Bond and proposed solutions aim to alleviate Greater Houston Area flooding
Last August 2017, Hurricane Harvey left a path of heartbreak and destruction in its wake. Homes and businesses were destroyed, whole towns were underwater and many people’s lives were drastically changed in a matter of a couple days.
The National Hurricane Center Tropical Cyclone Report on Hurricane Harvey reported that “at least 160,000 structures were flooded in Harris and Galveston counties” and “over half the deaths were in Harris County.”
On Aug. 26, 2018, the anniversary of Hurricane Harvey’s arrival in the Houston area, Harris County voters passed a $2.5 billion “infrastructure bond” devised with the intention of preventing catastrophic flooding throughout the Houston area.
The passing of this bond was a major milestone in the search for funding for flood prevention projects. This bond will be used to fund various buyouts, infrastructure repairs and drainage improvements around Harris County.
The Harris County Flood Control District reports on its website that the Bond Program project list consists of 237 projects that include the creation of “regional stormwater detention basins,” “major repairs to flood-damaged drainage infrastructure” and the removal of “large amounts of sediment and silt from drainage channels.”
However, despite the bond’s passage, flood relief will be a work in progress and may be slow in coming. The Harris County Flood Control District website states that “bond funds will not be made available immediately” and “they will be sold in increments over at least 10-15 years.”
In the meantime, Harris and Galveston Counties continue to deal with flooded streets and neighborhoods. The storm on Sept. 11, caused enough flooding in Texas City for schools to cancel classes. Three days later, a second storm caused major flooding throughout the city of Galveston.
The city of Dickinson received one of the hardest blows during Hurricane Harvey with flooding that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reported as covering “ninety percent of the city.” Dickinson residents have continued to experience instances of flooding over the past year post-Hurricane Harvey. The most recent incident occurred during the Sept. 11 storm, in which many local streets experienced flooding that brought unwelcome reminders of Harvey.
Dickinson resident Heidi Geer received fifteen inches of rain in her home during Hurricane Harvey, which resulted in the removal and replacement of “everything four feet down in [her] house.”
“There is always a chance [of being flooded again], and I do get a little stressed out when we get a lot of rain quickly,” Geer said. “But it’s a risk we will take one more time, after that we will be gone.”
One proposed solution to the flooding around the Dickinson area is to dredge Dickinson Bayou, which would create a deeper and wider body of water. However, while this proposal would solve the ongoing flood issues, it requires money, equipment, government backing and research that the city and county do not have.
“The CDBG-DR [Community Development Block Grant- Disaster Recovery] allocation from USHD [United States Housing and Development] to address infrastructure is just under $9 million, this will barely scratch the surface in addressing the failing streets and drainage issues from Harvey in the Dickinson Bayou Watershed,” said Dickinson Mayor Julie Masters. “However, we have applied for additional funding through NRCS [National Research Conservation Society], FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency], TWDB [Texas Water Development Board] and HMGP [Hazard Mitigation Grant Program], but all of these require a match to the Grant funds.”
Though flood relief is a work in progress, the City of Dickinson has prepared itself with a team of knowledgeable individuals with the intention of helping the community while waiting for additional funding.
“Dickinson has a team of hydrologist, engineers, city staff and grant managers working towards short and long-term solutions to our drainage problems and we are hoping to join forces with Galveston County and neighboring cities very soon to collaborate on projects that impact us all,” Master said.
