Tag Archives: Hurricane Harvey

Of course the Justice Department dropped the GLO screw job complaint

Posted on March 30, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

What did you expect? Or for that matter, what did I expect? The findings were stark. In one investigation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development concluded that a Texas state agency had steered $1 billion in disaster mitigation … Continue reading →

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GLO contests the allegations on their Harvey screw job

Posted on January 24, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Going through the motions here, since we all know that Justice Department investigation will never happen. Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham has penned a letter to federal law enforcement officials encouraging them to reject “unsubstantiated findings” submitted by the U.S. Department … Continue reading →

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Justice Department asked to investigate GLO’s screw job of Houston on Harvey funds

Posted on January 17, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Not sure that late is actually better than never in this case, but here we are. A complaint stemming from the Texas General Land Office’s allocation of Harvey disaster recovery funds, which originally awarded no money to Houston or Harris … Continue reading →

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The homeowners’ insurance is too damn high

Posted on December 7, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Texas isn’t such a cheap place to live when you factor in insurance costs. When Maryann McGregor retired in 2020, she and her husband considered downsizing and selling their four-bedroom home in Clear Lake to their adult son. The couple … Continue reading →

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Beryl’s effect on the Texas coast

Posted on December 1, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

It was pretty significant. Parts of Texas’ shoreline were unrecognizable after Hurricane Beryl wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast, destroyed dunes and immediately caused the shore to become largely inaccessible, new drone imagery shows. University of Houston researchers captured images … Continue reading →

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The lost Harvey recovery funds

Posted on August 3, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Good job on the audit front. Now let’s see what we can learn from this. Houston lost at least $8.5 million in potential reimbursements for a federally funded Hurricane Harvey home repair program due to missed deadlines and filing errors, … Continue reading →

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At least the bayous did well

Posted on July 14, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

This is a good news/bad news situation. Houston’s bayous performed well during Hurricane Beryl on Monday, but the storm tested the limits on how much water the system can handle, Harris County meteorologist Jeff Lindner said. The area was aided … Continue reading →

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Other Beryl stuff

Posted on July 12, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

A mini-roundup, with mostly non-CenterPoint things. How’s your Internet service? An Xfinity spokesperson said Wednesday that service was restored to approximately 355,000 customers — or about 36% of those experiencing service outages — in the 36 hours after Hurricane Beryl … Continue reading →

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Reps. Fletcher and Hunt push flood tunnel study

Posted on June 30, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Good teamwork. After six years of delays, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is under new bipartisan pressure to complete the study of a massive underground tunnel system in Houston that could prevent catastrophic flooding like what happened during Hurricane … Continue reading →

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Here’s your state flood plan

Posted on June 2, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

We have a lot of people living in flood-prone areas. That’s not going away. More than 5 million Texans, or one in six people in the state, live or work in an area susceptible to flooding, according to a draft … Continue reading →

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The Mayor and the Land Commissioner are buds

Posted on May 8, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this. On Mayor John Whitmire’s first day in office, he got a call from Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham. Her message? “We want to work with the City of Houston,” Whitmire recounted at an … Continue reading →

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Ed Emmett opines against Prop B

Posted on October 9, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

He’s the first prominent local politician that I’m aware of to take this position. Promoted by a group called Fair for Houston, the petition is seeking to have cities’ and counties’ voting strength (within organizations such as the H-GAC board … Continue reading →

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New criminal courts coming online

Posted on September 30, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Three new felony courts with a $9.2 million budget are expected to open next week, in what officials say is the final stretch in tackling a backlog of criminal cases that have piled up over the past six years. … Continue reading →

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No federal action to un-screw Houston on Harvey relief funds

Posted on May 4, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Not yet, anyway. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around this. The federal government is punting for now on enforcing a finding that Texas discriminated against communities of color when it stiffed Houston in distributing flood mitigation funds stemming from Hurricane Harvey. The Department … Continue reading →

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Rep. Jackson Lee makes her Mayoral candidacy official

Posted on April 17, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Here she comes. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee kicked off her campaign for mayor Friday night with a rally on the rooftop of Post Houston, promising to “unlock City Hall” for all residents and embrace their diversity while outlining a municipal agenda to tackle … Continue reading →

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Here come the new floodplain maps

Posted on February 25, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Coming soon to tell you if you are now in the floodplain. When Harris County debuts a massive overhaul of its floodplain maps later this year, the Houston area will be the first in the country to rely on a … Continue reading →

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The bats survived another freeze

Posted on January 6, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

A bit of good news. On the fourth day of Christmas, Houston got 600 bats back. As the sun set on Waugh Bridge over Buffalo Bayou Wednesday, the Houston Humane Society released hundreds of Mexican free-tailed bats that had been in the … Continue reading →

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New Land Commissioner, same screw job for Houston and Harris County

