- 19 Windermere Ln. [HAR]
Sign up for the Newsletter
COMMENT OF THE DAY: FLOATING HOMES FOR HOUSTON 
“I’m a ship designer with 20+ years of experience and I will say that a float-off house is absolutely feasible from a technical point of view. A quick check in the used barge market shows that you can get something house-sized (80 ft. by 30 ft.) for $65,000. Of course building something on-site would cost a lot more than construction in a shipyard. Not sure how this compares to what a foundation costs. But you’d need to add in some kind of anchoring system so that your house doesn’t float away when it floods. And permitting would be a whole other kettle of fish. I’m available for moonlighting if any architect wants to investigate this for a client!” [Orang Bodoh, commenting on Where Are Houston’s Floodwater-Ready Homes]
The headline suggestion in a 6-page policy paper published last week under the banner of Rice University’s Baker Institute comes in item 2 of a helpfully numbered list of 15 things Houston might want to do or think about to make future never-seen-this-before flooding events a little less catastrophic: Author Jim Blackburn, an environmental attorney, pioneering Houston-area naturalist, and longtime let’s-not-flood advocate, proposes a “fair but extensive home buyout and removal program” targeted at homes that have been flooded 3 or more times since Tropical Storm Allison in 2001: “It is unlikely we can develop strategies to protect them from severe rainfall events that are much more frequent than labels such as ‘100-year’ or even ‘500-year’ rainfall events suggest,’ he writes.
Among the less radical proposals put forward in his list is the suggestion to map and categorize the Houston region by its propensity to flood: “safe” areas that didn’t flood — and should therefore become “the backbone of the Houston of Tomorrow” — “transitional” areas (only “single-event” flooding); and “buyout” areas — which can be targeted for parks and “future green infrastructure.”
Other ideas and issues from the paper that Blackburn hopes will “initiate a conversation” are summarized here:
The City That Floods
WHY YOU MIGHT WANT TO THINK TWICE BEFORE EVEN APPLYING FOR AN SBA LOAN AFTER HARVEY 
As lines begin to form at the 3 new disaster recovery centers opened today at the Katy Mills Mall, Greenspoint Mall, and Baytown Community Center, people seeking assistance from FEMA or the Small Business Administration after their homes or businesses were damaged by the storm may want to know about a little HUD rule passed in 2011. Intended to prevent victims from receiving assistance for the same disaster from 2 separate agencies (which had cost the government $1 billion after Hurricane Katrina and the Midwest floods a few years later), the rule ended up going a little further than that: “Every dollar for which disaster victims are approved for an SBA loan is a dollar less they can receive from a federal grant,” reports Danny Vinik in Politico. “In other words, if a victim who is eligible for $120,000 in assistance is offered a $90,000 SBA loan, she can only receive grants worth $30,000—no matter if she accepts or declines the loan.” Complicating the issue for some: low-interest-rate SBA Disaster Loans can provide funds within a few weeks; any outright grants from FEMA would take much longer. [Houston Chronicle; Politico] Photo of ATM at Katy Mills Mall: Cindy D.
- 46 Facilities in 13 Gulf Coast Counties Released Hazardous Pollutants Because of Hurricane Harvey [New York Times; previously on Swamplot]
- Metro Flood Damage Includes Kashmere Transit Facility [Houston Public Media]
- Harvey’s Effect on Houston Realtors [American-Statesman Staff]
- Inside the Flooded, Moldy St. James Place Apartments on Fondren, the Rent Is Due [Houston Press]
- Extent of Floodwater Contamination Largely Unknown in Houston [The Texas Tribune]
- Texas Energy Industry on the Mend from Hurricane Harvey [New York Times]
- Cleaning Up Mountains of Trash from Hurricane Harvey Could Take Months [CBS News]
- Houston Restaurants Slow To Bounce Back from Harvey as Customers Deal with Cleanup, Traffic [Houston Press]
- John Biggers Mural at Blue Triangle Multi-Cultural Association in Third Ward Damaged During Harvey [Houston Chronicle]
- Residents Near Addicks and Barker Reservoirs Confront Officials at Town Hall Over Decisions to Flood Neighborhoods Along Buffalo Bayou [Reuters]
- Inside the Rescue of the La Vita Bella Assisted Living Home [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- An Update from New York Times Correspondent Clifford Krauss, Whose Bellaire Home Flooded [New York Times]
- Texas City ISD’s Annexation of La Marque ISD Further Complicated by Harvey [The Texas Tribune]
- Houston’s Big Opportunity for Better Urban Development Post-Harvey [CityLab]
- What Houston’s Recovery Could Look Like in Practice [Wired]
- Harvey Exposed Inadequacy of Houston’s Flood Management Strategy [Houston Chronicle]
- How Houston’s Lack of Zoning Could Help It Recover [The Urban Edge]
- What the Dutch Can Teach the World About Managing Floods [CBC Radio]
- How Elevation Works in Overbank Flooding Versus Street Flooding [Watershed Texas]
- Houston Struggles After Loss of Countless Cars [AP]
- What Happens To All Of The Flooded Cars After Hurricane Harvey [Jalopnik]
- Video: Harvey Flood Rescues in Houston [Beme News]
- Why Houston Could House Amazon’s Second Headquarters [HBJ ($)]
- Johnston Marklee, Designers of the Menil Drawing Institute, and the Next Generation of Famous Architects [New York Times]
- Downtown Houston Got on The Rustic Co-Owner Pat Green’s Radar After 2011 Show at Discovery Green [Houston Press]
Photo of Pinehurst, Baytown: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Ah, nothing is too late, till the tired house shall cease to palpitate.
