Tag Archive for: City of Houston

“I Know There’s a Drainage Ditch in There Somewhere”

6/24/25 – Representatives of the City of Houston District E Office, Houston Public Works, Kings Forest, and the Bear Branch Trail Association (BBTA) met this morning west of Kingwood High School. Purpose: to discuss clearing a drainage ditch that had been neglected for so long, it became seriously overgrown. So overgrown, in fact, that the ditch was almost impossible to see.

“Over there?”
“Maybe over here?”
“The map says it should be that way.”
“GPS says it should be over here.”
Let’s send out a special recon unit.
“This is going to be a tough one!”

Can You Spot the Water?

And then! Aha! Water! Can you see it below? It’s almost up to the level of Kingwood Drive…when it hasn’t rained for eight days. That’s how blocked the ditch was by vegetation!

See reflection to right of tree near bottom of frame.

One hundred and ten homes adjacent to this ditch flooded, not including the community meeting room. So did Kingwood High School. And Kingwood Drive which is a major evacuation route.

All that vegetation increases the risk of future flooding by backing water up.

Residents have been lobbying for years to get the City to address this issue. Now, it’s finally happening!

The Plan to Clear It

I don’t have anything in writing yet, but I think Public Works agreed to start from the downstream side which you see immediately below. The vegetation blocking the outflow needs to be removed and the culverts need cleaning out.

The ditch outfalls onto the Kingwood Country Club Lake Course and Lake Kingwood.

More vegetation in the median also blocks the flow and will be cleared.

Can you even see where the ditch crosses the median?

Next, they will work back north to clear the entrance to the culverts under the westbound lanes.

Then, they will continue working their way up the ditch removing blockages, including several trees that fell during Beryl last year.

After removing those, Public Works will ensure that the storm sewers leading from neighborhoods to the ditch are also clear and graded properly. Sediment currently blocks the outfalls backing water up into storm sewers and neighborhoods.

BBTA and Kings Forest representatives plus their residents emphasized that they don’t want the entire greenbelt scalped. They just want to remove enough vegetation to restore the flow as designed.

Chris Bloch of the BBTA Board hacked his way through the underbrush to help document the blockages. He said that Public works told him they hope to have the work started by the end of June and completed in July before the start of school.

Public Works also promised to evaluate the roadside ditches in Kings Forest to restore conveyance. But that will be a separate project.

Thank You!

Thanks to Houston District E City Council Member Fred Flickinger, and his staff members Dustin Hodges and Demari Perez. Thanks also to BBTA Board members Chris Bloch and Lee Danner for their assistance in documenting issues and granting access to their property.

Finally, thanks to the staff of Houston Public Works who showed up in the heat and humidity this morning. They braved poison ivy and mosquitoes the size of B-52 Bombers to help protect residents.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/24/25

2856 Days since Hurricane Harvey

First Houston Matching Grant Beautification Project in Kingwood Dedicated

6/19/25 – The first City-of-Houston Matching Grant Project designed to help beautify and reforest Kingwood was dedicated on Wednesday, June 18th. And City Council Member Fred Flickinger is working to make sure others will soon follow.

Hopefully, the Bear Branch Trail Association (BBTA) Project in the median of Kingwood Drive just east of Woodland Hills will be the first many similar projects.

It actually began last year when BBTA applied for a matching grant from the City of Houston’s Department of Neighborhoods and District E.

Before/After Photos

The intersection looked like this before the start of the project.

Before” shot, looking NE at Kingwood Drive median from across Woodland Hills. Note dense thicket of vines and underbrush behind signs. Photo Chris Bloch.

After Bear Branch Trails volunteers spent 200 hours cleaning out vines, deadwood and underbrush, they helped plant trees, shrubs and grass. When complete, the same area looked like this.

After” shot of same area. Photo Chris Bloch. Blue-green color is hydromulch which should quickly sprout into grass.

Photos of Dedication Ceremony

(L to R) Lee Danner, BBTA; Debra Knebel, BBTA; Dee Price, KSA/Trees for Kingwood; and Chris Bloch, BBTA receive recognition from Council Member Flickinger.

