11/25/24 – This flood digest contains brief summaries of five recent flood-related news items.

GLO Launches Disaster Recovery Reallocation Program

A month ago, the Texas General Land Office (GLO) announced the creation of a Disaster Recovery Reallocation Program (DRRP). The purpose: to utilize unused and de-obligated Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds from disasters dating back to 2008. See:

• Hurricanes Ike and Dolly Amendment 7
• 2015 Floods and Storms Amendment 6
• 2016 Floods and Storms Amendment 8
• Hurricane Harvey $5.6 Billion Amendment 16
• 2018 South Texas Floods Amendment 2
• 2019 Disasters Amendment 3

The GLO administers U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds in Texas. And in keeping with HUD’s mission, grant scoring for the reallocated funds gives preference to low-to-moderate income areas. Also, project evaluation criteria include feasibility of completing the proposed project(s) within two years. Communities can use the reallocated funds for:

• Flood and drainage improvements
• Water and wastewater improvements
• Street improvements
• Rehabilitation, reconstruction, and new construction of affordable multifamily projects
• Permanently affixed emergency communication equipment.

Approximately 15 entities in or related to Harris County submitted projects. They include Harris County Housing Authority, City of Houston and Harris County plus a dozen or more other entities in Harris County.

Unused funds from the disasters currently total about $130 million. Grants will range from $500,000 to $20 million. For more details, see this PowerPoint presentation.

“Dam Project that Never Was” Might Have Prevented Helene Deaths

A reader sent me a link to a news story called The Dam Project that Never Was published in The Dispatch by Will Rinehart. It’s about the present day implications of a dam project in North Carolina scuttled more than 50 years ago.

The article begins with a quote from a news article in the July 17, 1916, edition of The Asheville Citizen. “Asheville today is absolutely isolated from the outside world, is a city of darkness void of ordinary transportation facilities, and finds herself helpless in the grasp of the most terrible flood conditions ever known here.” 

The article then draws eerie parallels between Hurricane Helene in 2024 and the 1916 flood. After additional Ashville floods in 1949, 1961, and 1964, the Tennessee Valley Authority proposed a dam project to protect Ashville. The City sits in a mountain bowl which makes it flood prone.

In the late 1960’s, Congress allocated $3.3 billion to build dams that could have prevented future flooding. But they would have displaced 60 families.

The families organized opposition that killed the project. More time passed. Helene struck and became the second deadliest hurricane to hit the US mainland since Katrina.

It’s a powerful story filled with irony. Rinehart laments a technical gap in the discourse about such floods. “Very little of the coverage of Helene’s aftermath that I’ve seen discusses the technical aspects of the flooding and what might be done to limit it in the future.”

“We aren’t even talking about dams and flood management,” he concludes.

So sad. After Harvey, the Lake Houston Area Flood Task Force began a search for solutions. More than seven years later, authorities have identified several upstream dam sites, but begun construction on none. We saw where that got us this May.

Judges Hear Oral Arguments in Upstream Addicks Barker Case

Law firm McGehee ☆ Chang, Landgraf, Feiler wrote that oral arguments in the upstream Addicks Barker case concluded on November 8, 2024.

The government claimed that Harvey was a disaster that was a once in one-thousand-year occurrence, and that the government should not be penalized for such an extremely rare event. 

However, the lawyers for the plaintiffs say they refuted that claim. “Our side also pointed out that while Harvey was a significant rain event – it was not as infrequent as the government claimed.”

McGehee et. al. say they expect the appeals court to issue its ruling in approximately six months.

Addicks Repairs Costing $9.3 million Substantially Completed

In the meantime, Harris County Flood Control District says it has completed a $9.3 million project to repair channels in the Addicks Reservoir. Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey said, “The Flood Control District has learned near five miles of ditches and removed more than 2,000 dump trucks of silt.”

Repairs also included work on concrete structures and storm outfall failures. 

Repairs Totaling $6.46 Million in Barker Reservoir Completed

On November 20, 2024, Harris County Flood Control announced substantial completion of a similar package of repairs in the Barker Reservoir, which is in Precinct 4.

Repairs took two years and cost $6.46 million.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/25/24

2645 Days since Hurricane Harvey