elm grove Archives - Page 6 of 7

Update on Webster, Spurlock Elm Grove Lawsuits; Woodridge Construction

A defendant’s motion to dismiss more than 200 lawsuits brought by two local lawyers, Jason Webster and Kimberly Spurlock, on behalf of flooded Elm Grove residents has been tabled by agreement of the lawyers involved. A hearing on the motion to dismiss was scheduled for Monday, July 15th at 4PM in Harris County Judge Lauren Reeder’s 234th Judicial District Court.

Background: Lawsuits and Motion to Dismiss

Here’s a brief chronology of events in the case to date:

On May 7, 2019, approximately 200 homes in Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest flooded.
May 14, 2019, the first wave of plaintiffs filed suit against two subsidiaries of Perry Homes (PSWA, Inc. and Figure Four Parters, LTD) and Rebel Contractors, Inc. The suits allege that will clearing land for a new development called Woodridge Village, adjacent to the homes that flooded, the defendants altered drainage, causing homes to flood that had never flooded before. The suits allege negligence, gross negligence and negligence per se in the development of the new subdivision.
May and June – In the month that followed, two more batches of lawsuits were filed on behalf of additional victims that retained Webster and Spurlock.
On June 17, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss the suit. The basis of the motion: that Webster and Spurlock had not filed a certificate of merit against LJA Engineers with the initial suit. They claimed that filing such a certificate is a requirement under Texas law when suing engineers.

Motion to Consolidate, Change Venue and Counterclaims

That same day (June 17):

Plaintiffs filed a motion to consolidate all three batches of lawsuits.
Rebel Contractors demanded a jury trial and a change of venue to Montgomery County. They also filed a counterclaim.
PSWA and Figure Four Partners also filed a motion to change venue to Montgomery County and a counterclaim against the defendants.

On June 24, 2019, the lawyers for both sides agreed to consolidate the cases and Judge Reeder signed an order consolidating them.

On June 27th, the plaintiffs filed a request to enter the defendant’s property to inspect it.

Plaintiffs’ Response to Motion to Dismiss

July 8 – Defendants responded to the plaintiff’s motion to dismiss the case(s). They cited the facts that they were NOT suing LJA Engineers, nor were they alleging any defect in their engineering plans or designs. Their claims, they said, related solely to construction practices. Specifically, they cited:

a. Blocking the drainage channels;
b. Filling in existing drainage channels;
c. Failing to properly install box culverts;
d. Failing to create temporary drainage channels;
e. Failing to allow adequate drainage after construction;
f. Failing to install silt barriers;
g. Allowing the Development to force rainfall toward Plaintiffs’ homes;
h. Failing to pay proper attention;
i. Failing to provide notice or warning; the filling in of creeks
j. Failing to have a proper rain event action plan;
k. Failing to have a proper storm water pollution prevention plan;
l. Failing to follow a proper storm water pollution prevention plan;
m. Failing to coordinate activities and/or conduct;
n. Failing to supervise the activities of the Development;
o. Failing to instruct in proper construction and/or drainage requirements;
p. Failing to train in proper construction and/or drainage requirements,
q. Failing to construct the emergency release channel; and,
r. Failing to timely implement the detention ponds.

On that same day, July 8, Webster and Spurlock filed an amended petition specifying points A-R above.

Lawyers Agree to Table Motion to Dismiss … Subject to Conditions

Last Friday, July 12, the lawyers for both plaintiffs and defendants filed a Rule 11 Agreement. It specifies that Figure Four and PSWA “pass” the scheduled July 15th hearing on the motion to dismiss, but retain their right to refile under certain conditions.

No Rulings Yet on Venue, Access or Trial Date

Judge Reeder has not yet ruled on the change of venue motion or access to the property. Nor has she set a trial date.

Meanwhile, Back at the Construction Site…

Meanwhile, construction on the job site in the last week continued but at a slower pace. According to Elm Grove resident Jeff Miller who has closely monitored construction progress:

Rebel Contractors widened a ditch leading down the eastern side of the development adjacent to North Kingwood Forest.
They deepened the channel connecting that ditch with the S2 detention pond.
The installed culverts under a road that will connect the north and south sides of the project.
They continued clearing land, moving dirt and building up portions of the northern section.

*Culverts being installed under future road, but not yet functioning*

*More culverts ready to install under future roads*

*Future roadway with 3-4 story brush piles in background*

No More Obvious Progress on Expansion of Detention Capacity

It appears that no additional detention ponds have yet been excavated beyond S2, according to Miller. Therefore, my last estimate of approximately 25% completion of detention has not changed.

Had Hurricane Barry dropped the kind of water here that it did on Louisiana and Mississippi, Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest residents would almost surely have flooded again.

