Project continues removal of submerged cars from bayous
Officials expect about 65 vehicles to be recovered
Houston Police Department investigators are standing on the banks of Houston bayous this summer, watching and waiting as contractors dive into the muddy waters to dredge up dozens of submerged vehicles.
That effort began Wednesday, and police expect to find evidence of crimes dating back decades, according to the Harris County Flood Control District. Other recent searches discovered vehicles reported stolen years ago, such as one from a 1999 armed robbery and another after a 2000 home invasion. The oldest vehicle recovered in a pilot project last year was a 1978 Datsun 280Z reported stolen in 1982.
Some cars pulled from the water contained human remains.
That was the case with a sedan discovered in Buffalo Bayou last December in George Bush Park and another car pulled in July 2015 from Sims Bayou.
More than 100 possible submerged vehicles were identified in 2012 when Texas Equusearch, a nonprofit that organizes search parties for missing people, conducted a sonar survey of the bayous.
Russ Poppe, the flood control district’s executive director, said the Equusearch map has proved invaluable,
“I think there’s a high degree of concern that these vehicles (may contain) evidence that would solve a missingpersons case. There’s a strong desire to find out what secrets do lie in these submerged vehicles.” Russ Poppe, executive director of the Harris County Flood Control District
as vehicles generally sit in the same spots for years.
As vehicles are tugged out, police look for any clear evidence that could help solve an investigation, Poppe said. Then the vehicles go to city lots where police examine them more
closely before they head to disposal or an evidence lot.
“I think there’s a high degree of concern that these vehicles (may contain) evidence that would solve a missing-persons case,” Poppe said. “There’s a strong desire to find out what secrets do lie in these submerged vehicles.”
The 2016 pilot project removed 20 vehicles and paved the way for followup efforts, the flood control district said. This phase of the project will continue for about two months, funded equally by the city of Houston and by Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Jack Morman. Work could continue if any vehicles remain submerged.
Harris County awarded the $218,255 contract to Huffman Contractors LLC, a Port Arthur-based diving and marine construction company. Poppe said they were selected through a competitive bidding process run by Harris County purchasing officials. They are expected to remove about 65 vehicles.
“The contractor will use certified commercial divers and an excavator mounted on a series of floating barges to extract the submerged vehicles, along with other techniques,” according to the flood control district, which oversees projects meant to reduce flooding damage from the 2,500 or so miles of bayous and creeks in Harris County. The divers operate according to strict safety protocols.
“That’s why you don’t see us yanking out dozens of vehicles a day,” Poppe said. “It is a slow process because we want to make sure that it’s a safe process.”
In addition to providing new evidence for criminal investigations, removing vehicles from the bayous carries some environmental benefits.
“As vehicles get put in the bayous, they have a tendency to leak the liquids that keep them running — the oil, the antifreeze, the gas,” Poppe said. Getting the vehicles out of the water may prevent further contamination.
The locations targeted this summer include Lidstone Street on Brays Bayou, other spots along Brays Bayou and several parts of Sims Bayou.