2019 Rain Thread

[Hate 20103]

I know where I live every new neighborhood has a retention pond. They are clearing land on a major artery between Harris County and Montgomery county and even the cleared land has a retention pond. The only ones that have flooded near me over the 12 years I have been here are the houses built near creaks.

[HOOKEM4 5019]

There are so many factors when you start to talk stormwater management. Detention is actually a bad idea on certain sites depending on their location within the drainage basin.

Good luck trying to design a city around 30"+ 24-hr storms.

[deadshank 24651]

8 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Developers would be up in arms but perhaps new builds (residential  or commercial) should be required to pay into a fund to develop more retention ponds. I wouldn't expect a single house to create a new retention pond but every construction site adds into a larger fund. Allows the city/county to buy low lying areas and develop them even more into parks/ponds.

Lot sales in the Memorial Villages are already slowing down due to the new footprint size restrictions in place.  If a house is already there and the lot is sold and then scheduled for tear down then the new impervious ground covering can't be any larger than what was previously in place.  If the property owner wants a larger slab / flat work / driveway foot print then they are required to build retention to net out the difference.   Water run off retention and engineering for it is expensive.  Lift stations on private property are expensive.  So there is some municipalites already making headway in this battle.

Conversely, Perry Homes just bought an old truck repair lot on Longpoint between Hempstead Hwy. and Silber to build a fenced in "garden home" subdivision (maybe 2 - 3 acres) with quite a few home sites on it.  They paid a lot of money  for the lot becuase is was previously completely paved over in asphalt.  Guess what?  They can build whatever and cover as much of the ground as  they want becuase they aren't increasing the size of the impervious ground cover and don't have  to go to any lengths to satisfy water runoff retention requirements. 

So, lots with a lot of existing concrete or other impervious ground cover in place will become very valuable until municipalities re-write their codes to account for this type of opportunity.  

[SubliminalHorn 6674]

17 minutes ago, Grade of D as in David said:

Are you trying to get more people to move to Austin?

 

Shit you’re right. Never mind, Houston is a magical city, everyone should stay there. 

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

There are so many factors when you start to talk stormwater management. Detention is actually a bad idea on certain sites depending on their location within the drainage basin.
Good luck trying to design a city around 30"+ 24-hr storms.

True. And those kind of storms are supposed to be rare. But we have had 4 in the past 4-5 years? Maybe we make a 10 year run without another, but it certainly looks like they are happening more frequently. And one thing is for sure, Houston keeps adding more concrete and building in areas that shouldn’t be developed. Now maybe we are going to have to start talking about designing for 20” rainfall storms or 10” rainfall storms.

[texasdago 7553]

1 hour ago, gecko said:

Trust me, there will come a day real soon when the voters of Harris County will miss Ed Emmett

Pretty sure that was the day after the election

[GreenspointTexas 9566]

I think we can all agree Houston and New Orleans should never have been founded where they are. It doesnt solve the problem, but really, Houston will never, ever solve its flooding problems because of the location of the city

 

Accept the fact that youll have a major flood every 6-9 months or move somewhere else

[deadshank 24651]

3 minutes ago, GreenspointTexas said:

I think we can all agree Houston and New Orleans should never have been founded where they are. It doesnt solve the problem, but really, Houston will never, ever solve its flooding problems because of the location of the city

 

Accept the fact that youll have a major flood every 6-9 months or move somewhere else

The founding isn't the problem.  The growth is.

[GreenspointTexas 9566]

4 minutes ago, deadshank said:

The founding isn't the problem.  The growth is.

Agree to disagree

[Brisketexan 104605]

2 minutes ago, GreenspointTexas said:

I think we can all agree Houston and New Orleans should never have been founded where they are. It doesnt solve the problem, but really, Houston will never, ever solve its flooding problems because of the location of the city

 

Accept the fact that youll have a major flood every 6-9 months or move somewhere else

I don't agree with the first statement.  The cities are where they are for economic reasons - ports, proximity to petroleum production, etc.  

The question is what the expectations for those cities should be.  We KNOW there will be floods that shut cities down.  Just like Minneapolis knows there will be blizzards that will shut the city down.  That's one thing.  But the property damage is another.  So much can be resolved with strategic placement of diversion and detention resources -- levees, ponds, etc.  Not everything, not even most things.  But a lot.  Then, as to future construction, it seems obvious to me -- if you are building a new home in an area that is AT ALL flood prone, you ought to be elevating the floor level 3-5 feet.  Elevate the slab, build on a crawl space, whatever.

So, in future floods....yep, the streets will be shut down, so folks ought to stay home from work and school that day.  But if more properties are protected, then we have less property damage, and less risk to life.

