Tag Archive for: debris

Clear Debris from Drains Before Next Wave of Rain Hits

Multiple news outlets are reporting that 400 homes flooded in the Kingwood area yesterday due to street and ditch flooding. Street flooding happens when the RAINFALL RATE exceeds the DRAINAGE CAPACITY of storm sewers. Water backs up into streets where it waits until the input and output balance. But when drains are blocked by downed tree limbs, yard waste, and other debris water backs up even higher into homes as it did last night.

Flooded home in Elm Grove

Please Help Clear Drains of Debris

Matt Zeve, Deputy Executive Director of Harris County Flood Control, reminds everyone that, “All citizens have a responsibility to keep their storm sewer inlets and roadside ditches clear of yard debris, trash, and other items that can cause clogging. The City of Houston and Flood Control are not able to police every single ditch and storm sewer inlet out there. We are all in this together.”

It could be your house that you save from flooding in the next rain.

How to Report Debris in Ditches

Some debris will be beyond the capability of homeowners to clear, especially in creeks and drainage ditches. For instance, see the picture below.

Tree down in Ben’s Branch. Photo taken from Tree Lane just east of Bear Branch Elementary.

Clearing such blockages will take professionals with chain saws and lifting equipment.

Call Harris County Flood Control at 713-684-4197 to report these types of issues.  Please make sure you know the closest cross streets.

You can also contact flood control via the web.

City of Houston Also Requests Your Help in Clearing Drains

Dave Martin, Houston City Council Member said, “This morning, I asked the Mayor, and he agreed, like we did in December 2017 AFTER Harvey…in those flooded/affected areas, we will send cameras down the storm drains and sewers to see if there is any blockage. If there is, we will remediate.”

Martin continued, “We are also ‘re-engineering’ our ‘Adopt a Drain’ program which calls for our Residents to adopt a drain/storm sewer in their neighborhood, and periodically check the siltation/trash/clogging/buildup in THEIR drain.

More Rain on Way

At the start of the week, the National Weather Service forecasted 7-10 inches of rain for the week. Yesterday, when a storm stalled over Kingwood, we got that much in one afternoon. And more IS on the way.

NOAA Radar as of noon on Wednesday, 5/8/19.

Today’s Forecast from Flood Control

The next upper level disturbance is already moving into central Texas. The majority of the heavy rainfall should stay to our north today, but our area could certainly see rainfall this afternoon that could result in additional flooding, especially if it falls on areas that were hard hit on Tuesday.

Additionally there is a higher severe weather risk this afternoon especially north of I-10 where large hail, damaging winds, and isolated tornadoes will be possible.

Forecast Thursday-Saturday: 

Several complexes and clusters of storms can be expected through the period each capable of dropping multiple inches of rainfall. Expect a moderate risk of flash flooding both Thursday and Friday. 

Additional Rainfall Amounts 

Widespread rainfall of 5-8 inches with isolated totals of 9-12 inches will be possible today through Saturday. While these totals are spread over a 3 day period, much of what falls will likely fall in bursts with each cluster of storms. Air mass remains very much capable of intense rainfall rates as observed yesterday. Hourly rainfall rates of 2-4 inches per hour will remain possible which will quickly result in urban flash flooding and significant street flooding.

River Report

Grounds are saturated and any additional rainfall…especially in areas that saw heavy rains on Tuesday…is going to run directly into creek, bayous, and rivers that area already highly elevated. If the rainfall forecast does indeed verify, flooding of creeks and bayous in Harris County is certainly possible along with house flooding.

While several creeks and bayous are elevated, all are receding at this time including both the East and West Forks of the San Jacinto River.  

Flash Flood Outlook For Wednesday 

Flash Flood Outlook For Wednesday 

Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/8/19 at noon

617 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Dredging Status: End of September

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has spread out across the West Fork of the San Jacinto River for its Emergency Dredging Project. Here is a visual status report from a trip up the river on Friday. I went from West Lake Houston Parkway past the US59 bridge to chronicle what has become an amphibious construction project.

The first dredge belonging to Callan Marine, a subcontractor to Great Lakes Dredge and Dock, has taken up position near the high tension power lines that connect Kingwood and Kings Lake Estates.

This is what the entire dredging assembly looks like.

It has been idling in the same position more than a week while pipeline and booster pumps are connected to it upstream.

Here’s what it looks like from the stern where dredged materials will enter the pipeline that takes them back to placement area #1.

This booster pump is required because of the distance to placement area #1 behind the apartments on Townsend near North Houston Avenue just south of the river.

Pilot boat shuttles pontoon with heavy equipment into place.

Heading upriver, more pipeline waits to be connected near the dredging command site.

At the command site, staff scurries to get the second dredge ready to launch before mid-October.

Dredge #2 owned by Great Lakes Dredge and Dock. This electric dredge will pump sediment to placement area #2 and require more booster pumps than the first dredge because of the length of the pipeline, almost five miles. Placement area #2 is on Sorters Road just south of Kingwood College.

Close up of the business end of the second dredge still at the dock. The rotating assembly stirs up sediment which is then suctioned into the pipeline and pumped to a placement area.Workers loading water into pipeline to get it to submerge. 

Pontoon with crane and pipeline welding equipment.  Sections of pipe waiting to be connected provide a convenient resting place for egrets and other water fowl.

The debris barges will offload their cargo here, where it will be transferred into these trucks and hauled away for processing or landfill.

Meanwhile, another crew scouts a route to placement area #2. Up the West Fork near Kingwood College, the river is so shallow, it may not be deep enough to float pipeline. If dredging in this reach of the river becomes necessary, it could delay the job and increase costs.

From this brief visual trip up the river, you can see that much prep work remains before full dredging can start. The second dredge has not yet launched and no pipeline has reached placement area 2. City officials have stated that the Corps hoped to be in full operation by mid-October. The 270-day clock for this project began ticking on August 19. Two hundred and twenty-nine days remain to the expected completion. Before the project is done, the Corps expected to move 1.8 million cubic yards of sand and sediment out of the river. 

Posted by Bob Rehak on September 30, 2018

397 Days since Hurricane Harvey