LJA Engineers designed the onsite detention to hold a little more than a foot of rainfall. But with only an estimated 25% of the detention functioning at this point, 3″ of water could produce another flood (assuming my estimate is accurate).

Posted by Bob Rehak on July 15, 2019

685 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 9 weeks since May 7

All thoughts expressed in this post represent my opinions on matters of public interest and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas

Nature Never Forgets: Lessons of May 7th Flooding

A 1949 map of the area now called Kingwood reveals that the homes in Elm Grove that flooded on May 7 were built in something once called the Odom Lake Swamp. It turns out, “Nature never forgets.”

*Area of interest for this discussion is circled in red.*

I previously posted about this map in the context of how the West Fork has shifted over time. At the end of the post, I asked readers to write me if they found anything else interesting. One did. And it was a very interesting indeed.

He pointed to the area circled in red above. When I superimposed that over the present-day image below, my jaw dropped.

*Same general area that was superimposed over old map.*

It’s True. Nature Never Forgets

The area labelled Odom Lake Swamp matches very closely the outline of the May 7 flood in Elm Grove that damaged almost 200 homes.

*I used the county line and the confluence of the East and West Forks to align the two images, then cropped this out of the center.*

*The reader who reported this came up with a slightly different map that shifts the label “Odom Lake Swamp” to the west side of Village Springs. I am not sure what alignment points he used*, *but his work and mine closely match.*

At a Houston Geological Society seminar on flooding that I attended last year, I remember several speakers talking about this phenomenon, including former Harris County Judge Ed Emmett. During heavy rainfalls, water gravitates toward its original channels.

One expert, who talked to me on condition of anonymity because of the lawsuits swirling around this issue, explained it this way. “Where old channels, swamps, meanders, etc. were filled in, during major floods, water always seeks the lowest point. Even if you fill in an area, it usually is still the lowest point of a larger area (or watershed) and during large rain storms, the water finds its way there.”

Current Flood Map Echoes 1949 Map

He attributed the Elm Grove flooding to a combination of clear cutting without mitigation upstream, heavy rainfall, and lower elevation. In fact, FEMA’s National Flood Hazard Layer Viewer shows that this part of Elm Grove is in the 100-year (aqua) and 500-year flood plains.

*2007 (most recent) flood plain map for Elm Grove, Mills Branch, Woodstream and Royal Brook* *subdivisions*.

Implications

I’m not a lawyer and I don’t give legal advice, but it seems to me that this finding does little to change the legal lay of the land (no pun intended).

The residents south and east of Woodridge Village, despite being lower than surrounding areas, had never flooded before – even in Harvey.

They didn’t flood until the developer clearcut 268 acres, filled in natural streams, eliminated wetlands that act like natural detention ponds, and graded the property toward the area that flooded. All without constructing detention ponds until AFTER people flooded.

Had those ponds been in place, they should have held 13 inches of rain (a 100-year) rainfall. We didn’t get that much. The gage at US59 recorded 6.24 inches on May 7 over six hours. The heaviest rain fell during the noon hour when we got 3.64 inches.

*From HarrisCountyFWS.org* *for May 7. The other official nearby gage at West Lake Houston Parkway received less rain that day.*

Harris County meteorologist Jeff Lindner characterized the May 7th event as somewhere between a two and 50-year rain. Experiment with the different possibilities on the chart below.

*NOAA Atlas 14 precipitation frequency chart.*

Ten Lessons of May 7th

So aside from the Odom Lake Swamp being a historical curiosity, what can readers learn from this.

Flooding doesn’t always come from the river. Streets can flood homes when the rainfall rate exceeds the capacity of storm drains.
Before you buy a home, check historical maps. Learn whether the developer filled in lakes, ponds, swamps, or wetlands and then built your home on top of them. Remember: Nature never forgets!
If the answer is yes, question how much you want the property. Use the knowledge to negotiate a discount with which you can purchase flood insurance. That’s the best way to discourage unsafe development practices.
If you live downstream of an undeveloped area, be aware that floodplains are a shifting target. Just because you’re NOT in a floodplain today is no guarantee that you won’t be tomorrow. Upstream development can cause downstream flooding. So watch carefully.
Pay no attention to anyone who says, “Oh, that area will never be developed.” The more worthless the land, the bigger the profit potential.
If you live in this area, get flood insurance.
If you buy a low-lying home, be prepared to have your life disrupted.
Buyer beware.
Pressure your elected representatives to turn areas such as Woodridge Village into park land. When it was wetlands, it protected the people downstream from flooding and provided recreation.
Buying the property north of Elm Grove could have cost less than the damage to one home. (See appraisal below). Not buying the property was a costly decision.

