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Houston Voters Against Flooding was formed in an attempt to stop
the worsening of our flooding problem by making flooding a political
issue. The City of Houston, Harris County and surrounding
counties have one of the worst flooding problems in the United
States. We do get a lot of rain here. It is flat here. But those two
facts alone do not explain the flooding problem.
Our flooding problem is
caused by humans and the decisions they make. While the rain may be
an act of God, the flood damage is not. There are numerous problems
with the manner in which we, as a developing region, approach
flooding. Our flood plain maps are notoriously inaccurate. Our
flooding problem is much worse than is shown on the maps, yet our
elected officials and our governmental agencies have not told us
about this larger problem or attempted to help us protect ourselves
from it.
In the early 1980s, Harris
County talked the federal government (e.g., FEMA) into allowing it
to do its own flood plain mapping, replacing the Corps of Engineers
who had prepared maps that showed very large flood plains. Many of
our flood plain maps have not been changed since they were redone by
the Harris County Flood Control District in the mid 1980s, even
though there have been substantial increases in flows on many of our
bayous.
Neither Harris County nor
the City of Houston reported these increases over the years as they
gained knowledge of them. In fact, Harris County Flood Control
District has for years maintained two sets of flood plain studies
and analyses: one that was sent to and published by FEMA for use by
the general public, and another one – the more accurate and
up-to-date one – that was used internally by the flood control
district. We – the citizens – have been systematically deprived
of that up-to-date and more accurate information for years, thereby
being deprived of our due process of law, and we are tired of it. We
need to stop this abuse.
Harris County Flood Control
District claims that it has a policy of no net increase in flood
elevations on our bayous due to development, yet their rules allow
the release of storm water from new development at rates that
increase downstream flooding. Harris County’s approach is
dishonest. They say one thing yet allow another to be done.
All of the engineering firms understand this distinction, but we
citizens have for years been simply told “all is well – do not
worry – if you were flooded, it was by an act of God.” Well, we
now know that is not true. It’s past time to worry – it’s time
to do something about it.
The City of Houston and
Harris County have allowed upstream development to increase
downstream flooding. The City of Houston, downstream of most of
the recent development activity, even allows development that it
approves to flood others within the City. Our flood problem is
already a disaster and it is getting worse every year and the City
of Houston acts as if it is powerless to do anything about it. The
City is not powerless. It is simply being run by those who either
don’t know what to do or are unwilling to do something about it.
The bottom line – we can do something and we should.
It is time that every
elected official in every city and county in our area know about the
details of flooding. We are sick and tired of being told every time
it floods that it was “an act of God.” That answer is simply
untrue and will no longer be acceptable. |
