this “Wastelands to Wetlands” series, I presented a vision for restoration of the San Jacinto West Fork and listed all the various parties who have an interest in the effort and could help. But how do you coordinate them? Who would take responsibility/authority for ensuring restoration? And […]
3/22/25 – Enough of the pendulum politics already! We seem to swing from the left to the right and from overregulation to no regulation, oblivious to any middle ground. The latest agency in the Washington crosshairs: the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). No doubt, most business people can cite an extreme example of EPA overregulation. And […]
3/20/25 – Montgomery County has asked U.S. Representative Dan Crenshaw for federal help in sponsoring a study on repurposing old sand mines. Please send a letter expressing your support. For less than $1 – the cost of an envelope and a stamp – you could help reduce your flood risk. Why Repurposing is Necessary Southern […]
3/19/25 – San Jacinto West Fork sand-mining problems persisted this morning, even as the House Natural Resources Committee met to discuss legislation intended to deal with them. With one exception, the miners seemed blissfully unaware of the problems they were causing. And at least one committee member seemed to be a ringer for the sand-mining […]