*Ironically, the Montgomery County appraisal district values the 60+ acres of land north of Elm Grove at about a quarter million dollars.*

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/19/2019

659 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Critical Woodridge S2 Detention Pond Approaching Final Dimensions

When Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest flooded on May 7, the Woodridge Village contractor had cleared most of the 268 acres of land north and west of them. The contractor also had sloped the drainage toward those subdivisions without first installing a critical 50 acre-foot detention pond to intercept runoff. Tonight after months of delays, and the flooding of almost 200 homes, work on that pond is almost complete.

S2 Pond Finally Connected to Drainage Ditch Today

Regular readers may remember plans call for a 15-foot deep detention pond shaped somewhat like a hockey stick (see below). The area circled in red is the channel that will connect the pond to the drainage ditch that runs down the east side of the property. Today, some workers excavated that channel while others deepened the pond.

*Circled in red: the channel excavated today that will connect the drainage ditch with the detention pond.*

Not Much Excavated on May 9

Back on May 9, about a month ago, very little of the pond was excavated when local videographer, Jim Zura, captured this image from his drone. Only a small ditch connected a pond north of Sherwood Trails to the box culvert seen below. The white outline indicates how much of the pond had yet to be excavated.

*Almost nothing had been excavated* *shortly after the May 7 flood.* *White outline shows the approximate intended dimension of the pond.*

Despite the heavy rains in early May and early June, the contractor now has most of the pond excavated. See the video that Jeff Miller shot this afternoon.

Click here to see Jeff Miller Video of S2 as of 6.14.19

Since the flood, the pond has been widened and deepened. Rebel Contractors is now approaching the pond’s final dimensions and target depth of 15 feet, according to Miller. However, Miller was even more excited about the excavation of the channel connecting the drainage ditch running down the east side of the property to the detention pond. “I’ll be able to sleep with both eyes closed tonight,” he said.

In the future, when runoff drains from the northern part of the property to the southern, it will overflow from the ditch into the pond, rather than into neighbors’ houses.

Recent Excavation Despite Heavy Rains Last Week

The next two shots show what the connecting channel looks like from the ground.

*Previously, water in the ditch had to funnel down into the 3′ black culvert (bottom left). This caused the ditch to overflow into surrounding neighborhoods when the ditch got full.*

*Now, however, this channel connects ditch (foreground) and pond (upper left). It will allow runoff to overflow into pond instead of neighbors’ homes.*

Bill King Visits Elm Grove Again, Meets Texas Monthly Writer

But that wasn’t the only good news, today. Houston mayoral candidate Bill King visited Elm Grove for the third time in a month and toured the area with Mark Dent, who is covering the story for Texas Monthly.

*Bill King (left) and Mark Dent talk about flood mitigation strategies with Taylor Gulley in the background.*

King emphasized several needs to Dent. They included:

Greater clarity and accuracy of flood maps, so that people can realistically assess their flood risk
Safer construction practices that better protect downstream residents
Preservation of natural wetlands, buffers and drainage features like those that previously existed on the Woodridge site, and that had protected Elm Grove since it was built.

King emphasized that preserving such natural areas and the wetlands on them can provide both recreation and protection against flooding. Finally, he advocated using buyouts to build more and bigger detention ponds, and also to create more green space.

It’s good to know that King is taking Kingwood issues seriously. He’s making them a centerpiece of his campaign and using them to shine a spotlight on development practices that need improvement in my opinion.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/14/2019 with help from Jeff Miller

654 Days since Hurricane Harvey, 5 weeks since the Elm Grove Flood, and 4 Months Until the Election

Thoughts expressed in this post represent my opinions on matters of public interest and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP statute of the great State of Texas.

If They Called Wetlands Something Else, We’d Have a Lot More of Them

Wetlands are a natural solution to a natural problem: flooding. Problem is, their name sounds like it’s the opposite – more of a problem than a solution.

Wetlands? Get out the mop.
Wetlands? Will I need galoshes?
Wetlands? Just pave it.
Wetlands? We can’t have that.

See what I mean? If we named them something else, something that had a benefit, maybe they would stand a fighting chance against bulldozers. For example:

Flood-Prevention Lands? I’ll fight for that.
Flood Buffer? Give me an extra one of those.
Safety Shield? Don’t lose that.
Guardlands? Better than free insurance!

Wetlands detain water during heavy rains. They let it flow away gradually at a rate that streams and bayous can handle naturally.

Visual Comparison

Here’s a visual example. We had heavy rains the night before I took this shot – almost four inches. When I went to East End Park the next morning, I saw the wetlands at the end of the main entry trail filled with water. There’s a natural, little bowl in the landscape there that covers a couple acres. After a very heavy rain, it usually takes a week or two for the water to drain away.

