Houston Flash Flood

Living in the southeast, we’re used to heavy rains and flooded streets. But would you know what to do if you found yourself suddenly surrounded by rising water and having to use your car as a boat?

In this episode of Storm Stories, you’ll see what it was like for Houston neighbors caught up in a flash flood and what they were forced to do to survive.

November 17, 2003

In Houston, Texas, it has been raining for a long time and flooding has become a major problem. Helicopters are called in to pluck victims from the water.

Some say this is a situation that could easily be repeated.

A little more than 40 feet above sea level and about 40 miles from the Gulf Coast, Houston is naturally prone to flooding and vulnerable to hurricanes. But the development of the area, without plans to preserve nature’s flood control resources, is making it worse.

Development on the Gulf Coast continues to grow, increasing flood problems and adding to the number of people who need to be evacuated during the hurricane.

Houston’s original ecosystem has been paved over by expanding development. Before…the combination of prairie and forest handled water pretty well, according to Karl Hacker, an ecologist and attorney on the faculty of the School of Public Health at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHSC). Replacing vegetation with concrete, however, has increased flooding problems.

Even though 100 year floods (which have a 1 percent chance of occurring in any given year) have occurred eight times in the past 35 years, and three 500 year floods (which have a 0.2 percent chance of occurring in any given year) have occurred in that same time period, no comprehensive flood plan exists that makes protecting the public a higher priority than facilitating more development, according to Jim Blackburn, Houston environmental attorney.

To improve flood control, the Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) has spent $750 million widening and deepening major bayous and excavating massive storm water retention basins—large holes in the ground adjacent to bayous that catch water when bayous overflow their banks.

The City of Houston has more than $350 million allocated in its five-year plan to update its underground storm sewer capacity.

But some say this simply is not enough.

Development without thorough consideration of consequences from Houston’s natural hazards also increases risks for people and property should a hurricane spiral its way into the city. Houston and Harris County come in third and fourth for repetitive flood damage in the United States, just behind Louisiana coastal areas.

(source: Citizens League for Environmental Action Now, Vicki Wolf)