Harvey project nearly complete
County repairs to flood infrastructure could be finished 3 years after storm
Harris County still has not completed repairs to flood control infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Harvey three years ago, a testament to the destruction the storm’s record rainfall wrought and the sheer scope of work needed to fix it.
Crews are on track to complete the $95 million repair program by the end of August, Harris County Flood Control District Deputy Executive Director Matt Zeve said.
“It’s an arduous process. It’s moving dirt,” Zeve said. “Some of that construction is simple, just repairing erosion on earthen channels, all the way to rebuilding major bridges over Brays Bayou.”
Harvey, which swamped more than 200,000 homes across the county, damaged a third of the county’s flood control infrastructure, affecting 18 of 22 watersheds, Zeve said. Most of the destruction
came in the form of channel erosion, though the storm also crushed or clogged hundreds of outfall pipes.
Three-quarters of the repairs have been completed. A year ago, just 5 percent were done.
The fixes cannot come soon enough as the third Atlantic hurricane season since Harvey began Monday. Tropical Storm Cristobal came ashore in Louisiana on Sunday.
While many county departments and private businesses have slowed or altered their operations during the novel coronavirus pandemic, Zeve said the flood control district’s productivity has been largely unaffected. Construction crews continue work in the field while many deskbound engineers work from home.
The district is trying to keep pace on its $2.5 billion flood bond program, the largest local investment in storm protection in county history, which voters approved in 2018. The program’s 181 projects — consolidated from an original list of 241 — are scheduled to be completed by 2028. The district’s annual capital budget has quintupled from prebond levels.
The return of hurricane season brings with it anxiety in residents who know all too well how vulnerable the region is to storms. After three consecutive years of major floods, capped off by Harvey in 2017, the Houston area has had better luck. The severity of Tropical Storm Imelda this past September caught some by surprise, however, dumping 40 inches of rain on some parts of Harris County.
Juan Sorto lives near the confluence of Halls and
Greens bayous, not far from where six members of one family were swept away and drowned during Harvey. The East Houston and Settegast Super Neighborhood Alliance president said the area still is as vulnerable to flooding as it was three years ago. The bond program invests about $88 million between the two watersheds.
“We haven’t seen any change whatsoever,” Sorto said. “We’re not very wellprepared for the next storm.”
He also called on the city to improve street drainage, which contributes to flooding when storm drains are clogged or insufficient. The flood control district maintains only the county’s expansive creek and bayou network.
In northwest Harris County, Dick Smith still worries when hurricane season arrives. At least now his family is out of harm’s way. He sold his “dream home” on Cypress Creek through the
flood control district’s buyout program last year.
Deep inside the 100-year floodplain, the two-story structure flooded for the sixth time during Harvey, when the ground floor was submerged by eight feet of water.
“I couldn’t put my wife and children through that again,” Smith said.
The bond program is a badly needed — and long overdue — investment in flood protection, said Smith, who also serves as president of the Cypress Creek Flood Control Coalition. He praised the work flood control crews have completed to date, including de-silting channels along the creek. The bond program, which includes Harvey repairs, includes about $200 million for the watershed.
Smith urged residents to remain engaged on flooding issues, even during dry years, since he said more bonds likely will be needed.
Engineers and researchers
estimate that protecting all structures within Harris County from 100-year storms, which on paper have a 1 percent change of occurring any given year, would cost as much as $30 billion.
Zeve is quick to acknowledge the bond program will provide only partial protection to the county. While channel widenings, infrastructure repairs and home buyouts have already made some watersheds less flood prone, he said no amount of engineering can eliminate flooding here. He likened Harvey, which dropped 9 trillion gallons of water on the Houston area, to dumping a bucket of water into a shot glass.
“If we get another storm like Hurricane Harvey, I do think that’s just an order of magnitude that no infrastructure in Harris County is designed to deal with,” he said.