See the extended team below.

(L to R) Tom Sanders, BBTA, Chris Bloch, BBTA; Vernon Autrey, A-Z Wright’s Tree Service; Dee Price, KSA/Trees for Kingwood; District E Council Member Fred Flickinger: Dustin Hodges, CoH District E; Lee Danner, BBTA; Paul Wright, A-Z Wright’s Tree Service; and Debra Knebel, BBTA.

Traffic visibility had become a major problem at this corner resulting in many traffic accidents. The improved visibility will help greatly.

How Project Came About

Early last year, the City announced it was willing to offer to match expenditures up to $5,000 for projects that improved the appearance of City-of-Houston property. The BBTA Grant application identified this section of the Kingwood Drive median as a project. 

The application process for Matching Grants started on July 1st last year, as it does each year.

BBTA submitted its application in October, 2024. City Council Member Fred Flickinger approved the project, which uses money from his discretionary funds allocated to each Council Member. The City notified the Trail Association of the award in January of 2025.

BBTA generated and submitted a plan for approval to the City Department of Parks and Recreation. After approval, the project went out for bids to local landscaping contractors. A-Z Wright’s Tree Service won the bid and performed the final landscaping of the project which included planting seven more native trees, 17 bushes, and grass.

Total cost of the completed project was $10,224.15 of which the City will fund $5,000.

More Applications Being Accepted Starting July 1

The application period for 2025-2026 Matching Grant Projects will open on July 1st. Any Community Association or Trail Association in Kingwood can apply. Due to extensions granted after Hurricane Beryl last year, several grants are still pending. So more projects may soon follow that use 2024 funds.

In the meantime, Flickinger will sponsor an informational meeting at the Kingwood Community Center on Tuesday, 6/24/25, at 6 PM.

He invited all community and trail associations interested in enhancing the appearance of Kingwood to apply. 

About Trees for Kingwood

Trees for Kingwood, which operates as part of the Kingwood Services Association has planted more than 3,000 trees to date. It is soliciting support from local businesses and individuals to help support Matching Grant Applications made by neighborhood organizations.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/19/25

2851 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Flickinger Provides Updates on Lake Houston Gates, Dredging District

6/18/25 – While speaking to the Kingwood Executive Group this morning, Houston District E City Council Member Fred Flickinger reassured members that the project to add more flood gates to the Lake Houston Dam was on track. He said that the engineering and environmental survey work should be completed by the end of this year as previously promised.

Houston City Council Member Fred Flickinger addressing members of Kingwood Executive Group today.

However, he also cautioned that a potential cost increase might skew the critical Benefit/Cost Ratio (BCR) used to evaluate grant applications.

In an update on a related drainage issue, Flickinger explained how important the passage of Rep. Charles Cunningham’s Lake Houston Dredging District bill was for the Lake Houston area. Specifically, he talked about how dredging done to date reduced predicted peaks in the May 2024 flood by more than 2 feet and kept water from entering homes throughout Kingwood and the Lake Houston Area.

Latest on Gates Project

After Hurricane Harvey, many people focused on the addition of more flood gates to the Lake Houston Dam could reduce lake levels and flooding by letting water out faster before and during major storms.

Lake Conroe’s dam can release water 15 times faster than the gates on Lake Houston’s dam.

The gates on Lake Houston’s dam release water so slowly that the City must begin releasing water days before a storm to create significant extra storage capacity in the lake.

With a lead time measured in days, forecasts can change before storms arrive. But with a higher release capacity, dam operators could wait until they were certain a storm would hit before opening the gates.

Flickinger stated that the engineering for the additional gates should be at least 90 percent complete by the end of 2025.

“At that point in time,” said Flickinger, “they’ll be able to get accurate BCRs. And they’re already working on the environmental study. Black & Veatch is handling that.”

Community meetings within the next 4 to 5 months will give the public a chance for input.

Construction Still Predicted to Start in 2028, Completion in 2029

“I think they’ll be able to start construction in 2028 and complete the project in 2029,” said Flickinger. “Nothing’s really changed with the dates in the last six months.”