Posted on December 21, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I didn’t expect any different. I’m still mad about it. When akewayLakeway Republican Dawn Buckingham jumps from the Texas Senate to the helm of the state General Land Office next month, she will inherit control of the state’s Hurricane Harvey recovery, a slow-moving multibillion-dollar … Continue reading →

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Whitmire launches his Mayoral campaign

Posted on December 1, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

And we’re off. State Sen. John Whitmire formally launched his campaign for Houston mayor Tuesday evening with a fundraiser at the ritzy Post Oak Hotel, attended by dozens of the city’s political luminaries — including the hotel’s billionaire owner, Tilman … Continue reading →

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Still rough times for oysters

Posted on November 16, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Continuing from earlier in the year. Tuesday marks the start of Texas’ commercial and recreational oyster season, but the bulk of the state’s oyster reefs are already closed for harvesting. This follows last year’s season during which the majority of … Continue reading →

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Army Corps ordered to pay $550K to reservoir flooding victims

Posted on November 5, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

This could turn into a lot more if it is upheld. More than five years after their homes and businesses were flooded, residents above the Addicks and Barker dams are learning how much money the federal government owes them for … Continue reading →

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The nightmare hurricane scenario

Posted on October 7, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Sorry, but we have to think about it. Eric Berger, meteorologist, Space City Weather editor and senior space editor at Ars Technica, said when it comes to hurricanes there are three principal threats to worry about: storm surge, winds and … Continue reading →

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We keep on building homes in the floodplains

Posted on September 4, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

It’s how we roll. When Hurricane Harvey devastated the Houston region with a deluge of rain, one of the places where the water escaped its bounds was near a Spring Branch floodway known as Brickhouse Gully, satellite data shows. There, … Continue reading →

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Harris County officially gets its $750 million from the GLO

Posted on September 1, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

With hopefully more to come, as well as something for Houston. Harris County Commissioners Court unanimously approved an agreement Wednesday with the Texas General Land Office to receive $750 million in federal flood mitigation funding, and called on the agency … Continue reading →

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Maybe we shouldn’t pave over our best rain-absorbing wetlands

Posted on August 29, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Just a thought. Even just paving over less of them might be wise. At the far west end of Houston along the Katy Freeway, where the concrete city gives way to bigger sky and taller grass, signs advertising new master-planned communities greet … Continue reading →

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Rockport, Dickinson, Port Arthur: Five years after Harvey

Posted on August 24, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Yeah, we’re at “five years after Hurricane Harvey made landfall” time. Here’s a long story about how three smaller towns that were in its path are doing now. Each day, Gary Billy drives past the empty corner lot where his … Continue reading →

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GLO threatens to take away more Harvey relief funds from Houston

Posted on July 9, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Oh, hell no. The state General Land Office says it may have to take over more of the city’s Hurricane Harvey housing relief programs, citing what it says is consistently sluggish progress on a slew of the initiatives. The land office said in a … Continue reading →

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We are getting serious about the flood tunnel idea

Posted on June 25, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Now the question is how could we pay for this? A network of eight massive storm water tunnels that drain upstream of and into the Houston Ship Channel could be the key to alleviating flooding in Harris County, flood control engineers announced this week. The … Continue reading →

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Harris County ponders a bond election

Posted on June 15, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

First one in awhile. Harris County leaders will begin discussions Tuesday about whether to add a bond election to the November ballot. The bond would be a hybrid measure to raise money for roads, parks, flood control, and public safety. … Continue reading →

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Now I know the difference between those two Army Corps of Engineers lawsuits

Posted on June 4, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Some good timing for me here. A federal appellate court on Thursday reversed an earlier decision that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was not to blame for flooding homes downstream of the Addicks and Barker reservoirs after Hurricane Harvey. The ruling brought new … Continue reading →

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What does the Army Corps of Engineers owe reservoir flooding victims?

Posted on June 3, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll soon find out. Christina Micu sat on the witness stand and tearfully explained how she’d made a list of everything she lost when Hurricane Harvey flooded her four-bedroom home. Her son’s toys. Her kitchen stove. A rocking chair her … Continue reading →

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Is there any chance the GLO won’t screw Houston this time around?

Posted on May 24, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I mean, maybe. Things can happen. I just wouldn’t count on it. Mayor Sylvester Turner on Wednesday commended the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for ordering Texas to fix a Hurricane Harvey recovery plan that the federal agency … Continue reading →

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GLO prepares to screw Houston again on Harvey recovery funds

Posted on May 18, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Gird yourselves. Of the more than 300,000 homes in Texas damaged by Hurricane Harvey in 2017, none were in Coryell County. Located 220 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, this small agricultural county was not the place Congress had in … Continue reading →

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From Harvey to Ukraine

Posted on April 8, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Good story. The former Marines from Houston had no idea what to expect what then they finally arrived at the Polish-Ukrainian border. What the members of the CrowdSource Rescue team found was “a heart-wrenching mess” — a miles-long caravan of … Continue reading →

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