Tag Archives: flooding

P Bush tries to make amends

Posted on May 28, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

What a joker. Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush said Wednesday he would ask the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to directly send Harris County $750 million in flood mitigation aid related to Hurricane Harvey, days after his … Continue reading →

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State Reps to P Bush: Reconsider

Posted on May 26, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Nearly all of the Harris County State Reps have written a letter to Land Commissioner George P Bush asking him to reconsider the ridiculous process that completely shut Houston and Harris County out of federal flooding funds. A bipartisan group … Continue reading →

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P Bush tries to deflect blame on flood funding fiasco

Posted on May 23, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

You can run, but you can’t hide, George P. Bush. Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush blamed local leaders Friday for Houston and Harris County’s failure to secure a single penny of roughly $1 billion in federal flood mitigation funds … Continue reading →

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GLO to Harris County: Drop dead

Posted on May 22, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Hard to see this as anything but a hatchet job. Houston and Harris County officials said the Texas General Land Office informed them Thursday they would receive nothing from the more than $1.3 billion in applications they submitted for federal … Continue reading →

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Commissioners Court partially fills the flood bond funding gap

Posted on May 1, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Harris County Commissioners Court took initial steps this week to plug a $1.4 billion funding hole for its flood bond program by diverting revenue from the county’s toll roads system. Court members also laid out a “backstop” plan to … Continue reading →

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The infrastructure bill and Texas flooding

Posted on April 17, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

It’s more than just the Ike Dike. President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan includes $50 billion to fortify states against future extreme weather events such as the droughts, floods and hurricanes that caused up to $200 billion in damage in Texas … Continue reading →

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Not everyone opposes the I-45 project

Posted on April 14, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Life is a rich tapestry. Jill Rafferty proudly acknowledges she bothers a lot of people. Better to rub them the wrong way, she reasons, than let a lack of attention wash her Independence Heights neighborhood away. Flood control efforts, mostly … Continue reading →

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The infrastructure bill and the Ike Dike

Posted on April 5, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

This is encouraging. President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan sure seems to be considering building the Ike Dike. His $2 trillion plan includes improving and strengthening infrastructure in coastal areas most vulnerable during hurricane season. Biden pitched part of the American … Continue reading →

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Flood funding shortfall

Posted on March 17, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Still trying to understand this. Harris County on Tuesday revealed a $1.4 billion shortfall in funding for flood control projects under the bond program voters approved in 2018, a massive miscalculation that threatens to cause construction delays and cost taxpayers … Continue reading →

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Harris County approves its budget

Posted on February 11, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Good priorities. Harris County Commissioners Court on Tuesday unanimously approved a $3.3 billion general fund budget that includes new investments in pollution control, public health and attorneys for indigent criminal defendants. The $64 million in new spending represents a 2 … Continue reading →

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Who cares how much it will cost to build the Ike Dike?

Posted on November 16, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Imagine how much it will cost to recover from a catastrophic hurricane whose storm surge could have been mitigated by the Ike Dike. You know, like that hurricane from earlier this year that would have done exactly that had it … Continue reading →

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Flooding affects toll roads, too.

Posted on September 21, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

This makes sense to me. Commissioners Court on Tuesday voted to create a local government corporation to manage Harris County’s toll road system in a move expected to provide a windfall to county coffers and allow surplus toll collections to … Continue reading →

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The post-Harvey flood control march

Posted on September 18, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a long journey, with a lot to be done. It’s going to take awhile. Most of Kenwood, a working class, mostly Latino neighborhood, is so deep in the 100-year floodplain that Harris County engineers have concluded no flood control … Continue reading →

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Meanwhile, the jail is filling up again

Posted on June 16, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

We really need to do something about this. The Harris County Jail population has been steadily rising since late April and is now approaching its pre-pandemic capacity despite early efforts to curb crowding, according to the sheriff’s office. With an … Continue reading →

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So you want some flood bond project money?

Posted on May 25, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Harris County plays a little hardball. Harris County on Tuesday plans to restrict flood bond projects to municipalities that meet its floodplain development standards, effectively forcing the 34 cities within its borders to adopt stricter rules to access the $2.5 … Continue reading →

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Is it finally going to be Infrastructure Week?