Few places on earth hit the perfection bullseye on "best location for an economic engine" and "not subject to any major natural disasters."  Earth's a bitch.  She wants to kill us.  She'll flood us, burn us, freeze us, shake us till we shatter.....she always has.  We just need to get smarter as to how we deal with it and plan for it.

[deadshank 24651]

1 minute ago, GreenspointTexas said:

Agree to disagree

OK.  NO was fonded WAY back when and Houston was founded 100 or so something years ago.  There's now way the founders could have anticipated the two cities would become what they now are.  

Not thinking your statement is stupid but it is a bit of an over reach.

[gmr548 16512]

Good Lord so many overly defensive Houston folks.
Live where you want to live.  Others may not like it as much as you do.  I doubt their differences in opinion are intended as a personal affront to you.
Sheesh people get worked up over the weirdest crap sometimes.

Houston has a collective inferiority complex. Never really understood why, has plenty going for it, but it's clear as day. Maybe it's all the aggy. Regardless, it's easy to trigger so tread lightly. And I say that having lived there and holding a decebt favorable opinion of the place.

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[gmr548 16512]

Maybe. I have no idea how much the county judge does or doesn’t do. Regardless Ed Emmett isn’t county judge because of himself. 

Ed Emmett isn't county judge because he didn't change the letter by his name. Not a value judgement, but that's the reason. And yes, that's self inflicted.

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[closetojumping 62240]

1 hour ago, Patricio Swayze said:

 

Goddamn you are a fucking windbag. I am venting. And I never said anything about leaving Texas not moving to Austin. Go read one of the Houston threads to see how I feel about Houston. There is a lot of great shot here. I have also lived in DC as well as outside of the country to give me some perspective on what quality of life can be and cost. I choose to be in Texas for a reason. Stop being such a defensive bitch.

 

I quoted your post and then quite clearly addressed multiple other voices on this thread as well. You didn’t see that because you’re a thin-skinned baby any time someone deigns to run counter to your position.

The post I quoted had you literally saying you’d leave the city but for the job and family. That is indeed quite the love affair you have there. I don’t need to account for posts on other threads for proper context. You whined here and I responded, and then generally referenced the tone of other posters as well. Calling me defensive when this is the way you react any time you get a less than positive response to a post is comical. 

 

[gmr548 16512]

I know where I live every new neighborhood has a retention pond. They are clearing land on a major artery between Harris County and Montgomery county and even the cleared land has a retention pond. The only ones that have flooded near me over the 12 years I have been here are the houses built near creaks.

Clearing forests, wetland, and prairie is a net negative for flood control no matter how big of a pond you build.

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[GreenspointTexas 9566]

13 minutes ago, deadshank said:

OK.  NO was fonded WAY back when and Houston was founded 100 or so something years ago.  There's now way the founders could have anticipated the two cities would become what they now are.  

Not thinking your statement is stupid but it is a bit of an over reach.

Im just saying the Allen brothers must have been blind to found a city in a bayou/marsh full of mosquitos and flat as a board. I also joke that they arrived during the winter... as no one in their right mind would live in Houston in the summer, without a/c

[Hate 20103]

16 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

Clearing forests, wetland, and prairie is a net negative for flood control no matter how big of a pond you build.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 

I don't disagree, but at least in my area there are things being done to mitigate the flooding issue.  Progress gonna progress.

[crimsonlonghorn 2306]

1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

28 and already a county judge?

Impressive.  

She didn't expect to win and most of the people voted for her didn't know they were voting for her.

[Hate 20103]

Here is the preliminary rainfall estimates from Imelda. 

 

And here are a couple of weather models that I posted on Monday predicting these exact events.

Pretty amazing these models can be so relatively accurate 3 days in advance.

[crimsonlonghorn 2306]

1 hour ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Developers would be up in arms but perhaps new builds (residential  or commercial) should be required to pay into a fund to develop more retention ponds. I wouldn't expect a single house to create a new retention pond but every construction site adds into a larger fund. Allows the city/county to buy low lying areas and develop them even more into parks/ponds.

I don't know the exact rules but there are already requirements for that sort of thing. I know that when I lived in Timbergrove one of the neighborhood baseball fields kept getting lowered and rebuilt almost every year because developers in Shady Acres had to offset their new buildings with equivalent water detention projects. It was cheaper for them to just completely rebuild the baseball field than to dedicate new square footage to brand new ponds. 

Somewhere along the way I guess the park reached its maximum allowable depth and they quit lowering it. 

Pic here:

https://goo.gl/maps/Vj72kYPRWKsJVm7g7

[MissingInAction 24816]

 

[GreenspointTexas 9566]

Indianola should have happened to Houston a long time ago... that way we wouldnt be having this conversation

[YChang 3430]

Rice and UH should join forces and help the city come up with some solutions. 

