IT is time for Houston to start thinking and acting differently with regard to flood control. We are not thinking broadly or comprehensively enough about flood control. We are not providing the information that our citizens need to live and survive in a flood-prone area.

The first notion we need to eliminate is that we can "control flooding" in Houston. Houston is located in an area that receives tremendous amounts of rain. We got as much as 23 inches in 12 hours during Allison's return on Friday, June 8, and Saturday, June 9. However, that is not the most rain for this area. Alvin, to the south of Houston, received 43 inches of rain in 24 hours with tropical storm Claudette in 1979. We commonly receive six to eight inches over 12 hours. We can improve drainage. But it is truly difficult to control flooding here, given the large amount of rainfall we get and given certain decisions that were made decades ago in this community.

It is important to know what our drainage system is and is not designed to accomplish. All aspects of our drainage system are not designed to accommodate the huge storms that we frequently get. Our underground storm sewer system can handle only an inch or two of rain and then our streets are converted into the drainage system as part of the city's and the county's drainage plan. That is why our streets flood - our leaders designed the drainage plan that way.

When the streets fill up, the water comes over the curbs and into the yards. If you are unfortunate enough to have a home with a floor slab that is at the same height as the curb, you will probably flood in Houston. Any storm greater than a 25-year storm - approximately six inches in 12 hours - will probably cause the street to spill into your yard and perhaps your home.

When the streets fill up, water starts flowing from high points to low points. The road system becomes a river system, and the water follows the new channels to lower ground. It is no surprise that the Medical Center flooded. It is near Brays Bayou and the elevation there is slightly lower than in areas to the north and west. The flooded streets simply followed elemental rules of physics and flowed toward Brays Bayou, the topographic low point. These waters came to rest at the Medical Center adjacent to the bayou.

This brings up an important point. Although there are maps showing flood plains in Houston, the flood-plain maps do not show all areas that flood. They only show areas that flood from streams overflowing their banks. They do not show flooding caused by streets filling up with water and then flooding people's homes. Many of the flood-plain maps are incorrect with respect to stream flooding. Our leaders know this information, but they have been slow to demand that the maps be fixed, worrying about the impact of flood plains on development and public perception rather than focusing on providing the best information possible to residents.

If you did not know the facts above, it is reasonable to ask why not? In my opinion, the reason is that Houston's leaders have always been unwilling to admit that we had a major flooding problem, generally being more concerned about expanding the new development in the suburbs than about helping residents survive flooding. We must adopt a different perspective on flooding.

The most important first step is to admit that we flood and that in many cases we cannot "control" this flooding. Instead, we must learn to live with this flooding, even as we try to minimize it. In my opinion, our leaders understand this important concept.

Our city and county should be at the forefront of alerting the citizens to the facts about living in Houston and Harris County and flooding. There should be a publication issued called "Facts About Houston Flooding and Surviving A Flood." A consumer should be able to obtain excellent information from either the city or the county. Yet, at this time, important information is hard to obtain.

Rather than trying to minimize the need for flood insurance, our government should urge all residents to purchase flood insurance. This is the best buy around for the consumer. Many of us assume that simply because we are not shown in a 100-year flood plain, we are safe. That is not true. These maps are notoriously inaccurate and do not show flooding from the streets into the yards and houses.

The government should take the lead in ensuring that our flood-plain maps are correct and up-to-date. There are several bayous, such as Brays, that our government officials know to have larger flood plains than are currently shown on the maps. These maps should be issued in correct form as soon as possible.

Additionally, our local governments should attempt to identify areas that flood often, although they are not officially identified on the flood-plain maps. There are some areas that simply have poor drainage or that were constructed without an adequate elevation of the floor slab above the street. Many of these areas are well known. This information should be available to citizens and consumers in map form.

Either the city or the county or the state should identify streets and freeways that often flood and the amount of rainfall that floods them. Certain roads flood each time it rains. We lose our cars. Occasionally, we lose lives. We must begin to think pro-actively about flooding and transportation. How many times do 18-wheelers need to float at I-10 and Washington before we learn that, at the least, the road should be closed at times?

Many of the homes that flooded recently have flooded before - some five, six, seven, eight or more times. We should buy these homes out and tear them down. We may be able to provide better drainage for many areas, and we should try, but some areas are too close to the bayous and too flood-prone to save. Let's be fair and smart but swift. Buy these homes out and remove their owners from peril.

An ordinance should be passed that requires hospitals and public buildings to remove emergency equipment from basements. The Medical Center lost power in 1976 because of flooding, just as it did in 2001. The downtown business district was shut down. These events should not be allowed to happen again. It will cost money to address these problems but the ordinance would prevent individual institutions from making the same wrong decisions again, just to save money.

We need to stop "crying wolf" about unprecedented rainfall amounts hitting Houston. Our 2001 storm was big, but Claudette in 1979 was bigger. The 1998 rainfall from Tropical Storm Frances that flooded White Oak Bayou was called an unprecedented or 100-year rain (it was not), just as the Greens Bayou floods of 1989 and 1992 were also called unprecedented (they were not). The fact is, we get big rains in Houston. We must live with them and not use them as excuses. We should, however, plan for bigger rains than are currently used by the flood control district and the city.

We need to look seriously at how we are spending public money right now. Harris County lacked adequate money to provide flood-control improvements on upper White Oak Bayou in the early to mid-'90s and failed to complete the Pate Plan for White Oak Bayou. Today, there is not enough money to buy out the areas that flood over and over, even with federal help. We need more money for buy-out of flooded housing.

It is reasonable to ask how we are spending our county money. We have provided over $600 million in bonds for a Port of Houston Container Port that will end up costing $1.3 billion in public money, even though a private company is trying to get a permit to build the same type of port on Galveston Bay at Texas City. This port is proposed to be built with private money at no cost to taxpayers and will provide jobs in the region. Why do Harris County citizens need to provide public money when this private port proposal is viable? Why don't we transfer that money to buy-out of flood victims?

I am not advocating the elimination of all flood-control projects. I favor building large basins and reservoirs west and north of the city to catch the runoff before it enters our bayous. Addicks and Barker reservoirs are the best flood-control projects that we have ever built and we need more like them. However, I am opposed to letting new development flood older areas. We should focus our effort on preserving our developed urban areas and pay less attention to expanding the suburbs, all of which drain down on the developed areas.

Most of all, however, I am urging humility and reality in equal doses. We live on a flat coastal plain that gets a lot of rain. We need to accept the fact that the floods will come on occasion and come to grips with living these floods. Ultimately, we will discover that we can coexist with this flooding and have a quality city. But we will never "control" the floods.

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