solving houston

[Hagbard Celine 11,007]

transposing from elsewhere:

Spoiler

http://www.shaggytexas.com/board/showthread.php/181275-solving-houston

 

.... and on the 8th day, the dutch created themselves.....

https://www.researchgate.net/profile...ew-Orleans.pdf

i'll get the wikis later tonight

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quoted by @theuniversity

Quote

Two decades ago, Harris County planners predicted with chilling accuracy just how devastating a storm like Hurricane Harvey would be to the Houston area. Far lesser storms, they determined, could wreck a large swath of the city and its western suburbs.

In a report dated May 1996, engineers for the Harris County Flood Control District concluded the area's reservoir system was severely insufficient and imperiled thousands of properties. The report's authors proposed a $400 million fix: constructing a massive underground conduit that would carry water out of the reservoirs and into the Houston Ship Channel more quickly.
Had the report's recommendations been heeded, the catastrophic flooding that struck Houston a week ago might have been greatly diminished, sparing thousands of homes from floodwaters.

Instead, the report got filed away and was all but forgotten. Government leaders ignored its advice.

...

Harris County's flood control director at the time the report was created, Arthur Storey, said Monday that he remembered the proposal well.
"This, what we have before us, is a massive engineering and governmental failure. I'm both angry about it and embarrassed about it," said Storey, who after his time as flood control director went on to lead the county's public infrastructure department. He retired in 2015 at 78 years old.

 

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i read that article when it was linked over on the bing thread earlier....

what could have been done for 400m is now going to have to be done at a cost of 4b.

in addition to the above cost estimate study, everyone needs to be tuned up on the dutch....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_...he_Netherlands

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Works

in a wry note of irony, i believe one of the plans for the squashed UT campus was to construct a center for macroengineering excellence.

or maybe not.

regardless, houston is going to require a 22nd-century solution and it's going to cost a metric $#@!ton. but you know what? it can be done. big thinking is going to be required, like the bering strait bridge or atlantropa....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantropa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bering_Strait_crossing

so i'm going to throw out my crazy idea....

1) build Maeslantkering across Bolivar Roads and San Luis Pass;
2) build an elevated diked waterway (like an inverse Suez Canal) from Bolivar Roads to Morgan's Point;
3) build a 50' dike on top of Bolivar Peninsula and the island all the way down to Surfside;
4) drain Galveston Bay and West Bay;
5) tear up every road that runs north/south and put in 12' concrete box drains until the drains connect in open country with massive 50' diameter drain pipes that run in a direct line for the West Bay.

In other words, Cofferdam Houston.

1 Trillion.

Let's call Greater Houston at 6,500,000.

That's a cool $153846 per citizen. Businesses are going to have to pay up.

Environmentalists are going to freak.

And the fishing? Welp, there used to be.

But if Houstonians want to save their city *where it is* it's going to take bold thinking and massive spend.

What would have happened if there had been a storm surge hit Morgan's Point from the dirty side of a even a lowly Cat 2?????

[Hagbard Celine 11,007]

i transposed the first several posts from the thread over there because it may not be tropical event that does in houston.

i would not own property below 15' sea level.

no guarantees, but there is a florida-sized antarctic glacier may, or may not, completely melt "soon" (20 years? 50 years?).  houston needs to get with it pronto.

https://www.wired.com/story/antarctica-thwaites-glacier-breaking-point/

[CooterBrown 18,099]

Isn’t it just cheaper to move Houston?

[Dewey 3,315]

They can start on your raising and decolonizing Houston when they finish that stretch of 45 between Galveston and your precocious city.

[CoTex 1,171]

I think maybe some restrictions on new construction are step 1.

My apartment in midtown was perfect.  First two floors were parking garage.  Next 4 were apartments.  Shit flooded 4 - 8 times per year.  Pumps pumped - next day all was better.

dont park on the lower level when rain is in the forecast.

 

[elfenix 34,387]

no more houses on slabs and everyone needs to start jacking their houses up off their slabs. 

[dingleberryswitzer 2,724]

On 12/10/2018 at 9:45 PM, elfenix said:

no more houses on slabs and everyone needs to start jacking their houses up off their slabs. 

I recommend houseboats on cinder blocks.

[Hagbard Celine 11,007]

thwaites glacier news holla

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,556]

As for rain flooding, I don't see how the current bayou system can handle more city growth. The city is spending ridiculous amounts to get water from streets to the bayous faster but that only solves part of the problem. The bayous can only empty so quickly.  Widening them can offer some relief but enough to keep the city above water? Doubtful.

I don't understand anyone in Houston not building a couple of feet higher with a new build.  The worst case for you is that it takes a couple of steps every time you come in from the outside. Who doesn't need the exercise. Best case, your house survives a flood, or at least can handle higher flood waters than others.

 

Edited April 12, 2019 by Nice Guy Eddie

[Tonesky 1,009]

On 12/10/2018 at 9:45 PM, elfenix said:

no more houses on slabs and everyone needs to start jacking their houses up off their slabs. 

We had 24 inches of water during Harvey and are finishing up plans for new construction on the same lot.  The former City of Houston code required 3 feet of elevation.  The current COH code, which went into effect 9/1/2018, requires that we elevate 6 feet.  We will have 12-14 steps at each door, and, budget allowing, we will add a wheelchair/platform lift adjacent to the garage stairs.