We’re back with another Monday wrap-up of the last week’s stories about Houston’s recovery from Harvey and flooding issues in our region. Feel free to share any that we missed in the comments. If you missed the last two weeks of recaps, you can find them here:
Post-Harvey week in review: November 27, 2017
Post-Harvey week in review: November 20, 2017
Reads of the week
Early results of federal rainfall study show dramatic growth in 100-year storm (Houston Chronicle): An initial study from NOAA (currently in the peer review process) suggests that the rainfall of a 100-year storm in Harris County (a storm that has a 1% chance of occurring in any given year) has increased by 3-5″ since 2001. If that holds up, that has enormous implications on development and how we define floodplains in the Houston area.
Furthering the point that all this is very preliminary, Jeff Lindner of Harris County Flood Control points out that there are still some questions about the gage data and methodology that was used.
This is preliminary and subject to change. I have looked at some of the Gage data used and it comes with a few questions along with the methodology used. There are some interesting trends showing up https://t.co/r0UMqtoEpR
— Jeff Lindner (@JeffLindner1) November 27, 2017
This will be an important story to follow in the months ahead.
Developers Said Their Homes Were Out of a Flood Zone. Then Harvey Came. (New York Times): At least 6,000 properties in locations that were redesignated after previously being classified as in flood zones ended up with damage from flooding during Harvey. Map changes are legal and come via raised lots, levees, drainage systems, water-detention ponds, etc. But the margin for error is small, and not all property owners realized this. A provocative story with a focus on The Woodlands.
(Space City Weather is brought to you this month by the Law Office of Murray Newman)
