City, county prepare for possible tropical storm
Emergency management officials in greater Houston spent Tuesday preparing for the potential of a tropical system hitting the area this weekend, as a trough of low pressure churns into the warm waters off the coast of the Florida Panhandle.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami gave the system a 70 percent chance of forming into Tropical Depression or Storm Barry within 48 hours, potentially making it among the first named storms of the 2019 hurricane season. While Barry’s path remained uncertain as its center began to solidify late Tuesday, models showed it could impact anywhere from eastern Louisiana to the Houston area by late Friday or Saturday with rainfall estimates ranging from 5 to 15 inches.
Although Hurricane Harvey is fresh on the minds of those in Southeast Texas, and emergency protocols have been updated since the 2017 storm, local flood control infrastructure remains relatively unchanged.
“When people ask us today if we’re more prepared now than we were prepared for Harvey, the answer, unfortunately, is no, because federal dollars are slow in coming in,” said Steve Costello, chief recovery officer for the city of Houston.
The city still awaits its share of $4.3 billion in federal funding, he said. It also still is waiting for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to create guidelines to dictate funding for flood mitigation projects spawned by Harvey.
The Legislature approved using $1.7 billion from the state’s savings to help, but much of that will serve as matching money required or the federal funding.
Since Harris County voters approved a $2.5 billion bond in 2018, 135 of 237 flood control projects are underway, Harris County Flood Control District spokesman Rob Lazaro said. Those include bayou deepening and widening projects, drainage projects, Hurricane Harvey-related repairs and buyouts.
On Tuesday, Commissioners Court voted to speed up projects in 105 subdivisions that flooded during Harvey but are outside the floodplain.
The team, however, still lacks dry suits, water-resistant bags and other rescue equipment. City Council approved those purchases in February, but much of that gear is not expected to reach fire stations until near the end of hurricane season, he said.
Some improvements that have been made include communications. Residents, for example, can sign up with the flood control district to receive alerts about flood gauges near their homes or businesses.
Cory Stottlemeyer, public information officer with the city’s Office of Emergency Management, said the agency now is now able to send alerts through text messages, phone calls and push notifications, and those alerts can be geotagged to areas facing a specific risk.
Meanwhile, flood control district crews this week will clear storm drains and remove debris that could clog bayous and other drainage systems. The city will decide whether to drain water from Lake Houston once the storm’s forecast becomes more apparent.
And officials with the city’s Office of Emergency Management will determine whether to activate its emergency protocols when the storm’s path appears defined.