*After heavy rains, the bowl fills up. Then the water trickles away, evaporates, gets sucked up by trees, or percolates through the ground to the river.*

*OK, so sometimes it moves faster than a trickle. But this is still much slower than if two-acre feet suddenly hit concrete and a storm drain.*

Contrast that with runoff coming out of the clearcut Woodridge Village below.

Developer filled in natural creeks and wetlands on this property without constructing required detention ponds first. Elm Grove is behind the trees to the left, where hundreds of homes flooded on May 7.

Why Wetlands are So Important

Watch this video taken from the porch of a house out of frame on the left of this shot. The home had never flooded before this area was clearcut and the natural drainage features were filled in. Notice a difference in the volume, clarity, and runoff rates of the water? Shortly after the rain started Tuesday, May 7, a lot of the water that hit this property filled the living rooms of Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest residents.

Abel Vera, who lives next to this recently denuded area, told me how his kids used to play in the woods and creeks that covered the wetlands to his north.

Sadly, it will be a few decades, if ever, before more kids have that opportunity again. If only we had named the wetlands on this property something else. Protector Ponds? Storm Shields? Heck, even Gator Haven would have worked. Developers could have sold tickets.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/7/2019

647 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Better Late Than Never: Large Detention Pond Taking Shape North of Area that Flooded

Elm Grove resident Jeff Miller reported tonight that Rebel Contractors was busy widening and deepening a crucial detention pond near homes that flooded in Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest. According to Miller, “The pond is starting to assume its final shape with the sloping of the edges.”

Here’s the plan for the pond.

S2 (the second detention pond in the south section of Woodridge Village.

May 8

For comparison, the “pond” looked like this after the storm on May 7…non-existent. For comparison purposes, consider this the BEFORE SHOT.

*Photo taken shortly after the flood on May 7 shows the area where S2 detention pond should be had not yet been excavated.* *Nor was silt fence in place.*

May 30

Here’s what it looked like on the afternoon of 5/30/19. This Woodridge Village detention pond should ultimately hold about 50 acre feet of runoff. Had it been excavated before the May 7th rains, many homes might not have flooded. It could have reduced the height of the flood by one whole foot across a 50-acre area.

*Photo of S2 taken by Jeff Miller on 5/30/19*

Said Miller, “Better late than never.” The video below lets you get a better look at the expansiveness of the pond.

Video by Elm Grove resident Jeff Miller showing S2 pond in Woodridge Village taking shape.

Dirt from this pond and others will build up the rest of the subdivision.

Posted by Bob Rehak on May 30, 2019, with photos and reporting from Jeff Miller

639 Days since Hurricane Harvey

More than 40 Additional Plaintiffs Join Webster, Spurlock Lawsuits Against Woodridge Developers and Contractor for May 7th Flooding

Jason Webster and Kimberly Spurlock, two local lawyers, have teamed up to represent Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest (NKF) flood victims. On May 7th, video captured floodwater streaming out of the 268-acre site north and west of those two subdivisions. The contractor had already clearcut most of the land for the developer’s new Woodridge Village. However, the contractor had not yet excavated the key detention pond next to the people who flooded. As a result, it appears that runoff from the mostly clay soils in the new development compounded street flooding already in progress. That’s when the volume of water became more than the streets could handle and hundreds of homes flooded.

Third Wave of Lawsuits Filed Last Week

The third wave of lawsuits filed by Webster and Spurlock against defendants Figure Four Partners, LTD; PSWA, Inc.; and Rebel Contractors, Inc. brings the total of plaintiffs they represent to more than 200.

This is not a class action suit. Each plaintiff suffered different amounts of damage. It is a series of individual lawsuits. Here is the first wave of plaintiffs, the second, the third and the basis for the claims.

The lawsuits allege negligence, negligence per se, gross negligence, nuisance, and violation of Section 11.086 of the Texas Water Code. Plaintiffs seek exemplary damages and a permanent injunction among other things.

Figure Four and LJA Engineering Response

A statement by Figure Four Partners, LTD, claims the flood was an act of God and that many of the detention ponds were already complete. However, LJA Engineering, which had been hired by Figure Four to design drainage for the new development, later said that none of the detention ponds was complete. One one was fully excavated, but not yet completed, they said.

Natural Drainage Filled Near Highest Concentration of Flooded Homes

Only about 1% of the homes in Kingwood flooded on May 7th. Of those, almost all were adjacent to the land that Figure Four and Rebel Contractors clearcut. They also sloped the land toward the flooded homes – without first excavating critical detention ponds needed to prevent flooding.