Posted on April 5, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this: Lawmakers have been talking about striking a deal to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure for years. It might take a pandemic to finally get them to do it, and Texas officials are already … Continue reading →

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Resilient Houston

Posted on February 20, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

It’s good to have a plan. No traffic deaths on Houston streets, 4.6 million new trees, and no more homes in the floodway. All by 2030. Those are some of the lofty goals set in the master resiliency plan, “Resilient … Continue reading →

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More flood tunnel studies

Posted on December 31, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Has some promise. With engineers working at a feverish pace to get more than 200 projects in its $2.5 billion bond program moving, much of the Flood Control District’s efforts are focused on nuts-and-bolts improvements — including widening bayous, digging … Continue reading →

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Army Corps held liable for Harvey reservoir flooding

Posted on December 19, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

A big deal. Thousands of Houston area residents and property owners landed a historic win against the U.S. government on Tuesday when a federal judge found that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is liable for damage caused when it … Continue reading →

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Next up for Mayor Turner

Posted on December 17, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

A preview of his second term agenda. Mayor Sylvester Turner said he would seek to enact “transformational” changes in his second term, previewing an agenda that will require city leaders to confront politically difficult issues and vastly expand the use … Continue reading →

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The state of the county 2019

Posted on November 18, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo has a lot of accomplishments to tout. Harris County in the past year has made significant progress on flood control, criminal justice and improving public health, County Judge Lina Hidalgo said in her first State … Continue reading →

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Another ReBuild Houston lawsuit

Posted on October 26, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Gotta say, this puzzles me. A pair of Houston residents filed a lawsuit against Mayor Sylvester Turner and city council Monday, accusing them of failing to follow the will of voters who approved a charter amendment last year for funding … Continue reading →

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The state will be handling the Harvey relief funds

Posted on October 10, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Don’t worry your pretty little heads about it. Texas is likely another nine months from getting $4.3 billion in federal post-Hurricane Harvey recovery money aimed at better protecting the state from future flooding and disasters. But when it finally arrives, … Continue reading →

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The Chron’s overview of the Mayor

Posted on October 7, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a fair picture. Mayor Sylvester Turner hugged his way through three dozen staff and supporters, reached the podium, and smiled. It was May 2017, and Turner’s landmark pension reform bill had just passed the Legislature, validating his decision to … Continue reading →

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Once again, we wait for disaster relief funds

Posted on September 25, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

At least people know the drill by now. Five deaths are linked to floods from Tropical Storm Imelda, the worst storm in Texas since Hurricane Harvey and one of the wettest tropical cyclones in the nation’s history, according to the … Continue reading →

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The cumulative effect

Posted on September 22, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

We really need to give a lot more thought, and action, to this. As the flood-weary city of Houston recovers from yet another historic storm in the coming days, rubber-gloved mucking brigades and tow truck armies will swoop in to … Continue reading →

Posted in Hurricane Katrina | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Risk management is hard

Posted on September 21, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

I have a lot of sympathy for these school officials. At least 20 school districts in Greater Houston opted to stay open as the remnants of Tropical Depression Imelda bore down on the region Thursday, decisions that angered some parents … Continue reading →

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Tropical Storm Imelda

Posted on September 20, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

That escalated very quickly. Heavy rainfall from now-downgraded Imelda continued to wreak havoc Thursday for much of southeast Texas, where officials were dealing with impassable roadways, downed trees, power outages, hundreds of high-water rescues, fast-rising water and in one small … Continue reading →

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Some flood mitigation funds are coming

Posted on August 12, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Good. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has awarded Houston its first grant aimed at mitigating flooding since Hurricane Harvey hit nearly two years ago, laying the groundwork for new gates on the Lake Houston dam and detention basins in Inwood … Continue reading →

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The Ike Dike debate continues

Posted on August 8, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

There’s more than one way to mitigate against flooding, and it may be best to adopt more than one of them. For about a decade, two of Texas’ top universities have pushed dueling plans to protect the Houston-Galveston region from … Continue reading →

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I for one am happy to be anti-drowning

Posted on August 5, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

I’m almost irrationally furious about this. Wednesday’s event by the Bayou City Initiative was billed “Flood Resiliency and the State of City Infrastructure.” So, it was no surprise to see featured speaker Carol Haddock, head of Houston Public Works, get … Continue reading →

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The Dutch way to mitigate against floods

Posted on July 27, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

We can learn a lot from this largely-below-sea-level country. On a sunny Friday in late May, a jubilant wedding party scrambled to the top of a colossal sand dune in this tiny Dutch beach town for a photoshoot, bridesmaids’ arms … Continue reading →

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A look at the Constitutional amendments we will see this November

Posted on July 6, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

There are ten of them, including a couple I will vote against as hard as I can. House Joint Resolution 4 would let the Texas Water Development dole out dollars from a flood infrastructure fund — created by Senate Bill … Continue reading →

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Still filled with dread about I-45

Posted on June 18, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Anyone got a paper bag I can breathe into? Strip away the enormity of rebuilding Interstate 45 and the promise of speedier trips along downtown Houston freeways, and two questions about the once-in-a-generation project remain: How many negative effects are … Continue reading →

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