will very aggressively, as much as we can, pursue other funding sources, including our own capital improve- ment funds, to execute the plan.” Local advocates, including those from the Cypress Creek Flood Con- trol Coalition, said the move toward building more detention in the water- shed is a step in the right direction. Dick Smith, president of the Cypress Creek Flood Control Coalition, lauded the work being done by the flood control district and said he was glad to see the tributaries study updated. However, he said he was concerned about development taking place in the northwestern part of the Cypress Creek watershed near Waller. The implications could mean worse flooding on Mound Creek and, by extension, Cypress Creek, Smith said. He said he believed Mound Creek was not sufficiently addressed in the study. “Mound Creek has a potential for, going into the future, an immense amount of water coming down through it,” Smith said. “When you’re talking about Cypress Creek tributar- ies, that is our biggest concern.” Hard rains coming As the flood control district set about updating the 2003 tributaries study, Zeve said, engineers took new rainfall data into account that was
published in 2019 by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- tion. That data, referred to as Atlas 14, showed an increase in rainfall that can be expected in future storm events across the board in Harris County. For example, under old rainfall tables, a 100-year storm in the Cypress Creek watershed would be estimated to generate 12.4 inches of rain over a 24-hour period. Under the new tables, the same storm would now be esti- mated to generate 16.3 inches of rain over the same period of time. This increase in rainfall can be tied to warmer temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico, Glenn said. The number of storms that formed in the Atlantic Ocean during the 2020 season is indicative of what can be expectedmoving forward, Glenn said. Although the effects of storms on the Houston area were minimal, a total of 31 storms formed in the Gulf since May, the most in the 170 years records have been tracked. At the same time, the hurricanes themselves are getting more severe, Glenn said. “The current predictions are more frequent and more intense storms, [which bring] more and bigger flood events,” Glenn said. What the future holds depends in part on what governments across the world are able to achieve in terms of
Court, which would have to vote in favor of putting a bond before county voters in a future election. Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle, who represents parts of Cy-Fair and Spring, has said a second bond is all but inevitable. However, in a Nov. 12 interview, Cagle said it was too early to be talking about a second bond at this point in time. “I have always said that we need to have a second bond, but before we can go to the public with a second bond, we have to be faithful stewards with the first,” he said. One potentially pricey concept that could play a major role in the coun- ty’s efforts on Cypress Creek is an underground flood tunnel. In 2019, the county completed a study that showed the soil in Harris County is suitable for a flood tunnel, and the county is 75% of the way through a yearlong study that will determine more details about installing a tunnel, including where it might be located. Zeve said the Cypress Creek corri- dor is one of the routes being studied. “The flood control district and our consultants feel like a large-diameter, deep tunnel system could be effec- tive as a flood damage reduction tool in the Cypress Creek watershed,” he said. “So we’re moving that analysis forward, andwe hope to have commu- nity engagement meetings and have a draft final report out [by] maybe Feb- ruary or March of next year.” In 2019, Harris County commission- ers also adopted a new framework for how flood control projects are priori- tized to ensure that lower-income and marginalized neighborhoods are not left behind. The new framework did not have any immediate effects on projects in the Cy-Fair area, as most of them had already been launched, Zeve said. Zeve said flood control officials are working to get through projects as quickly as they can, but a number of factors require time, including obtain- ing federal grant money. Cathy Spies, president of the Enchanted Valley Homeowner’s Association, said the Telge Road community saw flooding in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Three years after Harvey, she said residents still feel uneasy. “We all hold our breath when thun- derstorms are predicted, and many— including me—make sure valuables are in an upper story,” she said.
forming a set of agreed-upon proto- cols and reducing atmospheric emis- sions, Glenn said. After Harvey, the HCFCD brought on John Nielsen-Gammon, a clima- tologist and professor with Texas A&M University, to study the effects climate change could have on rain- fall events in Harris County. Niel- sen-Gammon released the results of his study in May, which show that a “robust upward trend in extreme pre- cipitation is present across the south- ern and southeastern United States.” “The historic upward trend is very likely to continue with global warm- ing,” Nielsen-Gammon wrote. The report also found that an event as severe as Harvey was not likely to hit the Houston area a second time in Officials with the flood control dis- trict stressed that the $2.5 billion in bond funding is not nearly enough to address all the needed projects in Har- ris County. HCFCD Executive Direc- tor Russ Poppe has previously told county commissioners at least $30 bil- lion would be needed to fully protect the county against 100-year floods. A decision on when another bond referendum could be called and how large it could be falls to the five-mem- ber Harris County Commissioners the foreseeable future. Planning for the future
New rainfall data for the Cypress Creek watershed released in 2019 shows significantly more rain is expected to fall during storm events of varying severity. Changing the Foundation SOURCE: NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER Frequency of rain expected in Cypress Creek watershed
Projecting ahead
A study released for the Houston area in August by ATMOS Research & Consulting looked into future predictions for several climate change metrics related to precipitation, including rising sea levels in the Gulf of Mexico.
3.5 in.
Old rainfall table New rainfall table
Two hours
4.03 in.
7.1 in.
24 hours
8.22 in.
The study found:
8.1 in.
Sea levels could rise globally by 0.3-0.6 feet by 2030
Two days
9.67 in.
5.5 in.
Two hours
The average wettest three-day period in Houston could increase from 6.4 inches from 1971-90 to 8.6 inches from 2050-71. A historic 100-year flood could occur anywhere from once a year to once every 30 years across the Gulf Coast region by 2100
6.49 in.
12.4 in.
24 hours
16.3 in.
13.6 in.
Two days
19.5 in.
7.5 in.
Two hours
9.04 in.
17.7 in.
24 hours
24.2 in.
SOURCE: CLIMATE IMPACT ASSESSMENT FOR CITY OF HOUSTON/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
For more information, visit communityimpact.com .
18.7 in.
Two days
27.7 in.
29
CY-FAIR EDITION • DECEMBER 2020
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