Tag Archives: Hurricane Harvey

Hotze sues Abbott and Paxton

Posted on April 19, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Just another day at the office for this guy. A group of conservative activists and pastors that’s challenging Harris County’s stay-at-home order is now also suing Gov. Greg Abbott, claiming his recent executive order to stem the spread of Covid-19 … Continue reading →

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More flood tunnel studies

Posted on December 31, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Has some promise. With engineers working at a feverish pace to get more than 200 projects in its $2.5 billion bond program moving, much of the Flood Control District’s efforts are focused on nuts-and-bolts improvements — including widening bayous, digging … Continue reading →

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Army Corps held liable for Harvey reservoir flooding

Posted on December 19, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

A big deal. Thousands of Houston area residents and property owners landed a historic win against the U.S. government on Tuesday when a federal judge found that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is liable for damage caused when it … Continue reading →

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Next up for Mayor Turner

Posted on December 17, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

A preview of his second term agenda. Mayor Sylvester Turner said he would seek to enact “transformational” changes in his second term, previewing an agenda that will require city leaders to confront politically difficult issues and vastly expand the use … Continue reading →

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The state of the county 2019

Posted on November 18, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo has a lot of accomplishments to tout. Harris County in the past year has made significant progress on flood control, criminal justice and improving public health, County Judge Lina Hidalgo said in her first State … Continue reading →

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The state will be handling the Harvey relief funds

Posted on October 10, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Don’t worry your pretty little heads about it. Texas is likely another nine months from getting $4.3 billion in federal post-Hurricane Harvey recovery money aimed at better protecting the state from future flooding and disasters. But when it finally arrives, … Continue reading →

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The Chron’s overview of the Mayor

Posted on October 7, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a fair picture. Mayor Sylvester Turner hugged his way through three dozen staff and supporters, reached the podium, and smiled. It was May 2017, and Turner’s landmark pension reform bill had just passed the Legislature, validating his decision to … Continue reading →

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The cumulative effect

Posted on September 22, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

We really need to give a lot more thought, and action, to this. As the flood-weary city of Houston recovers from yet another historic storm in the coming days, rubber-gloved mucking brigades and tow truck armies will swoop in to … Continue reading →

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Tropical Storm Imelda

Posted on September 20, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

That escalated very quickly. Heavy rainfall from now-downgraded Imelda continued to wreak havoc Thursday for much of southeast Texas, where officials were dealing with impassable roadways, downed trees, power outages, hundreds of high-water rescues, fast-rising water and in one small … Continue reading →

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Some flood mitigation funds are coming

Posted on August 12, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Good. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has awarded Houston its first grant aimed at mitigating flooding since Hurricane Harvey hit nearly two years ago, laying the groundwork for new gates on the Lake Houston dam and detention basins in Inwood … Continue reading →

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I for one am happy to be anti-drowning

Posted on August 5, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

I’m almost irrationally furious about this. Wednesday’s event by the Bayou City Initiative was billed “Flood Resiliency and the State of City Infrastructure.” So, it was no surprise to see featured speaker Carol Haddock, head of Houston Public Works, get … Continue reading →

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The Dutch way to mitigate against floods

Posted on July 27, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

We can learn a lot from this largely-below-sea-level country. On a sunny Friday in late May, a jubilant wedding party scrambled to the top of a colossal sand dune in this tiny Dutch beach town for a photoshoot, bridesmaids’ arms … Continue reading →

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We still have a lot of broken flood mitigation infrastructure

Posted on June 6, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Did I mention that hurricane season is underway? As the Atlantic hurricane season arrives Saturday, Harris County leaders say the region remains extremely vulnerable to major storms two years after Hurricane Harvey’s unprecedented rains swamped the Houston area, forcing leaders … Continue reading →

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Hurricane season again

Posted on June 1, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

As always, we hope for the best. The National Hurricane Center predicted Thursday that a near-normal Atlantic hurricane season is most likely this year, meaning a likely range of nine to 15 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher), … Continue reading →

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Another big flood would be bad

Posted on May 29, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Breaking news, but this is worth paying attention to. Housing sales would drop, gasoline prices would increase and Texas would lose hundreds of billions of dollars in economic output if a major storm struck an unprotected coastline, according to a … Continue reading →

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Who needs disaster recovery funds?