[deadshank 24651]

Just now, YChang said:

Rice and UH should join forces and help the city come up with some solutions. 

The Rice campus used to a swamp so they know what to do.

[BabaYaga 15212]

I met this older, single lady at a bar in my younger years.  One thing led to another, bar was closing down, she leans in and asks me if I'm man enough to kiss here where it's hot, wet, and smells a little funny...

So I drove her to Houston.

 

I'll show myself out......

[Updawg 2261]

The Aggies got it under control

[clapclapclap 9000]

32 minutes ago, GreenspointTexas said:

Indianola should have happened to Houston a long time ago... that way we wouldnt be having this conversation

Holy crap, stop being a simpleton.  Houston was founded 45 miles inland at an elevation of 45'.  There's a reason it's called I-45.

[crash_davis 23084]

we should save the last 10 or so pages and when this shit happens again next year, and the year after, and the year after, we can just re-post the last 10 pages and save ourselves the drama.  

[crash_davis 23084]

2 minutes ago, clapclapclap said:

There's a reason it's called I-45.

i thought it was because it takes you 45 mins without traffic to go anywhere.

[Jester 382]

11 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

i thought it was because it takes you 45 mins without traffic to go anywhere.

Weird.  I could have sworn it was because people typically put on 45 pounds when they move there.

[GreenspointTexas 9566]

16 minutes ago, clapclapclap said:

Holy crap, stop being a simpleton.  Houston was founded 45 miles inland at an elevation of 45'.  There's a reason it's called I-45.

My bad. There were no red flags for the Allen brothers. Carry on

[Storm the Field 5273]

33 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

I met this older, single lady at a bar in my younger years.  One thing led to another, bar was closing down, she leans in and asks me if I'm man enough to kiss here where it's hot, wet, and smells a little funny...

So I drove her to Houston.

 

I'll show myself out......

My preferred version of this joke has the guy picking up the chick in Houston.  They start getting frisky and she tells him to "head down south and kiss me where it stinks" and the guy says "Aww man, I gotta drive to Pasadena?!?!?!"

[HouTex 1850]

Flooding in Houston is not a new thing though I agree poorly planned growth is making it worse. Old timers (not many left) still talk of the mid 1930's flood along buffalo Bayou that was even worse than the Harvey flood.

[Native Horn 3492]

1 hour ago, crimsonlonghorn said:

She didn't expect to win and most of the people voted for her didn't know they were voting for her.

It was her extreme rudeness, based upon that pic at least.

[BabaYaga 15212]

18 minutes ago, Storm the Field said:

My preferred version of this joke has the guy picking up the chick in Houston.  They start getting frisky and she tells him to "head down south and kiss me where it stinks" and the guy says "Aww man, I gotta drive to Pasadena?!?!?!"

Works equally well for Beaumont

[Hornius Emeritus 12419]

I have a client in Sugar Land that I am supposed to visit on Monday.  I have left him a couple of voicemails but have not received a return call. Can anybody tell me if Sugar Land has been impacted?

 

[atomheartbevo 89429]

4 hours ago, gecko said:

Trust me, there will come a day real soon when the voters of Harris County will miss Ed Emmett

Until they try and fap to him, and then they'll go back to the rude 28 year-old.

[crimsonlonghorn 2306]

51 minutes ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

I have a client in Sugar Land that I am supposed to visit on Monday.  I have left him a couple of voicemails but have not received a return call. Can anybody tell me if Sugar Land has been impacted?

 

Sugar Land is fine. 

[atomheartbevo 89429]

3 hours ago, Patricio Swayze said:

About a year ago I saw that a lot on the edge of the 5th Ward, between St. Arnold’s and the tracks just north, was being cleared. When I asked a worker what was going on he said a developer was going to build something. I thought that was strange unless it was industrial. Well, he was wrong. They cleared the woods and put in a retention pond. It isn’t all that big and honestly it is in a curious place. I don’t think this area flooded during the last 3-4 floods we have had. I suppose it could help keep I-10, which is very low in that area, from flooding.

There needs to be a shit ton more of these. Throughout metropolitan Houston and I know that some have been excavated in the past 2 years. Honestly, there are a lot of neighborhoods that probably need to be razed and turned into parks.

I thought I read somewhere around the time of Harvey, that a bunch of the parks had been build as flood-control of some sort (retention ponds, whatever).  Is this an actual thing?  Seems like it would be a cheap and easy way to provide flood-control infrastructure that would be used year-round by the residents.