WHAT THE HARVEY FLOODING DID TO BUFFALO BAYOU PARK 
“Please know that Buffalo Bayou Park was designed to flood, although we did not anticipate three historic flooding events in 1-1/2 years,” Buffalo Bayou Partnership president Anne Olson remarks drily in an email update this afternoon. So what’s the damage? “The bottom two thirds of the park are still under water, and we expect that they will remain so for several more weeks as water is released from the Addicks and Barker reservoirs. Due to these circumstances, it is difficult for our staff to assess the impact the flowing water has had on the footpaths and landscape in these areas. We do know that the Johnny Steele Dog Park, which is still submerged, will be closed for two or three months.” Water and sediment that flooded the Buffalo Bayou Cistern is still draining, slowly, but the electrical system installed when the long-hidden underground space was made available for tours and art installations appears to be working. The Wortham Fountain and the trail lighting system have been damaged, Olson reports. The Bayou City Adventures kayak kiosk at Lost Lake and the Bike Barn at Sabine St. has been shut down for the remainder of the year at least; areas east of the Sabine St. bridge are mostly still underwater. But Olson reports landscaped areas in the upper areas of the park, where trails have already reopened, survived with only a small amount of damage: “We are extremely fortunate that the Lost Lake and Wortham Insurance Visitor Centers did not take on water. Both facilities are open and the Kitchen at The Dunlavy is operating with normal hours. Food trucks also are back in the entry court at Sabine Street from Thursday-Sunday.” Update: The Bike Barn at Sabine St. has resumed normal hours as of September 9. [Buffalo Bayou Partnership] Photo: Adam Brackman.
Going up along Rawley St. just east of Gregg St. in the Fifth Ward: A row of five 3-story freestanding concrete-block townhomes from a company called Castro Novum. The photos were taken earlier this week — after Harvey storms had cleared out of the area. The homes are 2 blocks north of Lyons Ave. and back up to Union Pacific’s Terminal Subdivision freight-rail line. This one is furthest along:
5 in a Row
Today Swamplot is brought to you by Houston’s own Central Bank. Thanks for being a Sponsor of the Day!
Central Bank has 4 (central) Houston branches available to meet your business or personal needs: in Midtown, the Heights, West Houston, and Post Oak Place.
Central Bank believes that change is essential to its success; the company actively pursues the latest in service, technology, and products. Central Bank aims to know its customers personally and to be their primary business and personal financial resource. The bank’s staff values relationships and strives to be available when you need them.
To learn more about how Central Bank can meet your banking needs, please call any of the following Senior Vice Presidents: Kenny Beard, at 832.485.2376; Bonnie Purvis, at 832.485.2354; Carlos Alvarez, at 832.485.2372; or Ryan Tillman, at 832.485.2307. You can also find out more on the bank’s website.
Let Houston know about your business. Become a Swamplot Sponsor of the Day.Â
Sponsor of the Day
Today’s the day a 48-ft.-long trailer-mounted 1MW Aggreko generator is expected to park on the Louisiana St. side of the Hogg Palace Lofts, a Randall Davis Companies rep tells residents. The goal: Power restored in all 79 units by the end of the day. But generator power won’t be going to elevators, corridors, or the building’s retail tenants (which include the Pad Thai restaurant on Louisiana). Those areas will have to wait until replacement electrical equipment arrives and is installed to restore permanent power in the building. References to a series of so-far-unsuccessful efforts to repair existing equipment are included in a series of emails sent to residents by the building’s management over the last 2 weeks.
