Judge Mays dismissed the case WITH PREJUDICE FOR WANT OF JURISDICTION.
Meaning of “With Prejudice” and “Want of Jurisdiction”
“With prejudice” means that the plaintiff cannot refile charges in another court. Basically, the court is saying that it found the case meritless. One lawyer told me, “It’s like saying, ‘Don’t waste the court’s time anymore.'”
The massive floodgates on Lake Conroe (above) have 15X the release capacity of Lake Houston’s. The seasonal lake lowering program was conceived in part as a way to give Lake Houston more time to shed water in advance of major storms.
Re: Plea to the Jurisdiction, according to the website Houston Courts and Cases, “In Texas…A plea to the jurisdiction can challenge either the sufficiency of the plaintiff’s pleadings or the existence of jurisdictional facts.”
The ruling means that the SJRA’s Seasonal Lake Lowering Plan may remain in effect.
Purpose of Lake Lowering Plan
The Seasonal Lake-Lowering Plan was conceived shortly after Harvey as a way to provide an extra measure of flood protection for the Lake Houston Area while it implemented other flood-mitigation measures such as dredging and additional gates for the Lake Houston spillway. By creating extra storage capacity within Lake Conroe during the wettest months of the year, the SJRA hoped to reduce the risk associated with another massive release like the 79,000 cubic feet per second during Harvey. By itself, that was the ninth largest flood in West Fork history.
2800 Pages of Legal Briefs Come to a 102-Word End
The Lake Conroe Association pulled out the stops for this lawsuit. It filed approximately 2800 pages of legal briefs in four months, ran out of money, and started begging with residents to donate more so it could continue the fight. Today’s ruling will put an end to that.
Reality repeatedly contradicted the LCA’s factual claims. LCA claimed:
Home values around Lake Conroe would plummet because of the plan. They increased.
The school district would run out of money. It didn’t.
Nature would not be able to recharge the lake after a lowering. It did. Repeatedly.
Lake Conroe was not conceived as a flood-control lake. Flood control is a key element of SJRA’s charter.
The lowering would not help protect people in the Lake Houston Area. It did.
The City of Houston committed fraud … by calling for the release of its own water.
In contrast to (or maybe because of) the 2800 pages of legal briefs, today’s court order was mercifully brief – 102 words.
“On this 30th day of August, 2021, came on before the Court San Jacinto River Authority’s Plea to the Jurisdiction, and after considering same, all Answers, Responses, Replies, pleadings, stipulations, evidence, affidavits and attachments filed by the parties, all statutory and caselaw authorities, and all arguments relating thereto, the Court was of the opinion that the following Order should be entered; it is therefore ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that San Jacinto River Authority’s Plea to the Jurisdiction be, and it is hereby, GRANTED AND SUSTAINED, and that the above Cause be, and it is hereby, DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE FOR WANT OF JURISDICTION.”
Now a Meaningful Dialog Can Begin
I’m sure this must come as a bitter blow for some residents of Lake Conroe who supported the long court battle. But perhaps some good will come from the clarity that now exists.
Hopefully, this will open the door to reasonable people who wish to craft a long-term joint management plan for both Lake Conroe and Lake Houston. The people of this region are inextricably bound together by the need to balance water and flood control. Perhaps now we can start a meaningful dialog that addresses both.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/30/2021
1162 Days since Hurricane Harvey
00adminadmin2021-08-30 15:56:522021-08-30 15:59:58MoCo Judge Dismisses Lake Conroe Association Lawsuit Against SJRA With Prejudice
For more than a year, HCFCD has excavated Ben’s Branch in four different phases. However, significant sediment remained under the Kingwood Drive Bridge. That’s property owned and maintained by the City of Houston. And now they are excavating that to eliminate a bottleneck. Such bottlenecks can back water up, damaging homes and businesses.
Photographs by Stan Sarman on 8/24/2021. Taken along Ben’s Branch looking north toward Kingwood Drive.The excavation also affected the area between the two halves of Kingwood Drive.Sediment will drain and dry before being removed from the banks.
According to Sarman, who talked with the construction manager, after the crew completes work here, it will remove sediment from the bottleneck at the Kingwood Diversion Ditch next to the fire station on Kingwood Drive.
These are little things that make a big difference to people who previously flooded. And there were plenty of them along Ben’s Branch, especially in the Town Center Area. Some businesses still haven’t recovered. The shopping center north of these photos is still largely vacant thanks to catastrophic flooding during Harvey and a ditch whose conveyance was severely reduced, in part, by bottlenecks like this one.
