Matt Lanza

Post-Harvey week in review: November 27, 2017

Welcome to our week in review of news and stories about Harvey recovery and flooding issues you may have missed over the last few days. If you weren’t able to check out last week’s edition, you can find it here. Feel free to share any links we may have missed in the comments. On to the news.

Reads of the week

What bond investors weren’t told about a threat facing Cinco Ranch (Houston Chronicle): Ten municipal utility districts (MUDs) in the Cinco Ranch area have had over 70 bonds sold since 1992 and only one of those disclosed a flooding risk to those neighborhoods.

Harvey was three months ago. These displaced families are still in limbo (Texas Tribune): A pair of Houston families grapple with the same decisions and problems that many thousands in our area are going through a few months after Harvey.

Houston housing

Harris County proposing dramatic overhaul of floodplain regulations (Houston Chronicle): Harris County (not Houston, for now) may require developers to use the 500-year floodplain for new development, as opposed to the 100-year floodplain as it is now.

A House’s Flood History Can Be Hard To Find (Houston Public Media): Trying to find out if a home you’re considering buying or renting has flooded is often pretty difficult to do.

Rental market tightens, but it may not last (Houston Chronicle): Houston’s apartment occupancy has experienced a heck of a reversal over the last few months. More volatility may be in the future.

How Much Damage Did Harvey Do To Texas Homes? There May Never Be An Exact Answer (Texas Tribune): With a substantial amount of money coming in and numerous government agencies involved in the recovery effort, some things may fall through the cracks when assessing the scale of the disaster, concerning advocates.

We may never know precisely how much damage Harvey did to Houston neighborhoods. (Texas National Guard)

Displaced by storm still yearn for home (Houston Chronicle): 47,000 flood victims are still displaced in hotels all over the country. The housing aspect of the recovery usually moves slowly, and in a post-Harvey world, it’s no different.

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Post-Harvey week in review: November 20, 2017

As part of our commitment to helping the community recover from Hurricane Harvey, we thought it would be helpful to write a “week in review” post every Monday. In the post-Harvey world, there has been no shortage of news about recovery, future projects, and ramifications of all that happened during the storm. This weekly post, largely produced by Matt, attempts to summarize the major news of the week, without editorializing. Please feel free to share anything we missed in the comments, or suggest additions for next week’s post.

Read of the week

The U.S. Flooded One of Houston’s Richest Neighborhoods to Save Everyone Else (Bloomberg Businessweek): November 20th’s edition of Bloomberg Businessweek highlights the dam releases from Addicks and Barker and subsequent flooding in West Houston for their cover story. The article offers a synopsis of what happened and the challenges of ongoing litigation as a result of the flooding.

November 20th’s Bloomberg Businessweek talks about some of the Energy Corridor’s experiences during Harvey. (Bloomberg Businessweek)

Harvey Recovery

Repairs to Harvey-damaged San Jac bridge to start early 2018 (Houston Chronicle): TxDOT has a lot to consider after Harvey, including elevating roads. Meanwhile, work to repair the US-59/I-69 bridge over the San Jacinto River, which was heavily damaged by the flooding will begin after Christmas. Some of the repair work could be quite substantial.

After Harvey, A Once-Lively Neighborhood Finds Silence (Houston Public Media): Meyerland residents grapple with the decision to relocate or rebuild higher.

Nearly $29M being sent to more than 90 nonprofits in 2nd round of Harvey fund distribution (ABC 13): After $7 million was distributed last month, another $29 million of Harvey relief donations will be distributed among a whole bunch of local organizations to help folks in and around Houston.

It’s official: KHOU not returning to Allen Parkway (KHOU): After being flooded during Harvey, KHOU will seek out a new permanent home.

Houston area groups propose plan for how third Hurricane Harvey relief package should be distributed (Community Impact News): The U.S. House will soon pass a third aid package for Harvey relief. Governor Abbott has asked for over $61 billion in funding for various flood control projects and buyouts in addition to recovery. Much of that request is based on the Rebuild Texas plan. Another group has advocated for more comprehensive flood control the rest of Harris County. You can read about some of the differences between Rebuild Texas and this Better Houston plan in the article.

Texans blast Trump’s $44B storm relief package as ‘inadequate’ as White House goes on defense (Dallas News): Speaking of, the latest White House proposal for hurricane relief falls quite a bit short of what the governor had asked for from Congress.

Flood control plan for stretch of Buffalo Bayou could result in removal of trees (Houston Chronicle): Studies and discussions about how to control flooding on Buffalo Bayou could result in trees being removed for projects, such as detention ponds.

After Harvey, Houston arts groups on precarious footing as critical holiday season nears (Houston Chronicle): The Theater District in downtown Houston was hit tremendously hard by Harvey. Recovery is slow and challenging, and it may take several years to fully recover.

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Another front without much fanfare for Houston

We’ve had several cold fronts pass through Houston this autumn. Very few of them have carried much punch as they passed through. Tomorrow’s front will behave similarly. As a result, precipitation (outside of a few exceptions) has been pretty minimal this fall. We finished September nearly three inches below normal officially at Bush Airport. October finished a bit over two inches below normal. And through the first half of November, we’re running just under two inches below normal.

Over the last 60 days, rainfall has averaged about 50-75% of normal in most of Southeast Texas. (NOAA)

In fact, much of Texas has been dry. And yes, we can start using the “D” word a bit more liberally in Texas. That word is drought. With precipitation over the next two weeks likely to average below normal in most of Texas, and with drought areas expanding, we’re likely to see talk of drought show up a bit more often.

Harvey obviously delivered enough rain to hold drought back in our area for a good while. But with Harvey becoming a distant memory in the water system, and Texas’s historical reputation of going from one extreme to the other, we can start discussing this potential. Areas in interior Texas less impacted by Harvey are already there.

So with that setup, let’s dive into the forecast.

Today

There’s not much in the way of fog to start today, thanks in part to more cloud cover. So expect a pretty benign Friday: Clouds and some sun. We’ll warm up into the low 80s in most spots this afternoon away from the coast.

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A decent fall weekend for Houston

After a gray start, Thursday turned out to be pretty nice in Houston proper. Actually, Thursday was about as California of a day as you can find in Houston. It really did feel nice. Clouds were a bit more stubborn north and west of Houston. Things should change there today. Friday is starting off cool and somewhat crisp. It looks like we warm up again this weekend and next week, but we should stay safely under the obscene levels we hit earlier this week. The details…

Friday through Sunday

We’re starting this morning on the cool side for sure. Middle or upper 40s dominate north and west, with low or mid-50s dominating south and east.

A chilly start north and west of Houston today! (NOAA)

Expect a pretty nice day today. Any clouds or fog south and west should fade. It’ll be partly to mostly sunny and mild, with temperatures warming up this afternoon into the 60s to about 70° in spots. A quiet and pleasant night tonight; expect morning lows on Saturday to be about one to four degrees warmer than this morning on average. Likewise, daytime highs will be similarly warmer with a mix of clouds and sun. As of now we don’t expect any rain Saturday. But a sprinkle or shower may be possible late, well south of Houston.

How about Sunday? Well, we’ll see an onshore flow return, along with clouds, so expect a much warmer start to the day (low 60s on average). During the afternoon, there will be a few scattered showers around. Otherwise, partly to mostly cloudy skies dominate, and we’ll top off in the mid-70s or perhaps upper-70s with enough sunshine.

You may dodge a few raindrops in a few spots on Sunday, but otherwise, the weekend is looking pretty good. (NWS Houston)

So, weekend plans outdoors? I’d try to do them Saturday, but if you have to go Sunday, odds still favor you probably getting through the day without issue..

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