After $1b spent on flood control projects, why we may not know if they're working (neighborhoods, best)

[elnina]

Nearly six years after Hurricane Harvey, more than $1 billion have been spent on a voter-approved bond to mitigate flooding, but without a significant rainfall event in more than two years, it's unclear if the projects will make a difference.
Harris County has until 2026 to spend Harvey relief funds.
Voters approved: $5 billion in flood mitigation projects.
The county's latest update from five months ago shows it still needs to secure more than a billion dollars in other sources.
The money is going toward about 180 projects. So far, only 25 have been completed, with just six in the past two years.

https://abc13.com/amp/houston-floodi...gate/13231723/

In that tempo, they will never finish those 180 projects till 2026.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

what’s this? “Let’s not build any infrastructure because we don’t know when a major rain event will come”? You’d prefer pause all current projects out of “uncertainty”?

And I simply disagree. A Harvey type event is rare and even with the best infrastructure in the world, it won’t mitigate everything. With the rain events that have taken place, the difference has proven.

The bigger issue is that they aren’t everywhere and some neighborhoods are being less prioritized than others. Another routine fear porn post from the same OP.

[airdrawndagger]

What a garbage article.

We've had a couple good years without a hurricane and/or major flood and people are complaining because they want to see how our new infrastructure handles it? Make no mistake - that time will come. If anything a hiatus in calamitous weather is the perfect opportunity to develop our flood mitigation measures. Pausing work would be a huge mistake.

[DaBears02]

Awful article. Building speculation on flood control investments because there hasn’t been a large event to test it??? Are they asking for a major flood so they can say “see it’s not working.” This is garbage.

[gwarnecke]

If the HEC-RAS models show that the projects mitigate flooding, that's good enough for me...I'm in no hurry to see them tested with a major event.

[Dopo]

Goes to show how easy it is to criticize government projects

I have no idea whether or not they are going to work ... but dmn, at least I see machine improving the bayous to reduce flooding.
Is this person against that?

[LocalPlanner]

The Sims Bayou work doesn't get highlighted enough for how it has reduced flooding, and it was mostly completed before Harvey, so there's actual empirical evidence of the benefit. If it was more widely publicized, the silly sentiments voiced in such articles might mute themselves a bit.

Not that I'm trying to discourage scrutiny of government projects, but proper perspective is needed.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

The Sims Bayou work doesn't get highlighted enough for how it has reduced flooding, and it was mostly completed before Harvey, so there's actual empirical evidence of the benefit. If it was more widely publicized, the silly sentiments voiced in such articles might mute themselves a bit.

Not that I'm trying to discourage scrutiny of government projects, but proper perspective is needed.

They've done a lot of Sims Bayou projects over the years. Flooding was really bad in the late 70s along Sims.

[Mr. Clutch]

Subjectively... It does seem that the flooding during one of our "normal" heavy rain events does seem a bit better around town than it did 10 or 15 years ago. Obviously we haven't had a Harvey-level event in recent years but those times where we get 5 or 6 inches in a day don't seem to cause as many problems as they used to. YMMV.

Definitely agree with the sentiment that not having a huge storm recently is certainly no excuse to slow these projects.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by Mr. Clutch

Subjectively... It does seem that the flooding during one of our "normal" heavy rain events does seem a bit better around town than it did 10 or 15 years ago. Obviously we haven't had a Harvey-level event in recent years but those times where we get 5 or 6 inches in a day don't seem to cause as many problems as they used to. YMMV.

Definitely agree with the sentiment that not having a huge storm recently is certainly no excuse to slow these projects.

Like I said in the Memorial bridge park, it’s very unlike Dopo to be against improving our public parks.

In this case, it’s very unlike our OP to be against improving our infrastructure.