Early indications are that the project could need another $35 million. Flickinger said, “That could delay the project a little bit if they don’t get the BCR they need. But we got it one time; I think we’ll get it a second.”

Flickinger was referring to when Dave Martin, his predecessor convinced FEMA to include social benefits in the calculation of the BCR. Typically, benefits must exceed costs before FEMA or any other group will award a grant.

Since Flickinger took office, the plan for the gates has significantly changed. The original plan was to construct crest gates on the concrete portion of the spillway. However, because of the risk involved, the City could not find a contractor willing to bid on that job.

The new plan is to add tainter gates to the earthen portion of the dam. The project basically turned into a “start over.”

Kudos to Crenshaw and Cunningham

In his talk today, Flickinger also addressed dredging – past, present and future.

He thanked US Rep. Dan Crenshaw and State Rep. Charles Cunningham. “We’re dredging out on the lake today,” said Flickinger. “That’s part of the money that Congressman Crenshaw got for us. We’re moving 800,000 cubic yards of sediment. And that makes a huge difference,” said Flickinger, before lauding HB1532, Rep. Charles Cunningham’s bill that will create a permanent dredging district on Lake Houston.

The Computer Model that Missed and the Legislation that Didn’t

To underscore the importance of dredging, Flickinger explained how computer models missed predictions for the timing and crest of the May 2024 floods in the Lake Houston Area … at a time when water was already lapping at the foundations of thousands of homes.

“The expectation was that the water would crest two feet higher than it did. But they missed it because their model did not include all the dredging that had been done over the last several years. They missed by about two feet and a day. The river was supposed to crest two feet higher and one day later,” said Flickinger.

“But all the dredging allowed the water to flow into the lake and over the dam faster than what they thought it would. So the dredging is a huge deal.”

HB1532, the bill to create a Lake Houston Dredging and Maintenance District, finally passed in this year’s session of the state legislature – after three previous tries.

“Sediment comes into the river and the lake 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Flickinger. “And unless we do something about that, it’s going to be a huge problem.”

Even though Cunningham got the dredging district over the goal line this year, Flickinger was quick to acknowledge assists from Senators Paul Bettencourt, Brandon Creighton and Mayes Middleton who helped push it through the Senate.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/18/2025

2850 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Enclave Construction Stopped While Engineers Review Drainage

6/4/25 Update: Construction has not yet stopped and it may not. It continues as City and County Authorities try to set up a meeting to review drainage plans with engineers.

6/2/25 – Construction has stopped, at least temporarily, at the Enclave, a new 11-acre residential development adjacent to the Northpark expansion project in Montgomery County.

Both Montgomery County and the City of Houston have asked engineers to review the drainage plans, which showed the development’s detention basin overflowing into the only evacuation route for 78,000 people during extreme weather events.

Enclave Detention Basin

HNTB, the engineer for the Northpark Expansion project, is going to conduct a peer review of EHRA plans for the Enclave’s drainage. They need to hurry.

Detention Basin Already Dug Out

Photographs taken between 5/31 and 6/2/25 show that construction crews have already excavated the proposed detention basin. And they are starting to install pipes and junction boxes for drainage.

Looking E. Northpark on left. Detention Basin, partially filled with water from last week’s rains, is already excavated.

However, I have received word that both the City and Montgomery County have asked for construction to be paused for a new independent peer review of the development’s drainage plans.

Partial Update to Outdated Drainage Plans

The new development is technically part of Kings Mill, which had its drainage plans approved in 2012. But after Harvey in 2018, Montgomery County and the City of Houston both adopted Atlas 14 rainfall probability statistics, which are 33% higher than those used to design virtually all of Kings Mill’s infrastructure.

That means Kings Mill – which is 20 times larger than the Northpark Enclave – funnels much more stormwater toward the Kingwood Diversion Ditch than it was designed to handle.

Yet Enclave engineers designed its detention basin to hold only the difference between the old and new rainfall statistics. And only for 11 acres, not all 240.

Concerns about Capacity, Its Impact and Inconsistencies

Several other things have happened since approval of the 2012 drainage study.