Thanks go to Mayor Pro Tem Dave Martin and his staff at the District E council office.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/24/2021 with photos from Stan Sarman
1456 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/20210824-IMG_6790.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=19001200adminadmin2021-08-24 18:15:242021-08-24 18:15:28City Starting to Excavate Bottlenecks Under Kingwood Drive
The SJRA and its partners can now officially start three studies:
An upper San Jacinto Watershed regional sedimentation study
A conceptual engineering feasibility study for flood-control dams in the Spring Creek Watershed
A joint reservoir operations study between Lake Conroe and Lake Houston
Lake Houston Gates can discharge only 10,000 CFS (left), while Lake Conroe’s can discharge 150,000 CFS. To help provide better watershed management, the Coastal Water Authority is studying the addition of 1000 crest gates to Lake Houston, necessitating the joint reservoir operations study.
Why Flood Mitigation Takes So Long
We are all learning together how long flood mitigation takes. It’s somewhat frustrating to see a conceptual engineering feasibility study being kicked off one month from the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Harvey.
I’m not pointing fingers at the SJRA, its partners, the TWDB, or the State. If you took the time to read all of the approximately 1500 posts on ReduceFlooding.com, you would see that:
Harvey happened right after the 2017 legislature finished its work.
Eighteen months elapsed before the legislature met again.
It took another nine months for the legislature and governor to approve flood mitigation funding.
Then, the TWDB needed to define rules for the distribution of funds, solicit public comment, refine the rules, solicit grant applications, and evaluate them in a competitive context.
Finally, add time for related preliminary studies such as the Lake Houston Spillway Improvement Project, the San Jacinto River Basin Master Drainage Study, a sand trap study, and a siting study for the flood-control dams.
And don’t forget the time to find partners and develop political consensus around solutions.
Still Years from Construction
The truly scary thing is that even when these studies are completed, we still could be years from construction and more years from completion of any of these projects.
For instance, we just started final engineering on the Lake Houston Spillway Improvement Project. Best-case projections show completion of the project in mid 2024 – 7 years after Harvey.
The system seems set up to protect money more than people. We certainly don’t want people rushing off, building half-baked projects that endanger people downstream, the environment, or the safety of a dam…especially if they produce no demonstrable benefit.
But we also don’t want people to flood multiple times waiting for flood-mitigation improvements. And some have. Remember Imelda? Just a thought as we head into the heart of hurricane season.
Studies Could Take 18 Months to 4 Years
The Spring Creek Flood-control Dam study will take 18 months. The Joint Reservoir Operations Study will take 3 years. And the Sediment Study is scheduled to take 4 years, though Matt Barrett, SJRA’s flood-mitigation director, is trying to compress that to 18 months.
If you missed the original post about these three studies, you can find more details here. SJRA partners in these projects include Harris County Flood Control, City of Houston, City of Humble, Montgomery County and five utility districts.
Posted by Bob Rehak on July 23, 2021
1424 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 673 since Imelda
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Gates-Side-by-Side.jpg?fit=1200%2C400&ssl=14001200adminadmin2021-07-23 14:37:542021-07-23 14:42:47SJRA Board Accepts Grant Funding for Three Studies
Seventh in a series of eight articles on flood-mitigation funding in Harris County.
For the last two years, I’ve heard the same tirades in Commissioners’ Court – that rich neighborhood’s get all the flood-mitigation money while the poor neighborhoods get none. According to Commissioners Ellis and Garcia, that’s because higher home values in rich neighborhoods generate higher Benefit/Cost Ratios and therefore get more FEMA grants. Problem is, FEMA looks at many other factors. And HUD grants favor low-income neighborhoods. But you never hear Ellis or Garcia talk about those.
In reality, most flood mitigation-money in Harris County goes to watersheds with high percentages of low-income residents. (See links to previous posts below.)
By focusing on a narrow part of the flood-mitigation funding process as opposed to outcomes, Ellis and Garcia have been looking though the wrong end of the telescope. Why? To focus attention on the wrong end of the drainpipe!
In the most flooded parts of Halls and Greens watersheds, street after street has clogged ditch drains. Responsibility for cleaning those drains falls onto, you guessed it, Ellis and Garcia, along with their counterpart at the City of Houston, Mayor Sylvester Turner.