*New development slopes toward Elm Grove on right.*

According to numerous residents, the contractor also filled in existing streams and wetlands while grading the property. Partially as a result, homes that never flooded before suddenly flooded during what Harris County meteorologist Jeff Lindner characterized as a 2-year to 50-year rain event. Plans show that if the detention ponds had been constructed, they should have held a 100-year rain.

Next Steps in Lawsuits

District court record searches indicate that no other law firm has yet filed suit against these defendants for the Elm Grove and NKF flooding. However, they may. At least two other law firms have held meetings with residents.

Meanwhile, the court has scheduled oral arguments for the temporary injunction against Figure Four Partners, LTD; PSWA, Inc.; and Rebel Contractors for July 8 at 2:30 PM in the 11th Judicial District Court. This is for the second batch of plaintiffs.

Previous Problems Surface for Rebel Contractors

A search of Harris County District Court records found a separate lawsuit against Rebel Contractors for a different incident. Harris County and the State of Texas (on behalf of the TCEQ) sued the company for its practice of burning trees while clearing land. The plaintiffs claimed the practice added to air pollution and harmed health. The County and State won an injunction against Rebel Contractors. Rebel agreed to stop its burning.

“Rainxiety” Sets In

A new term is floating around: rainxiety. That’s the anxiety flood victims feel whenever rain is forecast. Dozens of residents have told me that they sweat, their hearts race, and they begin to panic whenever it rains. One even begins humming Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Who’ll Stop the Rain?” That should become the theme song for Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest.

“Still the rain kept pourin’,
Fallin’ on my ears.
And I wonder, Still I wonder
Who’ll stop the rain.”
By John Fogarty

All thoughts expressed in this post represent my opinions on matters of public policy and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP statute of the Great State of Texas.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/29/2019 with help from Jeff Miller

638 Days since Hurricane Harvey

More on What Went Wrong Near Elm Grove and How to Help Protect Residents from Future Flooding

*Map by LJA Engineering shows natural drainage. Purple outline shows boundaries of Figure Four Partners’ Woodridge Development.* *Dark gray outline shows extent of drainage area for Taylor Gully.* *All drainage in A-E flows to F.*

According to residents in Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest, their homes never flooded before May 7th, 2019, including during Hurricane Harvey. Then bulldozers cleared the 262 acres north and west of them to create a new subdivision called Woodridge Village.

Reconstruction of Events

After talking with dozens of residents, mapping flood damage, reviewing flood videos, and photographing the aftermath, I think the following happened on May 7, 2019.

Before May 7th, contractors had finished clearing most of Woodridge Village’s 268 acres, most of which was hard clay. This accelerated runoff. They had also begun grading the land, filling in historical drainage channels and wetlands. But they had not yet totally completed any of the replacement drainage, even though one pond was substantially completed.

A large, long, linear ditch ran along the county line. Approximately half of this ditch (labeled S1 by the developer) bordered Sherwood Trails. Contractors had fully excavated the ditch but not fully finished it. The other half of the ditch that bordered Elm Grove did not yet have:

A large diamond-shaped detention pond designed to hold 49 acre-feet of stormwater
Any connectivity between that ditch and another ditch to the east, which LJA Engineers clearly intended as part of their plan. See below.

*Red labels and circle have been added to approved drainage plan to make it easier to follow this discussion. Small black arrows indicate direction of flow.* *The 29-acre triangular area labeled N2 actually belongs to Montgomery County, which started cleared most of the land between 2006 and 2008.*

Here’s an enlargement of the crucial S2 detention area that shows the flow. All water from the northern section of Woodridge, drains to the part of Taylor Gully running from the triangular detention area N2 on the left toward the upper right.

*Note two u-turns made by the water within the space of 200 feet.*

Several things happen when the water reaches the upper right.

Most of the runoff is forced to make a 120 degree right turn.
It’s joined by more water flowing south along the eastern edge of the property to the north, and the gas pipeline easement north of North Kingwood Forest.
All of that flows into a much smaller ditch…
…that narrows down into a 3′ pipe…
At that point, it is supposed to make another 90-degree turn into…
…a grassy-lined channel that conveys the water into S2
…where it mixes with stormwater from S1…
…and flows through a box culvert…
…into Taylor Gully where it’s joined by water shooting out of the 3′ pipe.

Here’s an even closer view of how all that works.

The Big Lebowski Connection

In the movie The Big Lebowski, Walter says to The Dude, “That’s right, Dude, the beauty of this is its simplicity. Once the plan gets too complex everything can go wrong.” And it did.

Of course, it was complicated by the facts that:

Most of S2 had not yet been excavated.
The grassy-lined channel to convey water from the upper part of Taylor Gulley into S2 had also not yet been excavated.
A reinforced concrete box culvert had been installed to reduce the outflow into the lower part of Taylor Gully. That backed water up.
A second reinforced concrete box culvert had not yet been installed farther up the ditch that might have held back some of the water that flowed into Elm Grove.