  • The Northpark Expansion project started. A major goal: to create an all-weather evacuation route when Hamblen Road, Kingwood Drive and Mills Branch Road are cut off by high water.
  • The developer’s plans raised concerns about where Enclave overflow will go during an extreme event. (See construction diagram above.)
  • Hurricane Harvey flooded hundreds of homes adjacent to the Kingwood Diversion Ditch, raising as-yet-unaddressed concerns about the capacity of the receiving ditch.
  • Construction plans showed inconsistencies between the initial drainage impact analysis and today, including the size of the Enclave.
  • The developer claims it can build ten homes to the acre with only 55% impervious cover, an extremely ambitious goal.

Photos Show Drainage Route to Kingwood Diversion Ditch

Photos below show the new Northpark Enclave development and the path that stormwater will take on its way to the Kingwood Diversion Ditch, which already has capacity problems of its own.

Hundreds of homes have flooded because of the ditch’s diminishing capacity as insufficiently mitigated new subdivisions began draining into it.

Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) has completed its preliminary engineering review of the Diversion Ditch. HCFCD is now in the process of selecting an engineering company to make final recommendations for improving the ditch. But it could take years to find the money to construct any recommendations that come out of the study.

So, MoCo and the City want to make sure they get this right. The photos below show how all the drainage will connect.

Looking SE over the intersection of Loop 494 and Northpark Drive at construction of the Northpark Enclave.
Still looking SE. From the new development, stormwater will move to the giant detention basin in the upper center of frame.
Contractors are already starting to install culverts that will carry runoff to the main Kings Mill Detention Basin.
From the Kings Mill Detention Basin, stormwater will flow into the ditch that angles toward top and then makes a left turn toward Russell-Palmer Road in the upper left corner of the frame.
Stormwater runoff goes a half mile east toward Russell-Palmer Road. Kings Mill’s drainage on left. Kings Manor’s on right.
Looking S along Kingwood Diversion Ditch and Russell-Palmer Road. Kings Mill Ditch on lower right. Kings Manor Ditch above it. Both outfall under the road into the Diversion Ditch. Bridge at top of frame by water tower is Kingwood Drive.

Once contractors have drain pipes and culverts in the ground and start pouring concrete, it will be very difficult to make any changes. So, it’s good that construction has been paused now for peer review.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/2/2025

2834 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.

Blocked Ditch Under Kingwood Drive Near High School

4/27/25 – A drainage ditch that runs under Kingwood Drive about a tenth of a mile west of Kingwood High School is blocked. Where the ditch runs through the median, it has become so overgrown, you cannot even see it.

Historical images in Google Earth suggest that the City has not cleared the ditch since 2002. Full height trees have grown up in it, contributing to the blockage.

During Harvey, Kingwood High School flooded to the second floor. Four-thousand students had to be bussed to other schools for a year during decontamination and reconstruction.

4000 Students at Kingwood High School
Kingwood High School during Harvey. Kingwood Drive (upper left), one of the area’s main evacuation routes, was also cut off.

Ditch is So Overgrown, You Can’t See It

Harris County Flood Control labels the ditch as G-103-36-01. It crosses under Kingwood Drive about one-tenth of a mile west of Valley Manor and the high school.

Location of ditch and blockage relative to Kingwood High School. Shown with floodplains in Harris County Flood Education Mapping Tool.

See the pictures below. Can you even see where the ditch is? Hint: it’s in the center of the frame.

Looking slightly south. Lake Kingwood is toward the top of the frame.
Opposite direction. The ditch runs between the two storm drains on either side of Kingwood Drive.
From a lower elevation, you can see under the forest canopy. Still no clear path for drainage.

The City has cleared all the other ditches in the map above, but not this one. It’s so overgrown, they likely can’t find it and confuse it with one of the other ditches they’ve already cleared.

Because this blockage has the potential to cut off a major evacuation route, we can’t afford to wait any longer.

I have reported it previously several times already. To be clear, Harris County Flood Control District is responsible for keeping the channel clear. But the City is responsible for cleaning out the channel under its roads, i.e., Kingwood Drive.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/27/25

2798 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Full Kingwood Area Drainage Study Now Available Online

1/11/25 – On July 15, 2020, Neel-Schaffer Engineering delivered the Kingwood Area Drainage Study to sponsors Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD), City of Houston and Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority/TIRZ 10.

