County to vote on post-Harvey buyouts

Acquisition of flood-prone properties is first round of $20 million initiative

With Hurricane Harvey looming, Candace Pitkin, like the others who live in the dozen or so homes in Highland Shores along the banks of the San Jacinto River, knew the drill: monitor the gauges to anticipate the rising river, pack up important belongings and leave for dry ground until the waters recede.

Two months later, Pitkin, 45, won’t be returning. Her home and two dozen others mostly along the river are headed for demolition after they struck deals with Harris County to be part of the first round of buyouts of land flooded during Harvey’s wrath.

The Harris County Commissioners Court is expected to vote Tuesday to authorize the buyout of 34 properties as county officials race to complete the voluntary buyouts before homeowners make repairs.

For Pitkin, the decision to sell was “horrible.”

“It’s a wonderful little neighborhood right here,” she said.

Fallen trees and piles of silt still flank the road to Highland Shores, a 2.5 mile stretch that cuts through wildlife-rich wetlands. The Banana Bend Nature Preserve borders the road on the south until the road hits the San Jacinto River. The homes sit on large, open lots covered in grass, some surrounded by wooden or metal fences as the river flows in the background.

Piles of trash, insulation and furniture sit next to most of the homes. During the storm, up to 52 inches of rain fell across the county, which caused billions of dollars of damage, flooded an estimated 136,000 homes and structures and killed almost 80 people across the state.

Time to leave

All of the homes in Highland Shores — and another targeted neighborhood to the north, Banana Bend — are in the San Jacinto River’s floodway, an area of land that is expected to flood during heavy rains.

Pitkin said she and her neighbors were well-aware of the flood risks when they chose to live there. Recent years, however, have been too much for Pitkin and others to bear.

She rattled off four times the neighborhood flooded in the last 15 months: the Tax Day floods in 2016, May 2016, June 2016 and Harvey.

Until Harvey, water never entered her home, and she did not think she would be gone for more than a week before returning to begin the familiar cleanup of debris and mud on the streets and around their homes.

Harvey was different, though, sending torrents of water into Pitkin’s and many of her neighbors’ homes.

When the county came with a buyout offer, Pitkin took it, saying it was time to leave.

“It’s been a lot of devastation,” said Jeff Dyson, 47, Pitkin’s neighbor.

More than 3,000 people have asked to be bought out by the Harris County Flood Control District in Harvey’s wake. The repeat, severe floods and the possibility of even stronger storms in the future have prompted broader reactions, as well.

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett called earlier this year for a revamp to the region’s current flood control strategy, which could include pursuing increased restrictions on development in the county, the creation of a regional flood control district and a third dam and reservoir in the northwest part of the region to complement the Addicks and Barker reservoirs.

The county also is currently mulling whether the scope and level of regulations governing development in floodplains should be increased.

The 34 buyouts slated to be approved Tuesday are part of a plan to rapidly use $20 million in county money to purchase 206 homes in floodplains across unincorporated portions of the county that were substantially damaged during Harvey’s record-breaking deluge and destruction, including clusters along Cypress Creek and Greens Bayou, in addition to the San Jacinto River.

“These are the obvious ones,” Emmett said.

Moving quickly

The county will target homes that have flood insurance so that payouts can complement the $20 million in county funds.

Pitkin declined to give the exact amount offered for her home. She said the county conducted an appraisal and offered fair market value. As of Jan. 1, Pitkin’s home was appraised at $232,133, according to the Harris County Appraisal District.

The county also will offer relocation bonuses up to $31,000. Since the deals for the homes have not yet been completed, the exact amounts remain confidential, said County Engineer John Blount.

The county is attempting to move fast on post-Harvey buyouts so homeowners do not engage in costly repairs, Blount said. It typically takes months or even years for local governments to apply for and get federal grants for buyouts. Earlier this month, the Commissioners Court voted to ask the federal government for $17 million to purchase 104 homes at the highest risk of flooding, based on data from 2015 and 2016. The earliest the county could see those funds is in 2018.

Growing pains

Buyouts have been a focal point of county flood control efforts in recent years as decades of Houston’s growth in flood-prone areas pose a particular problem for local officials. The first comprehensive floodplain maps were not drawn until the mid 1980s when some 2.7 million people already lived in the county.

The Harris County Flood Control District estimates nearly 180,000 homes and structures are inside “100-year” floodplains, or areas that would flood in the event of a 100year storm — a storm so severe that it has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any given year.

Harvey, the 2016 Tax Day floods and the 2015 Memorial Day floods all surpassed rainfall levels of a “500-year” storm — 0.2 percent chance of occurring in any given year — in at least some parts of the county.