Simple FOIA Request Disproves Narrative
The Ellis/Garcia narrative just didn’t sound right to me. So I submitted a Freedom-of-Information-Act (FOIA) request to the Harris County Flood Control District in March for historical funding data. I wanted to see if the allegations were true. They’re not.
Analysis shows that the Ellis/Garcia narrative is 180-degrees from the truth. By almost any statistical measure, flood-mitigation spending favors the poorer watersheds in Harris County. That’s where most of the damage is.
Surely Commissioners Ellis and Garcia can’t be oblivious to more than a billion dollars of construction benefitting their own precincts.
Verbal Sleight of Hand Deflects Attention from Who’s Responsible
So, what’s going on here? Why the constant barrage of racial accusations and divisive rhetoric?
In my opinion, the deception, omissions and distortions of fact are about misdirection.
They seem designed to deflect attention from those responsible for a crucial part of the problem: street drainage.
And if you don’t fix that, you will never solve flooding no matter how much money you throw at channel widening, detention ponds and green solutions.
A process engineer in the oil and gas industry once told me, “There’s always a bottleneck in every system somewhere.” And one of the biggest issues in neighborhoods that flood repetitively is street drainage. Water can’t get out of the neighborhoods to the bayous.
Poor Ditch Maintenance Contributes to Street Flooding
By alleging racism in the HCFCD funding, Commissioners Ellis and Garcia are deflecting attention from a serious issue; many of the neighborhoods in their jurisdictions have awful internal drainage (streets and storm sewers) that contribute to frequent street flooding. Street flooding happens when high rainfall rates exceed the capacity of storm drains and ditches to carry the water away. The reduced capacity of the ditches below makes the streets flood on smaller rains.
Swale filled with sediment, almost totally blocking drain on Kashmere Street between Octavia and Engleford in Kashmere Gardens.City of Houston’s maintenance responsibility.
Ignacio Vasquez has lived in Kashmere Gardens for 45 years. He says he has called 311 about blocked drains like this one on Engleford St. “thousands of times”, but they never get fixed.City of Houston’s maintenance responsibility.
Vasquez says that after a heavy rain, this drain backs water up throughout his neighborhood and contributes to flooding. He says it can take up to 3-4 days for water to drain away. Completely unprompted, he then said that Kingwood was getting all the help from the City. I told him that I lived in Kingwood and that our drains were just as bad as his. See below.
Drainage swale on Valley Manor Drive in Kingwood is completely filled in. City of Houston’s maintenance responsibility.
But I digress. Here are some more street drainage photos taken on 6/26/21 in Halls and Greens Bayou Watersheds as well as Kashmere Gardens on the southeast corner of US59 and Loop 610.
Wherever I drove for five hours, residents repeatedly told me that because of poor maintenance, water has a hard time getting out of neighborhoods. It must either sink in or evaporate. See below.
Amboy and OctaviaStreets. City of Houston’s maintenance responsibility.
On Octavia just east of Amboy St.City of Houston’s maintenance responsibility.
Etheline St. near Korenek St.Harris County Precinct 1’s maintenance responsibility.Octavia St. near Kashmere Street. City of Houston’s maintenance responsibility.
To be fair, not all the ditches were this bad. But I saw thousands like these on hundreds of streets while driving around for five hours. Sometimes sediment almost completely covered drains. I often had hard times spotting the pipes.
On north side of Laura Koppe just east of Arkansas Street.Harris County Precinct 2’s maintenance responsibility.On Kowis Street a few hundred feet east of the Hardy Tollroad. Harris County Precinct 2’s maintenance responsibility.
The saddest sight I saw all day was this home on Etheline Street between Homestead and US59.
Note the mold and rotting exterior. Also note how close to street level this home is.Harris County Precinct 1’s maintenance responsibility.
Red circle shows location of drain completely blocked by sediment.Harris County Precinct 1’s maintenance responsibility.
Sixteen more representative shots in Harris County Precinct 1, Precinct 2 and City.
With drainage this bad, water may evaporate or infiltrate faster than it flows out of neighborhoods!
Who is Responsible for Streets and Storm Sewers?
Who is responsible for clearing blockages like these? Not the Harris County Flood Control District.
Inside the City of Houston, it is the Houston Public Works Department and a mayor who has been sued for diverting drainage fees.
Who is responsible for the unincorporated areas of Harris County? The Precincts. And the worst drainage happens in Precincts One and Two with Commissioners Ellis and Garcia.