HCFCD held a community meeting to discuss the results. The District delivered a 24-page high-level summary to the community at the time. However, I have now obtained the full two-volume, 620-page report and posted it on the Reports Page of ReduceFlooding.com under the Harris County Flood Control District Tab.

There were so many graphics in Volume 1, that I had to split it up into three parts to avoid the 32-meg file-size limitation of my web server. Warning: all parts comprise more than 50 megs.

But those maps contain a wealth of detail not available in the high level summary. For instance, they show floodplains down to the individual house level, the level of service for different stream segments, and which structures would flood in different mitigation scenarios and rainfall intensities.

Kingwood Area Drainage Study Map of Center of Kingwood
Example of Map in Volume 1 of Kingwood Area Drainage Study showing the area near the center of Kingwood

The report focused on areas where structures would flood in less than a 100-year rainfall.

Full Reports of Follow-Up Studies Still Not Available

I posted about the high-level findings back in 2020. To refresh your memory, the report studied a large number of drainage features in Kingwood and concluded that mitigation of the Taylor Gully and the Kingwood Diversion Ditch were the two most important.

HCFCD recommended that the two projects: G103-38-00 (Kingwood Diversion Ditch) and G103-80-03.1B (Taylor Gully) move to the next phase: engineering design. Additionally, HCFCD recommended the Taylor Gully project be reanalyzed to determine how the use of Woodridge Village for detention could modify the recommended plan.

The District then commissioned preliminary engineering studies for each in June, 2021. It held community meetings to discuss the Taylor Gully results in December, 2022, and Diversion Ditch results in March, 2024.

However, HCFCD has not released the full report on either. The District says it intends to present the full report on the Diversion Ditch to Commissioners Court on February 6th and may release it after that.

In the meantime, the maps in the Kingwood Area Drainage Study may be the best guide to flood risk in the area for realtors and those considering buying a home.

MAAPnext and FEMA still haven’t released the preliminary results of a massive floodplain update they have been working on since Harvey.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/11/25

2692 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Flickinger Issues Dredging, Floodgates Updates

12/15/24 – Houston District E City Council Member Fred Flickinger issued a newsletter on 12/11/24. It contains updates on Lake Houston dredging and additional floodgates for the Lake Houston Dam.

Dredging Details

According to Flickinger, the City’s dredging contractor will begin south of the West Fork-Mouth Bar this week. DRC will remove approximately 800,000 cubic yards of silt and sediment.

“The removal will take two years.”

District E Council Member Fred Flickinger

DRC will use a combination of mechanical and hydraulic dredging.

FEMA is providing funds the additional dredging in this area. The funds came from tireless efforts in protesting the initial volume that FEMA approved for dredging back in 2019. Congressman Dan Crenshaw, previous Council Member Dave Martin, and former Chief Recovery Officer Stephen Costello protested FEMA’s ruling tirelessly.

In August 2020, FEMA, through their technical consultant at the US Army Corps of Engineers, reversed itself. FEMA concurred with the City’s ninety-four-page technical report.

Photo taken December 8 of DRC/Callan Marine Dredge anchored off Royal Shores as it prepares for new dredging program.

Council Member Martin strongly disagreed with the USACE’s original four-page tabletop study. He continued to push for the volume he knew the Lake Houston Area deserved.

Said Flickinger, “We are excited to see this additional dredging finally get going. We are working to find funding for continued dredging throughout Lake Houston and its tributaries.”

Floodgates Timeline

Phase II for the Lake Houston Dam Spillway Improvement Project is underway. Phase II includes the final design engineering and construction of eleven new floodgates. They will be built in the existing embankment on the east side of the Lake Houston Dam Spillway.

New gates will go in the sunlit area in the embankment to the right of the existing gates and channel.

Building the new gate structure in the east embankment removes the high-construction risk of modifying the existing gate structure or spillway. The old plan, which involved shaving down the existing spillway and adding crest gates was abandoned when the City could not find bidders willing to assume the risk.

