Hurricane Harvey was not a catastrophe; it was Houston’s finest hour

Imagine the following scenario: A major metropolitan area with millions of people is hit with a natural disaster of unprecedented proportions. Everyone expects a catastrophe of biblical proportions.

After the disaster passes, you learn the following:

• 99.5 percent of people are able to remain in their homes.

• 94 percent of homes suffered no damage.

• 0.0000075 percent of the population dies from the disaster, an increase in the annual death rate of about 0.1 percent.

• At any given point, more than 98 percent of Houstonians have electric power, and 92 percent of Houstonians never lose power.

• City, county, corporate, non-profit, and community leaders do a great job of responding to the disaster, as do state and federal government emergency management agencies.

• Average, everyday citizens step up in a big way to take care of family, friends, and neighbors.

• The economic damage caused by the disaster is estimated to be less than 10 percent to 20 percent of annual regional economic output, most of which is covered by insurance or is tax deductible. This is like someone who makes a salary of $60,000 having suffering loss of $6,000 to $12,000.

Houstonians don’t have to imagine this scenario — we just lived it.

But Hurricane Harvey was not a catastrophe. It was Houston’s finest hour, evidence that our distinctive approach to self-governance works, even under the stress of a major storm.

Of course many of us still have family, friends, and neighbors who are struggling with loss, and the response — from people both within our metro area and around the nation — has been heartwarming. And we will continue to work together to get those folks back on their feet. We always have, and we always will, because that’s who we are as Houstonians.

But there are some who are spinning a narrative that Houston’s response was a failure, and to use this “failure” as a pretext for changing our formula for success. Here are some of the comments I’ve seen from the “narrative spinners”:

Houston embraced a “Wild West” approach to growth.

Houston’s approach is not the “Wild West.” We have a more sophisticated and economically efficient land use system that relies heavily on deed restrictions rather than the antiquated politically-driven, top-down, expert-driven, bureaucratic zoning system that favors entrenched interests over new entrants. As a result, it’s easier to develop real estate than most cities, which keeps real estate prices — especially housing prices — low relative to the rest of the country.

Houston paved over wetlands that would have saved the city from flooding.

In the past couple of decades, Houston lost about 25,000 acres of wetlands — about 4 billion gallons of storm water detention capacity. But Harvey dumped about 1 trillion gallons, so the lost capacity represents about of 0.4 percent of Harvey’s deluge. But it’s also important to understand Houston’s strategy for many years has been to use streets as detention and runoff channels, the idea being that it is better to flood a street than a house. It’s a strategy that works in the real world, although it makes things look worse on TV.

Houston refused to implement zoning.

Mayor Sylvester Turner put it best, “Zoning wouldn’t have changed anything. We would have been a city with zoning that flooded.” The reality is the entire region performed well, both zoned places (Sugar Land, Katy) and unzoned places (Houston). What mattered was stormwater infrastructure, local leadership and civic culture. And we have all three.

Houston didn’t require developers to mitigate the impacts of new projects.

Not true. Developers are required to mitigate the impact of new projects. There were a number of changes that were implemented after Hurricane Allison, and we continue to refine our flood control system after each major event. I’m sure Hurricane Harvey will be no different.

Houston is the global center of the energy business, which is the biggest driver of climate change — one impact of which is the increased frequency and severity of hurricanes like Harvey.

Yes, Houston is the center of the energy business. But the claim that CO2 causes worse hurricanes is unproven and controversial, even to believers in climate change.

Regardless, even if you believe that CO2 is causing climate change, you should be thanking the energy entrepreneurs in Houston for bringing cheap, clean natural gas to the nation. The increasing use of gas in power generation has led to a much-improved carbon dioxide picture in the U.S.

Houston — we do not have a problem. We have a culture of opportunity, openness, and community that works because our system helps keep real estate — the cornerstone of the American Dream — affordable for all citizens, including the middle and working classes.

So, to the narrative spinners: Back off. We will not let you turn our success into failure to serve your own agenda. We are a great city and proud of how we roll.

Leo Linbeck III is executive chairman of Linbeck Group, a Houston-based institutional construction firm.