Posted on May 26, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Not this guy. A bipartisan group of Texas members of Congress will have to wait until early next month to see passage on a long-sought measure that will release more than $4 billion dollars in aid to parts of Texas … Continue reading →

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Kinder Houston Area Survey 2019

Posted on May 22, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

It’s one of the best things about Houston, year after year. As Houston recovered from last week’s punishing rains, Rice University researchers reported Monday that public concern about flooding has diminished, while residents are ambivalent about certain policies aimed at … Continue reading →

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Lineup shuffling at the DA’s office

Posted on May 18, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

This was a surprise. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg’s top lieutenant is out the door after the latest staffing shake-up at an office already plagued by high turnover and ongoing retention problems. Tom Berg, a former defense attorney who … Continue reading →

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Prosecuting polluters

Posted on May 1, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

It really shouldn’t have to come to this, but here we are. The Harris County District Attorney’s office is calling for a tripling of the number of prosecutors dedicated to environmental crimes in the wake of a series of chemical … Continue reading →

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We’re still figuring out how to do development in a floodplain

Posted on April 21, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: The Greater Houston Flood Mitigation Consortium has released dual research reports that examine current standards in the area’s drainage, detention, and development regulations. The reports also include findings that encourage implementation of new and updated flood management infrastructure approaches … Continue reading →

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Using floodplain rules to force environmental safety compliance

Posted on April 10, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

A county’s gotta do what a county’s gotta do. Harris County officials are using flood control regulations passed after Hurricane Harvey to delay the reopening of two chemical companies where fires erupted in recent weeks, killing one worker and sending … Continue reading →

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House approves budget, and other news

Posted on March 31, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Always a major milestone. In Dennis Bonnen’s first major test as speaker of the Texas House, the chamber he oversees resoundingly passed a $251 billion budget Wednesday after a long but largely civil debate — a departure from the dramatics … Continue reading →

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Still lots of houses at risk of flooding

Posted on March 25, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

This is going to take a long time to really mitigate. A new study is raising concerns that restrictions on new construction put in place after Hurricane Harvey could leave low-income residents with fewer choices for affordable housing. More than … Continue reading →

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Senate presents disaster relief bills

Posted on March 8, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Better late than never, though why they’re late remains a subject of interest. More than a year and a half after Hurricane Harvey ravaged the state, Texas Senate leaders announced a $1.8 billion trio of disaster relief bills on Wednesday that they … Continue reading →

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Climate change and hurricanes

Posted on February 21, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

We’re living it now. A group of top hurricane experts, including several federal researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, published striking new research Thursday, suggesting that hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean have grown considerably worse and that climate … Continue reading →

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Commissioners Court rejects Ogg’s request for more prosecutors

Posted on February 13, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

I fully expected that Commissioners Court going from 4-1 Republican to 3-2 Democratic after the last election would signal big changes in how business was done in Harris County, but I didn’t expect this to be the first milestone on … Continue reading →

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The state of the state 2019

Posted on February 6, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Sometimes it’s what you don’t say that gets noticed. Gov. Greg Abbott, in his biennial State of the State address Tuesday, stayed on message about schools and taxes, continuing state leaders’ so far unified focus on bread-and-butter policy reforms in … Continue reading →

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Port Arthur

Posted on January 26, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

The Harvey-damaged industrial town is trying to draw new residents while holding onto the ones it has now. Port Arthur may be surrounded by prosperous oil refineries, but the city itself faces challenges. The refineries employ fewer workers than they … Continue reading →

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Will we address the unincorporated problem?

Posted on January 21, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron proposes an agenda item for the Lege. Unincorporated Harris County The challenges of unincorporated Harris County are nothing new. For decades neighborhoods have sprouted up in the vast prairie west of Houston without any formal municipal governmental structure. … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston, That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

It’s always possible to make a border wall proposal stupider

Posted on January 14, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s Exhibit A. An emergency Trump administration plan to tap storm protection funds to pay for a border wall was slammed Friday by Houston lawmakers who said it could endanger the city’s recovery from Hurricane Harvey and jeopardize the region’s … Continue reading →

Posted in La Migra, National news | Tagged , , , , , | 15 Comments

Our pretty decent revenue estimate

Posted on January 10, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

We’ve seen much worse. At a time when legislators are vowing to spend more money on public schools and slow the growth of Texans’ property tax bills, the state should have enough money at its disposal to do just that. … Continue reading →

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Orlando Sanchez’s bizarre press conference

Posted on December 30, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

What a weird thing. It was an absolutely wild afternoon for Harris County Treasurer Orlando Sanchez. He planned to have a news conference across the street from the HISD administration building, but things didn’t go as planned. Protestors showed up … Continue reading →

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Is there a better way to predict flooding?

Posted on December 21, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

This startup thinks so. An artificial intelligence startup now says it can provide that warning. The company, One Concern, has announced that it can predict whether your block will flood — and if so, by how much — five days … Continue reading →

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Of course we could have done more on flood mitigation before now

Posted on December 14, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

From the Chron: Harris County faces challenge, opportunity managing $2.5B flood bond program. I want to focus on this bit. Jim Blackburn, co-director of the Severe Storm Prediction, Education, and Evacuation from Disasters Center at Rice University, estimates the bond … Continue reading →

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