![]() ![]() ![]() In April, Houston's city council tightened rules on flood plain construction, extending "regulations from the 100-year flood plain to the broader 500-year flood plain and new homes built in those areas to sit higher off the ground." But Mayor Sylvester Turner doesn't see a future in abandoning those areas outright. Many of those permits went to owners razing and elevating flooded homes, but plenty of new construction is also occurring, including " clumps of townhomes, packing more families into the flood plain." The City started filing mitigation paperwork with FEMA in the first half of 2018, soon after Congress appropriated disaster relief and recovery funds in reaction to the devastation from Harvey and other 2017 hurricanes.Some Houston developers and homebuyers seem to "see opportunity in devastation," according to reporting by Mike Morris and Matt Dempsey. "One in 5 new homes permitted in Houston in the year after Hurricane Harvey is in a flood plain - some on prairie developed for the first time after the storm - even as new rainfall data showed existing flood maps understate the risk posed by strengthening storms." Mayor Turner continues to thank the City’s congressional delegation, state officials, City Council members and his staff for working together to open the federal funding stream for Houston. The FEMA grant provides $4.3 million for the initial phase and positions the city to receive $42.7 million for construction, with a goal of completion by 2022.Īnother City-proposed flood mitigation project still awaits funding approval from the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program for a $60 million subterranean stormwater detention facility in the Memorial City area. The Lake Houston Dam project will add 10 gates to the dam to allow for larger controlled releases of water in advance of heavy rains, protecting about 35,000 residents and 5,000 structures. The project would take seven or eight years without recent federal funding. The City and the flood control district acquired the former golf course in 2011 as a potential flood mitigation facility. The City and county aim to build 12 floodwater detention basins to hold a total of about 1,200 acre-feet of water (roughly 592 Olympic swimming pools, or enough water to fill the Astrodome). The Inwood project will protect over 4,400 structures in the White Oak Bayou and Vogel Creek watersheds. In August, FEMA awarded the first set of federal grants to the City for the $46.9 million Inwood Forest Stormwater Detention Basin at the former Inwood Golf Course in Northwest Houston and the first phase of the $47.1 million Lake Houston Dam Spillway Improvement Project. ![]() Local match funding for the federal grant is $25 million from the Memorial Heights Redevelopment Authority and $20 million each from the City, the Harris County Flood Control District and the Texas Department of Transportation. “The North Canal is a landmark project, developed by the City, to minimize the devastation that may come with the next big storm.” “More than two years after Hurricane Harvey, federal government funding is flowing into Houston to save lives and protect property on a massive scale,” Mayor Turner said. The funding calls for completion of the project in 2022. The project will include rerouting White Oak Bayou along downtown, an overflow channel east of downtown, and bridge and channel improvements along Yale Street and Heights Boulevard to provide additional water conveyance capacity. The North Canal, which has been considered for many years, plays an integral role in reducing flooding to the central business district and areas west of downtown, upstream along White Oak and Buffalo Bayous. FEMA has approved initial funding for the City’s proposed $131 million North Canal flood mitigation project, which is apparently the largest storm disaster prevention endeavor in Texas, Mayor Sylvester Turner announced today. ![]()
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