Critical Corner of Chaos

Jeff Miller, an Elm Grove resident who came within inches of flooding dubbed this corner of the development the “Critical Corner of Chaos.”

*Jeff Miller schematic* *showing series of problems near area that flooded.* *To his list, I would add the culvert across the ditch by the road that did not yet exist.*

Photographs of debris patterns left in grass near the diagonal part of Taylor Gully show that water started overflowing the banks as far west as the road that crosses the ditch. From there, it headed straight south toward Elm Grove.

*Debris from flood caught in grass high above ditch indicates that water went out of banks near the proposed street that connects the north and south sections of Woodridge.* *From here, the water headed overland toward Elm Grove in the background.*

Also, when water started to make that 120 degree turn at the top of Miller’s diagram, it overflowed the banks into North Kingwood Forest. Part of the water also split off on the other side of the ditch and headed toward Elm Grove. The constrictions caused by:

Flowing from a large ditch into a smaller ditch
Flowing from the small ditch into a 3-foot pipe
Not enough detention excavated
Restricted outflow at the box culvert

…all forced water to flow into surrounding neighborhoods and down streets. Overland sheet flow added to street flooding already present raised the level of the water enough to enter at least 196 homes. The main paths that the water took looked something like this.

The red line shows the location of the buried 3′ pipe. Blue lines indicate the MAIN flow of water. Note, it also spilled out onto other side streets. This map shows the main flow, not the extent of flooding.

Current and Future Concerns

It’s been three weeks since the flooding. As the site continues to take shape, and as we officially enter hurricane season this week, several things should concern residents.

Rebel Contractors is far from having all the detention ponds excavated.
The dirt they have excavated is being used to elevate Woodridge above Elm Grove.
The drainage scheme LJA envisioned at the southeastern corner of the subdivision may not be sufficient in future heavy rains to prevent flooding in neighboring communities.
Taylor Gulley in Kingwood may not have sufficient conveyance to handle the volume of water coming from upstream development.

I mention this last point because older subdivisions in Porter along the western edge of Woodridge also flooded. Apparently, Woodridge blocked, at least partially drainage flowing from those areas. Therefore, less water came from that area than normal. Had it been added to the May 7th flood, things in Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest could have been even worse.

*Dirt excavated from S2 Detention Pond is being used to raise elevation of land elsewhere in development. Homes along Needham Road in Porter are in background by cell tower.*

Jeff Miller, who helped with this analysis, stands on the original level of the land next to a street that will be about three feet above the elevation of Elm Grove. Miller stands 6′ tall. Note the fire plug at his eye level.

Urgent Recommendations

Before all of Woodridge Village becomes set in concrete, we need the best engineers in town to re-evaluate the LJA plans independently, especially at the “critical corner of chaos.” Then I hope the developer hires additional resources to ensure a verified or improved plan is executed before we hit the peak of hurricane season in August and September.

All thoughts in this post represent my opinions on matters of public policy and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP statute of the great State of Texas.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/28/2019 with help from Jeff Miller

637 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Key Woodridge Detention Pond Missing, Only Small Percent of Total Detention Developed Before Elm Grove Flooded

On the plans, LJA Engineers calls it S2 – the second detention pond in the southern portion of the new Woodridge development north of Elm Grove. Even though all drainage on the 268 clearcut acres slopes toward S2, the developer did not start building this crucial pond before the May 7 storm that flooded Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest. The pond will ultimately hold 49.4 acre feet of water during a storm, but holds something less now because Rebel Contractors has not yet fully excavated it. Further, it appears that less than 10% of the site’s required detention was fully excavated when May storms struck.

Rebel Contractors Starts Expanding S2 After Flood

At the time of the May 7 flood, it appears that Rebel Contractors had not yet begun excavating the largest part of S2. I could see only a ditch connecting S1 with the large box culvert at the entry to Taylor Gully.

Photo taken on May 11, four days after Elm Grove Flood, shows extent of excavation for crucial S2 detention pond. Only this ditch connected S1 pond with Taylor Gully. Photo looks northeast, where giant pond should extend almost to tree line on both sides of image.

In the last seven days, however, Rebel has roughed out the pond. You can see it starting to assume its final shape, though it has not yet reached its final size or depth. See pictures below.

On Friday, May 24, I observed a steady parade of haulers moving earth from the future detention pond, S2. The contractor is using the excavated material to raise the height of streets and home pads elsewhere on the property in a process called “cut and fill.”

According to numerous residents that I have talked to, much of this area once consisted of wetlands. To develop such property, contractors use a process called “cut and fill.” They build up one area, by excavating another.