The 8-story building at the corner of Louisiana and Preston has been without power since around 8 am on August 27th. “What we as tenants have been able to piece together is sub-level parking levels of the Lyric Center and the new Lyric Center garage became flooded as the bayou took a short cut down Prairie and took a left on Louisiana,” a tenant tells Swamplot. Water coursed into those parking garages down entrance ramps, then “made it under the street through vaults or conduits or whatever into the basement of the Hogg where it shorted out the electrical equipment.”
Harvey Outages
- Severely Damaged Harris County Criminal Justice Center Will Be Closed at Least 8 Months [HBJ]
- Another Lawsuit Against Chemical Plant Owner Arkema Likely To Be Filed by Crosby Residents in Coming Weeks [Texas Tribune; previously on Swamplot]
- At Least 7,700 Houses Damaged by Flooding in League City Alone [Galveston County Daily News]
- San Jacinto River Flooding Leaves Roofs on the Ground, Cars in Trees in Channelview Community of River Bottom [abc13]
- Slideshow: Digging Out from Hurricane Harvey [Texas Tribune]
- Houston ISD Announces Relocations for 9 Damaged Schools, Rolling Opening Days for Other Campuses Over Next 3 Mondays [HBJ]
- Water-Damaged Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital To Transfer 34 Patients [Houston Chronicle]
- Interactive Map: EPA Superfund Sites Affected By Harvey [Houston Chronicle]
- Why Houston’s Traffic Is So Bad After Harvey [Houston Public Media]
- 3 Apps or Websites To Help Navigate the Roads After Harvey [Houston Public Media]
- A Real Estate Agent’s List of Houston Communities That Fared the Best During Harvey [Houston Chronicle]
- Harvey First Responder Warns He Got Deadly Infection Known as Flesh-Eating Bacteria [Click2Houston]
- Undocumented Workers Will Play a Crucial Part in Rebuilding Houston [Vox]
- The Scramble for Temporary Office Space After Harvey [Bisnow]
- How a Volunteer Found Herself Working Dispatch for the Cajun Navy [Houston Chronicle]
- 5 Suggestions for Filing Harvey Insurance Claims [Houstonia]
Photo of Woodlyn Rd., East Houston: Leslie LaMacchia
Headlines
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Excuse the mess, but we demolish here.
The Galveston District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has made public a set of interactive maps — normally used by emergency personnel — that show which areas along the length of Buffalo Bayou are predicted to remain under water or emerge from it as officials continue to release water from the Addicks and Barker reservoirs upstream. Individual interactive map panels cover each day from September 5th through the 16th, but as of this date all rely on data developed on Tuesday, when the maps were created.
The embedded version above mimics the view from a mobile browser; you can zoom in to view the projected water line on any street. To switch days, click on one side or the other of the panel at the bottom of the frame — or choose the date directly from the menu that appears after you click on the icon in the top left corner.
To view the map in its own browser window, click here.
- Addicks and Barker Projected Inundation Levels [USACE Galveston]
- Know How High the River Flows [Save Buffalo Bayou]
Inundation Levels, Day by Day
SOMETHING POWERFUL IN THE CROSBY AIR 
This vivid description is included in the original petition of a lawsuit filed today against Arkema, operators of the chemical plant off the Beaumont Hwy. in Crosby — by 7 first responders injured after incidents there last week: “In the early morning hours of August 31, 2017, the first of several explosions occurred as a result of the abandoned chemicals heating up and igniting. Although the explosions had occurred, no one from Arkema alerted the first responders who were manning the perimeter of the arbitrary mandatory evacuation area. Immediately upon being exposed to the fumes from the explosion. and one by one. the police officers and first responders began to fall ill in the middle of the road. Calls for medics were made, but still no one from Arkema warned of the toxic fumes in the air. Emergency medical personnel arrived on scene. and even before exiting their vehicle, they became overcome by the fumes as well. The scene was nothing less than chaos. Police officers were doubled over vomiting, unable to breathe. Medical personnel, in their attempts to provide assistance to the officers became overwhelmed and they too began to vomit and gasp for air. Some of the police officers. unable to abandon their vehicles due to their weapons being present, jumped in their vehicles and drove themselves to the nearest hospital. The other officers and medical personnel were all placed in an ambulance, and were driven to the hospital.†[Houston Chronicle; International Business Times] Still image of smoke from fire after Thursday’s explosion: abc13
WHERE ARE HOUSTON’S FLOODWATER-READY HOMES? 
A reader asks: “Is there not a single architect in Houston who has envisioned a flood resistant home? Polished concrete floors with large area rugs instead of wood or wall-to-wall carpet? Waterproof material (instead of drywall) three or four feet up from the slab; removable of course so you can remove the wet insulation after the next flood? How much more do cabinets cost if they are made from marine grade plywood? Surely there’s a business case for a house that you can basically hose off and re-decorate after a flood, right?” Illustration: Popular Mechanics