The new plan also allows continued use of the existing gate structure during construction.

Each gate will be 20 ft x 20 ft and release approximately 7,100 cubic feet of water per second (cfs) per gate when fully open. The combined total water release of all 11 gates will be approximately 79,000 cfs.

79,000 CFS equals the volume of water released each second from Lake Conroe by the SJRA during the peak of Hurricane Harvey.

The current timeline is to have the final design and construction plans completed by December 2025.

The City will bid and award the contract for construction in 2026.

Finally construction will begin by Q4 2026 or Q1 2027, almost ten years after the storm that made people realize the need for the project.

The existing Lake Houston floodgates have one-fifteenth of Lake Conroe’s release capacity. That makes any kind of coordinated release strategy virtually impossible. It also means that people both up- and downstream may get slammed with higher floods than if the City had a meaningful pre-release capability.

According to Flickinger, the District E office continues to sit in on bi-weekly coordination meetings for this project.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 12/15/25

2665 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Ready, Set, Dredge!

11/23/24 – Callan Marine now has a dredge in place to begin the City of Houston’s latest dredging operation. Last month, the City said it hoped its latest Lake Houston dredging program would start in December and now it looks like it will.

Callan’s dredge, the General Pershing, is currently anchored on the West Fork San Jacinto south of where the previous Mouth Bar dredging program ended. And this morning, I spotted a tug pulling lengths of dredge pipe into position.

Program First Announced in 2023

The City of Houston first announced its new Lake Houston dredging program last year. The focus: between Kings Point and FM1960 where the East and West Forks of the San Jacinto come together.

For months, Callan’s General Pershing dredge, was anchored south of the Forest Cove Pool on the West Fork San Jacinto at the old Army Corps mobilization site. Yesterday, Callan moved the General Pershing and its dredge pipe downriver to the starting point of the dredging program.

See the photos below taken this morning with the exception of the last one, which I shot last night.

Start of 2024 dredging between Kings Point (right) and Atascocita Point (left). Looking upstream toward West Lake Houston Parkway Bridge in far upper left.
Looking downstream toward FM1960 bridge and Lake Houston Dam in distance.
Tug pulling sections of dredge pipe into position for use.
Reverse angle showing pipe and dredge.
Only two or three sections of pipe remained upstream last night at the mobilization site south of the Forest Cove Pool.
dredging
Area between FM1960 and Kings Point currently has one of the largest sediment build-ups on the lake.

The dredge program was first announced in October 2023 at former City Council Member Dave Martin’s last town hall meeting.

Former City Flood Czar Stephen Costello outlined the program at that time. East of Atascocita and south of the convergence of the East and West Forks, the City plans to spend another $34 million to remove almost 900,000 cubic yards of sediment.

At the time, Costello said the City hoped to recoup some of its costs by reselling sand that it recovers from “hilltops” in the lake. Dredging will target areas that have sand which can be used for concrete, agriculture and other beneficial uses. At one point, the City reportedly also considered using spoils in the Ike Dike.

Costello showed the heat map above. Notice the heavy sediment concentrations in the lake’s headwaters. This is because sediment drops out of suspension where rivers slow down as they meet standing bodies of water.

Increasing Water Supply Capacity, Reducing Flood Risk

In addition to reducing the water storage capacity of Lake Houston, the sediment increases flood risk. It reduces conveyance of the rivers and lake forcing water up and out during floods.

According to a City of Houston source, the contractor will reportedly pipe the spoils south and east to an area near Spanish Cove. See map below.

The new disposal site (bottom right) is closer to the dredging than another site south of River Grove Park previously used for disposing of the spoils. That should reduce pumping costs. Location is approximate.

Since its construction in the mid-1950s, Lake Houston has lost nearly 20% of its capacity due to sedimentation. The City estimates it currently loses another 360 to 460 acre-feet per year.