*S2 pond in early stages of development. Plans show this should ultimately cover more than three acres and be 15 feet deep.* *Photo taken 5/25/19* *looking west from Taylor Gully toward Woodland Hills Drive.*

Plans for Woodridge Village show five detention ponds. Before the May 7 storm, it appears that only S1 was in place though even it was not finished. This raises the question, “Why did the developer focus on clearcutting the northern section before finishing crucial detention ponds on the southern section, where all the water from the north would flow?”

Only S1 Pond Fully Excavated at Time of Storm

Houston City Council Member Dave Martin investigating job site shortly after the May 7 flood on May 9. Shown here: The area that will become detention pond S1. It appeared to be the only semi-functioning detention pond on the entire 268 acres. This photo shows it almost fully excavated but not fully finished. Contractor will eventually slope right side to create more detention capacity and vegetate both sides to reduce erosion.

91% of Detention Capacity Not Completed at Time of Storm

Ultimately, the 268 acre site should hold five detention ponds with a total of 292.3 acre feet of storage. An acre foot would cover one acre to a depth of one foot. The bullet points below summarize the total storage of each pond in the map above.

N1 = 16.9 acre feet (not started)
N2 = 143.3 acre feet (started, but does not appear complete)
N3 = 56.4 acre feet (does not appear to be started)
S1 = 26.3 acre feet (mostly functioning, but not finished)
S2 = 49.4 acre feet (not exacted at time of May 7 storm)
Total = 292.3 acre feet
Not Started or Incomplete on May 7 = 91%

*People in construction often use the term “substantially complete” to mean functional, but not fully finished.*

The developer, Figure Four Partners, LTD, a subsidiary of Perry Homes and PSWA, Inc., issued a statement after the flood claiming that: “… many of the detention ponds are COMPLETE.” (Emphasis added.) Many appears to be 1 out of 5. And not even that one appeared complete. Complete, as their own engineer LJA pointed out, would have entailed sloping the sides and planting vegetation. See photo above; not even S1 was fully complete at the time of the flood.

The Figure Four Partners statement also claimed they had “improved drainage to the area that did not previously exist.” Residents say their contractor filled in existing streams on the property. Yet residents that did NOT flood during Harvey DID FLOOD after the so-called “improvements.”

How Detention Ponds Work

Detention ponds collect runoff during a heavy rain. Then they release it at a slow, controlled rate that drainage ditches like Taylor Gully can handle without flooding people downstream. That’s the theory anyway. They do this by restricting the outflow compared to inflow. However, to function, they have to be BUILT.

How Much Rain Detention Ponds Should Have Held vs How Much Fell

Had all five ponds been complete on May 7, the entire site should have detained 1.1 feet of rain, a little more than 13 inches. However, we received less than 8 inches.

Jeff Lindner, the Harris County meteorologist, issued a statement on May 13 summarizing the storm that flooded Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest. In it, he said, “A 30-min rate of 2.9 inches was recorded at US 59 and the West Fork of the San Jacinto River and a 1 hour rate of 4.0 inches. A 6-hr rainfall rate of 7.9 inches was recorded at the East Fork of the San Jacinto River and FM 1485. Rainfall rates between the 15-min and 6-hr time periods on Tuesday afternoon and evening averaged between a 2-yr and 50-yr frequency over the extreme northeast portions of Harris into southeast Montgomery Counties.”

Questions Owners and Contractors Need to Answer

In the last four years, we received three so-called 500-year storms. Two happened in the spring.

Knowing that, why did Rebel Contractors wait six months after clearing to begin excavating S2, the detention pond adjacent to areas that flooded?
Why did Rebel grade the rest of the site to funnel water toward Elm Grove before detention was in place?
Did economics factors push Rebel Contractors to clearcut the entire site before constructing detention that could control the runoff?
Why did Rebel Contractors fill in existing drainage features that could have helped reduce flooding before starting work on S2?
Why did Figure Four Partners claim that many of the detention ponds were complete?
If Figure Four improved drainage, why did homes flood that never flooded before?
Silt fences were supposed to be put up before any land was cleared. However, they were not put up until AFTER the flood on May 7. Why?
The plans required an onsite engineer to ensure compliance with permit provisions. Who was that engineer? How could he/she have possibly missed glaring deficiencies?
Stormwater Pollution Prevention Permits were supposed to be posted at all job site entrances. They were not. Why? And why did the contractor put them up the day before LJA Engineers inspected the site for Montgomery County and the TCEQ?

I hope I live long enough to learn the answers! I hope officials care enough to look for the answers! Tens of thousands of Kingwood homes did NOT flood during the May 7th storm; 196 homes next to this development did. They deserve answers.