Why does Kashmere Gardens (in the City) have open ditch drainage that hasn’t been maintained in years?
How do areas in East Aldine still have barely functional roadside ditches and residents who do not have municipal water and sewer service?
Commissioners Ellis and Garcia have the power and the money to address these issues. Yet they have chosen not to. Why have they not helped the very people they claim are left behind?
Show Us the Data
It is important to note the questions NOT being asked in this so-called “equity” debate.
How much has the City of Houston invested in these flood-damaged areas to remediate drainage?
How much have Precincts 1 and 2 invested?
What drainage projects have they completed since 2000?
What is the capital improvement plan for each precinct, and how much of that includes drainage improvements?
What is the equity prioritization framework for precinct spending?
How much unspent money does each precinct have for infrastructure?
The answers may point right back at the people making racial accusations.
The City and Commissioners Ellis and Garcia need to provide answers. Let’s see the data. How much have the City and the Precincts spent in these areas? If these areas are underserved, Commissioners Ellis and Garcia, and Mayor Turner are responsible.
They have claimed transparency is important to them. The time to prove that is now.
Blaming the problems on racial discrimination is an easy sell in minority neighborhoods. But it’s misdirection and it keeps the spotlight off Commissioners.
And it diverts focus from finding solutions to the real problems that contribute to flooding. For that, many people need look no further than the end of their driveways.
We all need to step back and look at flooding from end to end. Then maybe we’ll make life easier for the most vulnerable people among us.
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.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/20210626-RJR_8673.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200adminadmin2021-06-27 12:35:382022-01-03 15:25:38Looking Through the Wrong End of the Drainpipe: The Politics of Misdirection
Two letters from Texas General Land Office (GLO) – one to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the other to US Representatives Al Green and Sylvia Garcia – explain the GLO’s awards in a recent competition for $1.1 billion in Harvey mitigation funding.
GLO Commissioner George P. Bush sent the first letter to HUD on May 27, shortly after the GLO “snubbed” (according to Mayor Sylvester Turner) Houston and Harris County. Outraged politicians at City Hall and the County Courthouse organized a protest campaign targeted at the HUD and the GLO. These two letters lay out a slightly different mitigation funding story than the one peddled to Houston media outlets by the City and County. Most media coverage trumpeted how Houston and Harris County got “zero” out of competition because of political warfare between Republicans in Austin and Democrats here.
The facts in these two letters got very little play in Houston media.
Bush Letter to HUD Requests $750 Million Direct Allocation for Harris County
Bush’s letter explains to HUD how the GLO organized and scored grant applications in the competition. The letter also explains how:
GLO received more than $6.5 billion in grant requests for $1.1 billion during floods in 2015, 2016, and 2017.
Money was awarded based on a numeric scoring system approved by HUD
Harris County was one of dozens of counties affected by the three storms
Harris County and Harris County communities were awarded $90.4 million and $26.7 million for a total of $117,213,863.96 in the first round of mitigation competition.
He (Bush) is submitting a “new action plan amendment” to that will direct $750 million to Harris County.
GLO recognizes the great need for mitigation funding in Harris County.
GLO supports a direct allocation to Harris County (non-competitive)
He (Bush) requests speedy approval of the action plan amendment/direct allocation.
Hmmmmm. $117 million is a little more than zero. However, the point to remember here is that Harris County Flood Control got zero. The $117 went to cities within Harris County to improve resilience.
Havens’ Letter Cites HUD Restrictions, Slow Rate of Drawdown for Previous Programs
HUD did not allow damage from Hurricane Harvey to be used as a metric for allocating CDBG-MIT (Community Development Block Grant Mitigation) funding!
Mark Havens, Deputy land commissioner
Deputy Commissioner Havens also points out that:
The previous HUD secretary was adamant that a direct allocation didn’t go to Houston and Harris County, and that all counties should be eligible for funds.
If you add the $117 million mentioned above to the $750 million direct allocation requested by Bush, Harris County would actually get $867 million which the County could then share with the City of Houston as it saw fit.
Harris County also set aside $120 million in infrastructure funding out of the original $2.5 billion allocated to the County and City in the first round of Hurricane Harvey funding.
The City also received a direct allocation of $61,884,000 in mitigation funding out of the original $2.5 billion.
Out of the $2.5 billion, only $91,225,206 – or 3.6% of the total has been drawn down to date.
If the City and County don’t dramatically speed up the distribution of these funds, the funds will be returned to HUD.