This dredging program will help restore some of that capacity and create more room for floodwaters.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/23/24

2643 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Harvey’s Seventh Anniversary Update on Lake Houston Floodgates Project

8/28/24 – In its July 10 board meeting, the Coastal Water Authority (CWA) unanimously approved a motion to move forward with final design for 11 new Lake Houston floodgates. Houston will now consider the same motion at its September 11th City Council Meeting. If approved, final engineering design of the gates will commence.

Separately, Houston Mayor John Whitmire appointed former State Representative Dan Huberty to the CWA board. Huberty, an early proponent of the gates project, may be able to help accelerate it moving forward.

The Most Talked About Flood-Mitigation Project

Since Hurricane Harvey seven years ago, I’ve authored 278 posts discussing additional Lake Houston floodgates. From the public’s standpoint, beyond a doubt, the gates are the most eagerly anticipated flood-mitigation measure considered after Harvey.

The most recent post appeared on 5/25 of this year after meeting with members of the Coastal Water Authority, Houston City Council and Houston Public Works at the dam. Not much has changed since then with the exception of some legal formalities.

The Coastal Water Authority Board met on July 10 to vote on an amendment to an Interlocal Agreement (ILA). FEMA and the Texas Division of Emergency Management previously approved the ILA amendment in April. It covers additional engineering services, the cost of final design, and changes from the initial scope of work.

The CWA board approved the ILA amendment unanimously. Final engineering of the new Lake Houston floodgates can now move forward with Black & Veatch as soon as the City approves it.

Minutes of the CWA meeting indicate that, before voting, members discussed potential downstream impacts. The minutes also noted that no significant impacts were found after extensive hydraulic modeling.

Next Up: City Council Vote on 9/11

The amended interlocal agreement will now go before Houston City Council on September 11th for consideration. If approved, final design of the gates could begin soon thereafter.

Need for Lake Houston Floodgates

The Lake Houston Floodgates Project will add 11 new gates to the dam in the earthen embankment to the east of the concrete spillway.

Proposed location for new tainter gates
Approximate location for 11 new Lake Houston floodgates.

The new floodgates will increase the current discharge capacity by an additional 80,000 cubic feet per second (CFS). That roughly equals the discharge rate from Lake Conroe during Hurricane Havey – 79,000 CFS.

Currently, Lake Houston floodgates can only release 10,000 CFS. Increasing the discharge rate would enable the City and CWA to:

  • Coordinate pre-releases between Lakes Conroe and Houston before major storms without swamping the Lake Houston Area.
  • Discharge as much water from Lake Houston in 2-3 hours as they now do in a day.
  • Release water when approaching storms are much closer, reducing the risk of wasting water if storms veer away.
  • Create extra storage capacity in both lakes, reducing flood risk for residents around them.
  • Reduce flood peaks, helping protect residents between the lakes and downstream from the Lake Houston Dam.

Key to Active Storm Management

All these benefits are especially important because the San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA) has abandoned its seasonal lake-lowering strategy for Lake Conroe. The SJRA has gone to an as-needed lake-lowering strategy called “Active Storm Management” instead. Active storm management requires much more speed and agility than simply having extra storage capacity in the lakes ready and waiting when storm seasons begin.

Lake Houston Area residents got a taste of “Active Storm Management” without the extra gates in May this year. SJRA got surprised by a spring storm and started releasing water at 70,000 CFS. Hundreds of homes flooded downstream in Harris and Montgomery Counties. Thousands more nearly flooded.

The May floods highlighted the risks involved with ad hoc lowering of Lake Conroe. They also underscored the need for more Lake Houston floodgates to handle the extra water that SJRA may send downstream.

2556 days have now elapsed since the storm that motivated the Lake Houston floodgates project – without moving one shovel of dirt. That’s almost twice the time that it took to fight and win World War II – 1349 days.

I’m going to go way out on a limb here and say that there may be some room for improvement in the business processes surrounding flood mitigation.

Whitmire Appoints Huberty to CWA Board

On the good-news front, Mayor John Whitmire has appointed former State Representative Dan Huberty, a Lake Houston Area resident, to the CWA board. Huberty fought years for this project and helped land much of the early funding. He knows the people and already knows the project. He should be able to step in and start making an immediate impact.

