I-10, the flooding and massive amounts on concrete. (Houston, Katy: insurance, houses)

[EasilyAmused]

Questions and a lil' bit of bitching.

So, yesterday was fun! After going through years of construction and ramp closings and headaches we got an incredible freeway. You can zip in from Katy in less the 35 minutes but...

With the neighborhoods and areas that never flooded before getting affected, I'm wondering if all that extra concrete and man made drainage made things worse. I-10 and the Beltway has always had problems, but I don't remember it ever like that. It's a hint that Houston should never tunnel any kind of train or road..period!

Neighborhoods, such as Nottingham Forest, went through extensive drainage and street work, and this is the worst flood they've ever had. Worse than the early 90's. Wilcrest was under water and Lakeside Country Club had it's first flood in almost 50 years. A few houses in my subdivision had some flooding, but in general the 1960's infrastructure did better than the newer ones. We have more green space and the water had somewhere to go. The City plans to buy up rightaways in 3 years and redo our drainage. First, that's going to cause a major uproar, second, I don't think they do such a great job soI kinda want them to forget about us.

I-45 south bound had huge problems as well. I don't know much about that section.

Anyway, pumps can't be trusted to work or even turn on. So, what's a good solution?

[westres1]

As I mentioned in another post....tunneling in Houston doesnt seem to work. The area that flooded under 10 and 8 always floods and the new retention pond etc was suppose to fix it. It didnt. The Westpark Toll floods everywhere it dips down. It has pumps but they cant hold up to Houston downpours. They are going to start construction on a tunnel under the belt at Westheimer. I am seriously concerned about the impact of this new project. Where will they pump the water? The retention ponds at 10 cant hold that water and the retention pond down the belt near that park is almost full now. Not to mention the traffic it will cause during construction.

[Poltracker]

Originally Posted by EasilyAmused

Questions and a lil' bit of bitching.

So, yesterday was fun! After going through years of construction and ramp closings and headaches we got an incredible freeway. You can zip in from Katy in less the 35 minutes but...

With the neighborhoods and areas that never flooded before getting affected, I'm wondering if all that extra concrete and man made drainage made things worse. I-10 and the Beltway has always had problems, but I don't remember it ever like that. It's a hint that Houston should never tunnel any kind of train or road..period!

Neighborhoods, such as Nottingham Forest, went through extensive drainage and street work, and this is the worst flood they've ever had. Worse than the early 90's. Wilcrest was under water and Lakeside Country Club had it's first flood in almost 50 years. A few houses in my subdivision had some flooding, but in general the 1960's infrastructure did better than the newer ones. We have more green space and the water had somewhere to go. The City plans to buy up rightaways in 3 years and redo our drainage. First, that's going to cause a major uproar, second, I don't think they do such a great job soI kinda want them to forget about us.

I-45 south bound had huge problems as well. I don't know much about that section.

Anyway, pumps can't be trusted to work or even turn on. So, what's a good solution?

Haven't you noticed all the development out that way since the 90's (certainly since the 60's). I imagine highway construction has very little to do with it but the neighborhoods and associated development has a lot more to do with it. Jersey Village and its flooding in recent years reflects the upstream (White Oak watershed) construction toward Cypress, don't think it is going to be any different for folks downstream of all that development in Katy and the upper portions of the Buffalo Bayou, etc. watersheds.

As far as the highways themselves...I agree, stupid plan. If they insist on putting the roads subsurface, the least they could do was put in ladders every so often so folks could rescue themselves. I suggested this years ago when they were having the public forums about the 59 reconstruction. DOT folks just looked at me like I was stupid.

[EasilyAmused]

Originally Posted by Poltracker

Haven't you noticed all the development out that way since the 90's (certainly since the 60's). I imagine highway construction has very little to do with it but the neighborhoods and associated development has a lot more to do with it. Jersey Village and its flooding in recent years reflects the upstream (White Oak watershed) construction toward Cypress, don't think it is going to be any different for folks downstream of all that development in Katy and the upper portions of the Buffalo Bayou, etc. watersheds.

As far as the highways themselves...I agree, stupid plan. If they insist on putting the roads subsurface, the least they could do was put in ladders every so often so folks could rescue themselves. I suggested this years ago when they were having the public forums about the 59 reconstruction. DOT folks just looked at me like I was stupid.

yes, I was talking to an enviromental engineer friend last night and he was saying the same thing. He feels it's possibly all the Cypress development that's causing a lot of it. He thinks Bridgelands is going to have major problems, and will cause the neighborhoods between it and I-10 to "go under" more often.

[sbhubbell]

I'm an environmental engineer (water resources specialist) but not super familiar with the Houston area watersheds yet, but I'd agree that tons of development upstream could certainly be a contributing factor. There are new stormwater runoff regulations that are designed to protect waterways from polution but are possibly causing retention ponds and drainage systems to be under-designed for events like yesterday. More concrete certainly doesn't help.

I must say though, I am utterly impressed by the flood control measures in place in South Katy...the Buffalo Bayou was bulging but the tiny little ditch behind my house hardly filled at all, and all the streets around me remained clear. I'm really GLAD I didn't buy flood insurance, because Katy got POUNDED yesterday and I certainly didn't need it. Frankly I was much more nervous during the whole Tornado Warning thing, home alone with two small kids and no basement and the wind and lightning were naaaasty.

[dv1033]

Some of the freeways in Houston are designed to flood, mostly freeways that go below grade or sealevel (how ever you want to think about it). US59 by downtown was designed to flood with the purpose of diverting water away from neighborhoods into the freeway. The idea is that it is more costly when neighborhoods flood then if cars get flooded.

[houston-nomad]

That makes sense, but then shouldn't there be water level warnings on all roads designed to flood? And gates that drop, not allowing drivers to get on ramps to those freeways? Sometimes you really don't know until it's too late that you are driving onto a flooded highway.

[skyegirl]

Originally Posted by sbhubbell

I'm an environmental engineer (water resources specialist) but not super familiar with the Houston area watersheds yet, but I'd agree that tons of development upstream could certainly be a contributing factor. There are new stormwater runoff regulations that are designed to protect waterways from polution but are possibly causing retention ponds and drainage systems to be under-designed for events like yesterday. More concrete certainly doesn't help.

I must say though, I am utterly impressed by the flood control measures in place in South Katy...the Buffalo Bayou was bulging but the tiny little ditch behind my house hardly filled at all, and all the streets around me remained clear. I'm really GLAD I didn't buy flood insurance, because Katy got POUNDED yesterday and I certainly didn't need it. Frankly I was much more nervous during the whole Tornado Warning thing, home alone with two small kids and no basement and the wind and lightning were naaaasty.

I would have thought the situation yesterday would make you WANT to have flood insurance, maybe I am misunderstanding you?

[sbhubbell]

Originally Posted by skyegirl

I would have thought the situation yesterday would make you WANT to have flood insurance, maybe I am misunderstanding you?

Nope, I believe yesterday proved without a doubt that my house will never flood, therefore I'm glad I did NOT buy the insurance. We got almost as much rain in our area as anyone did, and all that water was very swiftly and purposefully directed away from my home and street.

[Supermac34]

A few years ago, tropical storm Allison dropped nearly 40" of rain on some parts of Houston. There were neigborhoods that flooded that had never flooded, and will never flood again. Many people didn't have flood insurance because their neighborhoods were not even near flood plains. It caused maps to be redrawn.

I own flood insurance because its cheap, and you just never know if some tropical storm is going to drop 40" on your house.