HUD not yet responded to the request for the $750 million direct allocation.
Flood mitigation should be non-partisan. This is about helping people whose lives were destroyed by flooding, not finger pointing. I’m not taking sides. I’m just trying to help give you the information you need about mitigation funding to intelligently question the officials you elected to serve you.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/15/2021
1386 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/TS-Harvey-8-30-17-209.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=17681024adminadmin2021-06-15 20:07:292021-06-15 20:10:31GLO Letters to HUD, Green, Garcia Tell Another Side of Mitigation Funding Story
5/26/21 – Tonight, Texas General Land Office (GLO) announced that it would support a direct allocation to Harris County from HUD Mitigation funds for $750 million.
On May 21, the GLO announced winners of US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grants totaling more than a billion dollars for Hurricane Harvey flood mitigation. Only problem: little went to Harris County Flood Control or the City of Houston despite the fact that we experienced half of the statewide damage in Harvey. Only $90.4 million went to small cities in Harris County. (See below)
Harvey at Peak Intensity
Ever since GLO’s announcement, Harris County Commissioners have been scrambling, trying to figure out how to fill a funding shortfall. That’s because they were counting on attracting matching grants that didn’t materialize. Without the grants, some of the projects could be delayed – especially those in low-to-moderate income neighborhoods, which HUD targets – until alternative sources of funding can be identified.
Yesterday’s Harris County Commissioner’s Court Meeting spent more than four hours on the dilemma. Commissioners arranged for angry residents to call in and each testify for 3 minutes. At the end of their allotted time, they were thanked and asked to call the Texas General Land Office (GLO).
The phones must have rung off the hook at the GLO today, because by the end of the day, GLO Commissioner George P. Bush punted the decision for the next round of funding to HUD.
Below is the full text of a GLO press release sent out at 6:28 PM this evening.
GLO Press Release
“Today, Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush announced his request to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for Harris County to receive a direct allocation of $750 million for mitigation efforts.”
“I have heard the overwhelming concerns of Harris County regarding the mitigation funding competition,” said Commissioner Bush. “The federal government’s red tape requirements and complex regulations are a hallmark of President Biden’s administration. I am no stranger to standing with the people of Texas as we fight against the federal government. As such, I have directed the GLO to work around the federal government’s regulations and allocate $750 million for mitigation efforts in Harris County.”
“An amendment to the state action plan regarding the administration of Community Development Block Grants for Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) in the State of Texas will be submitted to HUD by the General Land Office to implement these changes. A final mitigation competition will be held for the other 48 eligible counties at a later date.”
“Although Hurricane Harvey made landfall in August 2017 and Congress appropriated these mitigation funds several months thereafter, the GLO’s hands were tied waiting for HUD to publish the rules regulating the use of these funds until they were published in a Federal Register notice, which did not happen until August 30, 2019 – two years after the storm and 19 months after the appropriation. The scoring criterion required by HUD to be included in the state action plan for distribution of the funds was approved by HUD on March 27, 2020.”
Flood Mitigation Should be Non-Partisan
I don’t want to get in the middle of the cross-fire on this. One of my biggest concerns is that flood mitigation remain non-partisan.
So rather than speculate about people’s motives and try to decipher where things went awry, I will simply post the following documents:
Regarding the last item, the copy is from a draft circulated before the meeting. However, reportedly, Commissioners made no changes. They approved it (or something very close to it) unanimously.
Before the end of the meeting, Commissioners had also resolved to meet with the Governor, HUD, President Biden, Congressmen, Senators and the tooth fairy. One thing is certain. Harris County is not taking this lying down.
One strange thing that several people have commented on: approximately a quarter of all the grants awarded went to improve water and sewage treatment plants – not flood mitigation projects. As one Congressional aid said today, “Separate grants are available for those. That took a lot of money out of circulation.”
Projects Awarded within Harris County but Not to HCFCD
In fact, three of the four projects awarded to cities in Harris County fell into that category.
City of Pasadena: Flood Mitigation Project – $47,278,951.21 LMI Percentage: 65.37%
City of Baytown: East District Wastewater Treatment Plant Phase II – $32,394,113.86 LMI Percentage: 52.29%
City of Galena Park: Water Plant Improvements Project – $5,482,123 LMI Percentage: 60.22%
Almost as much is going to water and wastewater plant improvements as flood mitigation.