Huberty has already had meetings with the CWA staff. He told me, “This will be my highest priority moving forward to meet the needs of Lake Houston Area constituents.”

Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/28/2024

2556 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Still Have Storm Debris?

8/22/24 – If you still have storm debris from Hurricane Beryl, what you do by when depends on where you live and what you need picked up. Procedures and deadlines differ for:

  • Harris County Precinct 3 Unincorporated Areas
  • City of Houston
  • Montgomery County

This post describes what people in those areas need to do to ensure their debris gets removed. Read thoroughly and act swiftly. Some deadlines are only days away.

Beryl debris. Scenes like this were reported throughout the Houston Area and not all have been removed.

The City of Humble has completed its cleanup effort and so is not included in this post.

Harris County Precinct 3 Unincorporated Areas

The final deadline for reporting storm debris is Monday, September 2. If you still have storm debris in your yard, please be sure to place it at the curb and report it for final pickup. You can do so online or by phone.

To report online:
  1. Visit pct3.com/service-request
  2. Select “Road & Bridge Maintenance” in the service menu
  3. Type “Hurricane Beryl Debris” in the comments section
To report by phone:

Call 713-274-3100 during business hours, Monday – Friday, 7 AM – 4:30 PM.

Instructions:

Please remember to separate your debris for efficient pickup! Visit www.pct3.com or see below for separation guidelines.

From Harris County Precinct 3 Newsletter on 8/22/24.

City of Houston

The City’s Solid Waste Management Department (SWMD) collected more than 2.1 million cubic yards of Beryl-related storm debris by August 15. The Department expects to conclude the first pass of storm collections by Saturday, August 31.

In preparation for the next phase of debris collections, SWMD requests residents to place all remaining storm debris at the curbside no later than Sunday, August 25. The department will begin the second pass in earnest on Monday, September 2.

“Residents do not need to report their storm debris to 3-1-1.”

Houston Solid Waste Management Department

“Storm debris contractors will drive down every street and collect storm debris piles in all public rights of way,” explained this Solid Waste webpage.

SWMD urges residents to:

  • Separate storm debris from bulk waste, and demolition and construction debris at the curbside. Contaminated debris piles might delay collection until the next bulk waste month.
  • Ensure that tree trunks are 3 feet or less in diameter and 3 feet or less in length and tree branches are 6 feet or less in length.
  • Place debris piles within 10 feet onto private property lines as crews cannot encroach beyond that limit.

Beryl struck before the Derecho cleanup finished. Beryl alone created an estimated 4 million cubic yards of storm debris – enough to fill NRG Stadium. So please be patient.

Montgomery County

To have Beryl storm debris picked up, Montgomery County residents must register by August 30. Click this link to begin registration.

If you are still waiting on the first or second passes, make sure you RE-REGISTER and upload a debris photo.

  • Property owners must fill out a debris removal survey to ensure your vegetative debris will be picked up— tree branches, trees stumps, tree trunks, and branches.
  • Place vegetative debris as close to road/curb as possible. But do not block ditches or the roadway.

Montgomery County is only picking up vegetative debris. The county is not removing appliances, demolition debris or construction waste.

DO:

  • Ensure debris is easily accessible
  • Place it away from obstacles like trees, poles, fire hydrants, meters, mailboxes, or any other structure that could hinder removal
  • Place it in a county or city right of way.
DON’T:
  • Block roadways or ditches. Avoid blocking water flow.
  • Include non-storm-related debris: Only storm-related vegetative debris will be collected.
  • Use trash bags for tree debris.
  • Place debris on private property: Collection is limited to the County/City right-of-way.
  • Place debris in gated communities: Collection does not occur in gated communities.
  • Obstruct traffic: Avoid placing debris in a way that could pose hazards for drivers.

Make sure you follow FEMA debris removal guidelines.

Residents who live on cul-de-sacs or dead end streets require special equipment to maneuver in tighter areas. That may take longer, so please have patience.

Montgomery County’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (OHSEM) is handling the Beryl response. The information provided when you register will enhance their ability to allocate resources appropriately and expedite the debris removal process.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/22/2024

2550 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 45 since Beryl