All thoughts in this post are my opinions on matters of public policy and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/26/2019

635 Days after Hurricane Harvey

Impervious Clay in Clear-Cut Area Accelerated Runoff Toward Elm Grove Before Detention Fully Developed

Hundreds of residents in Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest, south of the new Woodridge Village development, flooded last week. Everyone says they never flooded before the contractor started clearcutting and grading the property. So what changed? Clearcutting removed all the plants and ponds that slowed the water’s velocity. It also exposed a highly impervious clay soil base, so slick when wet, that it offered very little resistance to flow. That accelerated stormwaters toward Elm Grove, where detention ponds had yet to be built and, according to residents, the developer had filled in natural drainage features.

Geologist Finds Impervious Clay

I asked a retired top geologist from one of the world’s largest oil companies to describe the soil composition. The answer? At least 50% clay. “Because clay grains are very small (<2 microns), plate shaped and tightly bonded, water does not easily or quickly move through or into clay-dominant sediments without the help of plant roots.” Thus, there’s much more runoff than absorption, especially after clearcutting and grading.

To check that assumption, he dug a hole and filled it with water from a bucket.

The water took 15 minutes to go down one-half inch.

*Absorption rate indicates low permeability* *and high runoff rates.* *Note the ponding water halfway up the stake*, *still sitting on the surface from week-old rains.*

Still Had Standing Water Eight Days after Rain

He continued. “The presence of many puddles of standing water from week-old rains indicate that clay-dominant sediment like I sampled is wide spread across the site as it is throughout our fluvial flood plain setting – except locally where sandy channel fills are also present.”

*Standing water remained on the site, days after the last rain, indicating a high clay content.*

What a Photo Can Tell: Decoding Erosion Patterns

I also asked him to analyze this photo below and tell me whether it changed his opinion of soil composition. The photo was taken directly north of the box culvert installed by the developer near Taylor Gulley. The area was several blocks from where he sampled soil.

*Several days after this photo was taken the contractor excavated this area to form a retention pond that should have been there **before** the flood.*

When the geologist saw the photo above, he said:

The erosion itself indicates a high rate of water runoff and minimal absorption.
Steep edges imply cohesion typically associated with clay. Sand or less cohesive soils would slump.
Standing water proves low percolation rate. Only clay rich sediments would hold water like that for more than a few hours.

What Contractor Should Have Known

The contractor developing the site had to know the soil was impervious. They had worked it for a year or more and had to see standing water on numerous occasions that reportedly caused delays. Still, they did several things that increased flood risk for downstream residents – before they completed site detention. For instance, they:

Basically, they increased the slope of land, reduced the friction that vegetation provides, and accelerated runoff toward an area that they knew could flood, across soil that they knew was impervious…before finishing the detention work.

Photo by Jeff Miller on 5/16/2019, more than a week after the Elm Grove flood, shows developer starting to excavate the detention pond near the portion of Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest that Flooded.

Had all the detention been installed before the storm hit, Elm Grove and surrounding areas should not have flooded.

Hydrologist’s Claims at Odds with Performance

The hydrologist’s conclusion (see page 3 of the 59 page report) states that on-site detention should hold up to a hundred-year rain. But the Harris County meteorologist estimates that on the day Elm Grove flooded, the area received at most a 50-year rain. Maybe everything wasn’t working as planned after all. Maybe the developer should have changed its approach too construction. Developing detention sooner could have reduced flood risk.

Posted by Bob Rehak with help from Jeff Miller on 5/20/2019

629 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Engineering Plans for Figure Four Development Near Elm Grove

Below are several links that allow you to download the engineering plans for Woodridge Village, sections one and two. I haven’t had time to read them yet. Frankly they make my eyeballs bleed. But maybe some younger eyes can help.

I’m posting these because Kingwood is full of engineers who are more qualified to evaluate them than I. All of us are smarter than one of us.

*Cover page of first doc showing detention plans.*

Woodridge Village, Sections One and Two, comprise those huge clearcut areas north of Elm Grove. During heavy rains last week, video shows water pouring out of the newly clearcut section into Elm Grove. Something appears to have gone wrong. Texas law prohibits flooding your neighbors.

Please Help Review Engineering Plans

The first talks about their constructions plans for Waterline Relocation and Detention Ponds.

The second talks about their Water, Sanitary Sewer and Drainage Facilities & Paving and Appurtenances for Section 1 of the development.

The third talks about their Water, Sanitary Sewer and Drainage Facilities & Paving and Appurtenances for Section 2 of the development.

I would love to hear from civil engineers who know about these things. Reply in confidence through the contact form on this web site.

A shout-out to Houston City Council Member Dave Martin and his staff for supplying these documents. And another to Montgomery County for supplying them to him.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/15/2019

624 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Tag Archive for: elm grove