Posted by Bob Rehak on May 26, 2021
1366 days after Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Harvey-Peak-Intensity.jpg?fit=1500%2C843&ssl=18431500adminadmin2021-05-26 21:18:192025-08-03 16:08:10GLO’s Bush Requests Direct Funding from HUD for Harris County Flood Mitigation
The project should help alleviate flooding in Kingwood subdivisions such as Elm Grove, North Kingwood Forest, Mills Branch and Woodstream Forest. Residents in each village experienced disastrous flooding, not once, but twice in 2019. Widening and deepening the gully will increase its conveyance and take more than 400 homes out of harm’s way.
Connected Issues
However, the increased conveyance could also create the need for more more detention capacity to reduce the risk of flooding elsewhere.
This graph of Brays Bayou during the last century shows how runoff accelerates with development. Instead of floodwaters being stored in wetlands and forests, storm drains rush the water to the bayou. That results in higher, faster rises during storms.
Rapid upstream development has put pressure that never existed before on downstream homes. That development decreases the time of accumulation for floodwaters. Without more detention ponds to hold some water back, widening, deepening Taylor Gully could solve a problem in one place and create a problem in another. It could result in faster, higher flood peaks downstream.
Woodridge Village Could Be Part of Taylor Gully Solution
Thanks to the TWDB, the bulk of construction money is now committed to the project through the City of Houston. That means the lead partner on this project, HCFCD, can tell its engineering contractor to accelerate planning.
Development of such projects is often like a dance between political and project leadership. Neither side can get out of step with the other for long.
At this hour, many details have yet to be worked out on the engineering and cost estimating side. But some of the political and funding clouds are parting enough to see a clear path to completion. However, one thing is perfectly clear.
As watersheds develop, it’s important to set aside room for detention pond capacity. Once a watershed is fully developed, homes and businesses must be bought out to create those ponds.
1346 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 595 since Imelda
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/20200120-RJR_7271.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200adminadmin2021-05-06 17:07:022021-05-06 17:07:05TWDB Approves $10.1 Million to Widen, Deepen Taylor Gully
In its May 6 board meeting tomorrow, the Texas Water Development Board will vote on whether to approve financial assistance from the Texas Flood Infrastructure Fund to widen and deepen Taylor Gully. That would increase the “level of service” from 10 to 100 years.
The channel would then be able to handle a 100-year rain without flooding instead of just a 10-year rain as it does now. And that would benefit more than 400 homes.
To put a ten-year rainfall into perspective, the eight inches received in two days last week by areas northwest of Lake Houston qualified as a ten-year year event. Luckily, the rain that fell over the Taylor Gully watershed only qualified as a 1- to 2-year rain.
Taylor Gully is the channel below Woodridge Village that experienced disastrous flooding twice in 2019 on May 7th and September 19th (during Imelda).
Explanation of Partnerships and Financing
The City of Houston has requested a $10.1 million loan for construction of the Taylor Gully project. The financial assistance that the TWDB will vote on would take the form of a purchase of City of Houston bonds.
Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) would lead the project all the way through construction. The Flood Control District (and hopefully, federal money) will provide the balance of project funds up to $20.2 million out of Bond Project ID F-14 and a Community Project Funding request by US Congressman Dan Crenshaw.
The project will require a considerable amount of upfront work that includes engineering, design, surveying, geotechnical work, environmental permitting and more. The project won’t be ready for actual construction for at least a year. And the City cannot tap into a construction loan until construction starts.
Therefore, the Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) will use County money to cover those upfront costs, according to Alan Black, Director of Operations for HCFCD. Some land acquisition may also be necessary, though that has not been fully investigated yet.
Congressman Dan Crenshaw has requested federal dollars to help supplement HCFCD funds for the Taylor Gully and Kingwood Diversion Ditch improvements identified in the Kingwood Area Drainage Analysis. Federal dollars could help stretch local dollars to help develop more projects. (See below about Cypress Creek projects.)
Crucial TWDB to Vote Tomorrow
But everything hinges on the City’s application for a loan from the Texas Flood Infrastructure fund. The City’s request will be #6 on the TWDB meeting agenda. Here is the packet for the board that explains the proposal. It includes cost breakdowns and a timetable, which will likely be accelerated according to project insiders.
The TWDB staff has recommended that the board approve the project.
TWDB
The Taylor Gully watershed currently has a 10-year level of service because the area upstream has undergone significant development with limited flood mitigation or detention.
Elm Grove debris pile from Imelda flood. This is one of hundreds of homes that flooded near Taylor Gully.
