HARRIS COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL DISTRICT HAS COMPLETED FIRST ROUND OF HARVEY DAMAGE DRAINAGE REPAIRS; NEXT ROUND UNDERWAY

10/3/2019

Harris County Flood Control District has recently completed drainage infrastructure repairs using the first $13 million from a post-Hurricane Harvey grant awarded by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The NRCS was able to assist the Harris County community using funding from the Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program.

Example of Harvey Repairs: General channel erosion repairs and sheet pile replacement on Horsepen Creek, HCFCD Unit U106-00-00

 “The EWP Program helps eligible entities implement emergency recovery measures to relieve imminent hazards to life or property caused by a natural disaster,” said Mark Northcut, Natural Resource Manager, USDA-NRCS Texas. “NRCS provides technical and financial assistance for measures that reduce threats to life or property from a watershed impairment, including sediment and debris removal and also provides protection from additional flooding or soil erosion. In addition to implementing emergency measures, assistance available under the EWP Program includes the purchase of floodplain easements.”

Repairs from the first NRCS grant, consisting of hundreds of individual repair efforts, are located in the Greens Bayou, Cypress Creek, Little Cypress Creek and Addicks Reservoir watersheds. 

More than $80 million in additional drainage infrastructure repair projects across Harris County are still in the bidding or construction stages, with an estimated completion date of Fall 2020. This work included sinkholes, bank erosion, failed concrete, collapsed outfall pipes and other damage that totaled more than 1,200 damage sites caused by Hurricane Harvey.

ABOUT THE HARRIS COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL DISTRICT
The Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) provides flood damage reduction projects that work, with appropriate regard for community and natural values. With more than 1,500 bayous and creeks totaling approximately 2,500 miles in length, the Flood Control District accomplishes its mission by devising flood damage reduction plans, implementing the plans and maintaining the infrastructure.