[atomheartbevo 89429]

2 hours ago, gmr548 said:

Houston has a collective inferiority complex. Never really understood why, has plenty going for it, but it's clear as day. Maybe it's all the aggy. Regardless, it's easy to trigger so tread lightly. And I say that having lived there and holding a decebt favorable opinion of the place.

I blame the fucking Cowboys and Rangers.  Also, Bud Adams (may he burn in hell) fucked Houston quite a bit as well, which contributed to it.

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

I thought I read somewhere around the time of Harvey, that a bunch of the parks had been build as flood-control of some sort (retention ponds, whatever).  Is this an actual thing?  Seems like it would be a cheap and easy way to provide flood-control infrastructure that would be used year-round by the residents.

It is a thing. A lot of the green spaces are built as dual purpose for flood control and outdoor recreational use. Like Cypress Park off of N. Eldridge. And while my neighborhood near Jersey Village is more modest (read not as nice) as my brothers’ hoods in Cypress, it hasn’t flooded ever. Harvey got my younger brother’s house and one car and nearly flooded my older brother’s place. We have a duck pond and baseball field at the front of the neighborhood that is built into a massive retention pond. So far so good.

[Pibald 18]

11 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

I blame the fucking Cowboys and Rangers.  Also, Bud Adams (may he burn in hell) fucked Houston quite a bit as well, which contributed to it.

I also blame the short people and those who were not popular in high school. They give Houston a collective inferiority complex.

We should all move to a well-draining mountain, assuming there is a decent petrochemical industry that can support 30% pay cuts. 

[gecko 1104]

4 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Maybe. I have no idea how much the county judge does or doesn’t do. Regardless Ed Emmett isn’t county judge because of himself. 

You're not from around these parts are ya'?

[Trey3216 15325]

25 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

I blame the fucking Cowboys

[Hate 20103]

Houston's "complex' comes from every half of the posts in regards to Houston are posts shitting on Houston for one reason or another.  It's weird why anyone that lives here and likes it would be defensive.

 

And here is the retention pond in our neighborhood. The first picture is the Friday before it started raining.

 

 

This was Saturday.

 

 

Sunday.

 

 

And finally Monday.

 

 

Not one house in my neighborhood flooded despite 41 inches of rain. Our streets were backed up for a few days, but that was a very minor inconvenience in light of what was going on throughout the rest of the city. It seems to me that retention ponds are a good idea. I have no idea what to do about the thousands of neighborhoods built before people thought “we should build retention ponds”, but I would imagine flooding in newer neighborhoods is less likely (other than those built near watersheds).

[deadshank 24651]

4 hours ago, GreenspointTexas said:

Im just saying the Allen brothers must have been blind to found a city in a bayou/marsh full of mosquitos and flat as a board. I also joke that they arrived during the winter... as no one in their right mind would live in Houston in the summer, without a/c

Well then say that. 

I can’t believe Los Angeles is where it is. I mean what with the fault lines and earthquakes, no easy access to fresh water and pumping it in from elsewhere,  the mountains to the east that trap smog, the dry climate where everything burns to the ground once a year IF it survived the earthquake?

What were they thinking when they settled there?

[Trey3216 15325]

1 minute ago, deadshank said:

Well then say that. 

I can’t believe Los Angeles is where it is. I mean what with the fault lines and earthquakes, no easy access to fresh water and pumping it in from elsewhere,  the mountains to the east that trap smog, the dry climate where everything burns to the ground once a year IF it survived the earthquake?

What were they thinking when they settled there?

Tar pits to make their boats  

[closetojumping 62240]

2 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

I blame the fucking Cowboys and Rangers.  Also, Bud Adams (may he burn in hell) fucked Houston quite a bit as well, which contributed to it.

Hahahahahaha. What the fuck? I reject the silly premise of an "inferiority complex" for a massive city in general, but were one to exist, I'm perplexed how the Rangers would factor in. They've never done a fucking thing in their existence outside of like 2 years. Who on earth would choose the Rangers and their history over what the Astros have done from inception forward? Wow.

[Smax 3800]

Houston has a collective inferiority complex. Never really understood why, has plenty going for it, but it's clear as day. Maybe it's all the aggy. Regardless, it's easy to trigger so tread lightly. And I say that having lived there and holding a decebt favorable opinion of the place.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

Its not a Houston inferiority complex, its a Texas thing. We for whatever reason defend all things Texas when it comes into question about its greatness. Travel/live out of state and this will be brought to your attention numerous times. "You Texans sure proud about being from Texas"

As for the ags, sure there is a large concentration of them in the largest city in the state, just as Houston has the largest concentration of Longhorns outside of Austin.

[BabaYaga 15212]

2 hours ago, Hate said:

41 inches

If S. Austin's mom can handle this on a weekly basis, so can you...