The proposed project includes improvements along the Taylor Gully channel to upgrade the conveyance capacity to provide a 100-year level of service. The improvements include channel widening, deepening, and lining. The project will benefit more than 400 structures. 387 will see direct benefit during 100-year inundations. An additional 62 structures benefit indirectly.
How to Attend the TWDB Meeting
The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) meeting to consider approving financial assistance for Flood Infrastructure Fund projects will be held on Thursday, May 6, at 9:30 a.m. There are two ways that the public and interested stakeholders may attend the Board meeting:
State Senator Brandon Creighton sponsored the bill that created the state’s Flood Infrastructure Fund in the 2019 legislature. This link tracks expenditures from the Flood Infrastructure Fund. To date, the TWDB has committed almost $200 million from the fund.
The TWDB has recognized the importance of the project. The City of Houston is putting up the lion’s share of the money for the project. HCFCD is fronting the upfront costs and half of construction dollars. And Congressman Dan Crenshaw is helping to stretch local dollars by supplementing them with federal funds.
HCFCD, Crenshaw Also Working on Cypress Creek Improvements
Crenshaw’s funding request would also help fund the Westador and TC Jester Detention Basins on Cypress Creek. Those are two large basins being planned by HCFCD. Together they would hold about 1,600 acre-feet of stormwater.
To put that in perspective, 1,600 acre feet is enough to contain a foot of rain falling over 2.4 square miles. That could provide benefits both upstream and down. More news to follow on those projects.
Posted by Bob Rehak on May 5, 2021
1345 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 594 since Imelda
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Elm-Grove-9.19_71.jpg?fit=1500%2C1000&ssl=110001500adminadmin2021-05-05 12:04:122021-05-05 12:56:12TWDB To Vote on Financial Assistance for Improving Taylor Gully Level of Service from 10 to 100 Years
One of the most often overlooked points of failure in drainage systems is the lowly storm sewer outfall. When rain flows into the storm sewer on your street, it travels through pipes underground until it reaches the “outfall” at a stream or drainage ditch. If the outfall becomes blocked or damaged, it can back water up and contribute to street flooding.
Often, the damage to the outfall is so remote and difficult to find, that unless someone makes it his or her specific mission, it can go undetected.
Chris Bloch Takes on the Mission
Luckily for Kingwood residents, retired engineer Chris Bloch has made it his mission to identify damaged outfalls and bring them to the attention of the City of Houston. In his quest to help the Kingwood community, Bloch has trudged through mud, muck, brambles and underbrush for years. But his persistence has finally started paying dividends.
Recently the City repaired four outfalls that empty into Bens Branch. The repairs coincided with Harris County Flood Control District’s project to restore conveyance of the channel between Rocky Woods and Kingwood Drive. The result: reduced flood risk to surrounding neighborhoods.
Locations of four outfalls recently repaired by City of Houston in conjunction with HCFCD restoration of Bens Branch
Below: pictures before and after the repairs.
Outfall #1: Cedar Knolls At Woods Estates
Outfall #1 before repairs. Severe erosion exposed then partially severed pipe.The erosion resulted from churning water behind a logjam in the natural section of Bens Branch.The logjam that created the erosion has since been removedby HCFCD.Outfall #1 drained approximately 10.7 acres.The outfall repaired by the City was upstream of HCFCD’s Ben’s Branch restoration project. Of the two other outfalls in this photo, HCFCD repaired the one in the foreground and the City repaired the one in the middle. See Outfall #4 for more info on that one.
Outfall #2: Laurel Garden and Bens Branch
At point #2, drain pipe had cracked and was pushed upward, causing water to back up. How the same outfall looks today.
A sinkhole also developed along this line. That usually results from part of the pipe collapsing in on itself. Dirt above the hole then erodes into the pipe. The City plans to address the sinkhole now that Flood Control has finished its work.
Outfall #3: Wildwood Ridge Near Deerbrook
According to Bloch, this area originally had 22 feet of corrugated metal pipe and another 50 feet of concrete pipe sections that failed. Erosion undercut the pipe and washed it away.
Outfall #3 before repairs.Outfall #3 before repairs.
As erosion widened and deepened the area around the destroyed pipe and a manhole, trees fell into the widening “ditch.” The blockages caused the water to churn, creating even more erosion.
Below is the “after” shot. Instead of replacing all the pipe, the City created a wider ditch that will greatly improve street drainage in this watershed.
