Tag Archive for: Kashmere Gardens

How Floods Can Leave a Lasting Legacy of Loss

Long after floods recede, the residue of toxic chemicals carried by the water can leave a lasting legacy of loss. It can remain in homes and yards, affecting the health of both homeowners and neighborhoods. During Hurricane Harvey, for instance, sewage contaminated the cleanups of both Kingwood College and Kingwood High School. Decontamination, cleanup and repairs took years in each case. But individual residents often don’t have the money to afford expensive decontamination.

Flooding Near Rail Yards and Creosote

One of the most heartbreaking cases in the City of Houston/Harris County has to do with a controversial, decades-long creosote/dioxin cleanup effort associated with the Union Pacific Railroad yard in the Fifth Ward. The Texas Department of Health Services has identified several cancer clusters in the area. And the types of cancers found near the former “Wood Preserving Works” at 4910 Liberty Road in Houston have been associated with the types of chemicals used on the site for decades.

Wood Treatment Facility was located at far end of this yard.
FEMA flood map shows how tracks constrict the flow of floodwaters in Hunting Bayou. Water flows from upper left to lower right. Tan = 500 year floodplain. Aqua = 100 year.

Residents interviewed for this article discussed several pathways for possible contamination: airborne dust, groundwater, floodwater/runoff, and clothing of workers. Site runoff mixed with floodwater appears to be one of the most likely.

The map above and the photos below clearly show that the site is elevated compared to surrounding neighborhoods. And residents tell stories of multi-colored sheens on runoff channeled through their streets.

Dueling Studies

UP inherited the site in 1997 after a merger with Southern Pacific. Southern Pacific treated railroad ties with creosote at the site between 1899 and 1984. The creosote is a preservative that keeps ties from rotting and causing derailments.

Union Pacific says it has has found no relationship between the site and cancer clusters in surrounding neighborhoods after 30 years of study.

However, in 2020, the Texas Department of State Health Services published a study covering the years from 2000 to 2016. The study compared cancer rates in the area near the rail yards with those throughout Houston and Texas as the baseline. Researchers identified several cancer clusters in the Fifth Ward neighborhoods you see above.

But UP questions the validity of that study. The company claims that “The area also includes an industrial complex containing about 200 TCEQ-regulated cleanup sites and two superfund projects. The former Houston Wood Preserving Works site represents 33 acres, or less than .4 percent of the total cancer-cluster territory.”

In February 2023, the EPA demanded yet another study as the two sides locked in a stalemate.

Mayor Says “We Know Enough”

Then yesterday, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner held a press conference. He escalated the conflict. Turner, who has just five months left in office, says he supported the additional study but, “we have studied the problem enough. The time for action is now. Time is the enemy.”

Turner urged relocating people in the most contaminated areas closest to the site. He emphasized finding safer places in the same general area to reduce the impact of relocation.

“Let me emphasize this,” said Turner. “Time is the enemy of people living in the highly exposed and dangerous zone with limited means to do anything else. How many more people must be diagnosed with cancer? How many more people – and specifically, how many more children – must die? How many more families must be trapped in a known danger zone while we watch, test and litigate? The city cannot and will not continue to wait until we know every single thing.“

The Mayor continued, “We know enough. The cancer cluster is clear. The presence of creosote beneath homes at levels above cleanup standards is clear. The presence of elevated levels of cancer-causing dioxin detected at some homes through the city’s limited studies is clear. You simply can’t wait for the test to be completed, and watch and litigate it, and then start the process further down the road.” 

Mayor Recommends Relocating Residents within 2-3 Block Radius of Site

“Today, I’m announcing a strike-force team composed of representatives of the city’s Health and Human Services, Housing and Community Development, Real-Estate Recovery, and legal teams, along with outside sources. They will begin work in earnest on a program to help relocate residents living above the creosote plume and in a 2 to 3 block radius around the site.”

If the results of the EPA’s Union-Pacific investigation reveal broader areas of impact, Turner says the program will be expanded to help those people, too.

Turner concluded with a personal anecdote that related to his own experience with cancer. He said that with cancer, “Time is your enemy.” That’s why he wanted to get people out of harm’s way who can’t fend for themselves.

Lasting Legacy of Loss – Case After Case of Cancer, Boarded Up Homes

When I flew over the UP site last year, I was astounded by its size. Ken Williams, chairman of the Harris County Community Resilience Flood Task Force who lives nearby, introduced me to some people in the neighborhood, including Keith Downey, the local Super-Neighborhood Council President.

They gave me a tour. It was one of my more gut-wrenching experiences since Harvey.

I also met a young lady, Sandra Edwards, who grew up across the street from the UP site. She walked us up and down the block, stopping in front of each house, to tell us the stories of the occupants. Within a half block, we counted about a dozen neighbors who had died or were dying from cancer.

Sandra Edwards, concerned neighbor turned activist
Every other home it seemed was abandoned.
One that wasn’t abandoned had children’s play equipment in the front. But the EPA warns not to let kids play in the dirt because of soil contamination.
Many of the homes had reportedly been victimized by arson. Edwards talked of a developer trying to buy up properties to redevelop the neighborhood whose future is still in doubt.
Edwards in front of former creosote site. Note slope. Water runs into neighborhood according to Edwards.
Looking NNE across creosote site. Note Fleming Middle School five blocks north, left of center near top of frame.

I returned to the neighborhood several times between July and December to photograph the progress of cleanup.

Toxic waste cleanup on creosote site
In November, cleanup was still going strong.
Note the covered dumpsters to keep excavated dirt from blowing out. Also note plastic liners under dumpsters to keep polluted rainwater from soaking back into soil.

Many of the people living here inherited homes that their parents or grandparents owned before there was an EPA and people knew about the dangers of substances such as creosote and dioxins.

This lasting legacy of loss has been developing for decades. It could be decades more before the parties find a mutually agreeable solution.

Check back for more news as it develops. For more information see this list of studies conducted by the Houston Health Department.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 7/14/23

2145 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.

Looking Through the Wrong End of the Drainpipe: The Politics of Misdirection

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. 

And had they bothered to look, they would have found Kingwood, their favorite whipping boy, has never received one Harris County Flood Control District Capital Improvement Project.

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 Octavia Streets. 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.

Hounding talented executives like Russ Poppe, the soon to be ex-head of the flood control district, out of their jobs won’t fix the issue either. That’s also misdirection.

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.

For More Information

For more information, see: 

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/27/2021

1398 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.