The area eroded by the damage to outfall #3 has been replaced by a side ditch. It will provide more than enough conveyance to handle water exiting the 36″ pipe.
In the picture above, the rocks surrounding the outfall are called riprap. Riprap is a permanent layer of large, angular stone, cobbles, or boulders typically. Riprap armors, stabilizes, and protects the soil surface against erosion and scour in areas of concentrated flow, such as at outfalls.
The storm sewer outfall #3 services a drainage area of 28.6 acres.
Outfall #4: East Side of Bens Branch at Rocky Woods and Wildwood Ridge
During a storm, the cover on this manhole blew off. Later, young people threw wood into the open manhole and started fires while they drank beer.
Before repairs.The manhole acted as a chimney that made it easy to have a roaring fire.People also threw beer cans and other debris into the manhole.
Eventually the sewer line became completely blocked according to the City. As a result, storm water backed further up the line. Increased pressure lifted covers off of all upstream manholes. In addition, the pressure forced storm water out between the concrete pipe joints and created a number of sinkholes.
Due to all of this damage approximately 580 feet of 24-inch sewer line and three manholes had to be replaced by the City. This is probably one of the most expensive cases of vandalism Kingwood has experienced.
Chris Bloch
With the line completely blocked, it was of no use and storm water runoff from this area would flow further down Wildwood Ridge where several homes suffered flood damage.
The old outfall.Outfall #4 after repairs. Note also replacement of the manhole.Not shown: the 580 feet of other repairs including more manholes.The drainage area serviced by this sewer is only 5.6 acres, the 24-inch line was more than adequate for this acreage.
Kudos to the City and Bloch
These are just four of several repairs underway. More news to follow.
Thanks to the City of Houston, Mayor Pro Tem and District E Council Member Dave Martin, and his staff for coordinating these repairs with the Public Works Department. Residents will sleep much better in the next big storm.
Thanks also to Chris Bloch for his tireless efforts in reporting these issues. If you find similar problems near your home or business, please report them through the contact page on this web site. I’ll make sure they get to Chris who will make sure they get to the people who can help.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/18/2021 based on information and photos collected by Chris Bloch
In its initial response to the LCA suit, the City argued what lawyers call a “plea to the jurisdiction.” The City claimed that LCA lawyers relied on outdated case law, that the City enjoyed governmental immunity, and that the plaintiff’s claims should be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
The arguments re: immunity are complicated and technical. Briefly, Texas law gives governmental entities broad immunity. Plaintiffs must challenge the validity of a statute under which a government took action to challenge the government’s action. But, says the City, the seasonal lake lowering policy is not a statute or ordinance; it is simply a policy. Thus, “Plaintiffs’ declaratory judgment action is barred by governmental immunity.”
Even without a law degree, it appears on the surface that the only claim with validity is the enjoyment claim. But balanced against the City’s property rights (in the water), plus the potential flood-reduction and property-protection benefits, it pales.
“IT IS THEREFORE, ORDERED that City of Houston’s Plea to the Jurisdiction is SUSTAINED and that Plaintiffs’ claims are DISMISSED for lack of jurisdiction.
Judge in LCA Case
Altogether, plaintiff’s filed 86 pages of legal briefs so far. I’m glad I’m not a Lake Conroe homeowner paying the bill for that!
Irreparable Harm? Really?
Some LCA claims stretched credulity. A 1-foot reduction causing irreparable harm? Really?!! During public testimony before a special SJRA Board meeting this morning, Lake Conroe callers mentioned that sales tax receipts are up, boaters are enjoying the lake, and home values are also up substantially since the seasonal lake lowering policy started.
Boats on Lake Conroe during last year’s seasonal lowering in the Spring.
Homeowners around Lake Conroe should demand to learn what and who is really behind this exercise.
Effect on SJRA
To date, the City of Houston has taken the lead on various pleadings. That makes sense because the lake lowering program involves its water.
The judge’s order this morning did not affect the SJRA. That’s because SJRA has not yet filed any answer, pleadings, or briefs in the case. The extent of SJRA activities on this case so far was to brief its board this morning and get its support to engage outside legal counsel. The board approved hiring two firms. Expect more from the SJRA in the coming days.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/9/2021
1319 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.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/D-8-Boat-at-Walden-Yacht-Club.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200adminadmin2021-04-09 18:54:192021-04-09 20:54:54MoCo Judge Dismisses Lake Conroe Association Suit to Block Seasonal Lake Lowering
