Fausset, R. and Fernandez, M. (2017, August 30). A Storm forces Houston, the limitless city, to consider its limits. Retrieved October 20, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/30/us/houston-flooding-growth-regulation.html

This article discusses the future of Houston and its flooding issue. The entire future of a city is ultimately dependent on what kind of material is underneath it. Houston, the most populous city in Texas, was founded on inactive bayous (a marshy outlet of a lake or river) and built on a vast floodplain (an area of low-lying ground that is adjacent to a river and formed of river sediments). Despite Houston’s structural flaw, the city prospered and grew by providing affordable housing and encroaching buildings into green areas which, in the past, served as lands that absorbed floodwater and prevented flooding. Houston’s development happened extremely fast and without much thought as to where the water would go in case of a disaster. In addition to being built on floodplains and bayous, Houston is also very flat and because of its relatively zero slope, the ground does not allow the flood water to move anywhere. Due to all of these factors, Houston kept flooding throughout the years and the government finally created the Harris County Flood Control District in order to make the city flood-controlled. In this project, the engineers channelized (converted into concrete tunnels) 2 bayous. A third bayou was not channelized but it was widened. The engineers believed that this change would move the storm water out of neighborhoods and into the sea. This was the ultimate goal and it did work with storms; however, this plan might have done more harm than good. This change in Houston’s structure made residents believe that their city was flood-controlled and gave them a sense of false security. People started building buildings everywhere, including right next to the bayous and channels. Whatever green space was left in Houston was constructed over to form parking lots and houses because people believed that the new channels would take care of the storm runoff.

Everything was going smoothly for Houston up until Tropical Storm Allison hit in 2001, causing more than $5 billion in damages. After that, scientists began warning people that even though they might be prepared for minor storms, climate change is rising and starting to turn minor storms into major disasters. Houston, although prepared for regular to maybe even moderate storms, was not prepared for anything major. According to Erin Kinney, a research scientist with the nonprofit Houston Advanced Research Center, “65 square miles of freshwater wetlands have been lost in the Houston-Galveston Bay region, largely because of development and sinking land, and that 30 percent of Harris County was covered with impervious surfaces like roads, parking lots and roofs.” Subsidence, or the sinking of the ground because of underground material movement, has caused parts of Houston to become more vulnerable to flooding.

As seen by the disasters of Hurricane Harvey, Houston is not anywhere near flood-controlled and needs to improve their drainage systems. However, with that will come an immense cost and a great rise in taxes for Texans. Governments have considered buying out the houses of homeowners who live in flooded areas in order to restore these areas back into wetlands that can absorb water and help with drainage. However, many homeowners are reluctant to give up their homes despite the major setbacks they constantly have to go through. Although the cost will be immense to construct a flood-proof city, it will be worthwhile. All of the past and current damage costs would have been enough to fully flood proof Houston rather than rebuild structures that were already there. Houston has always recovered from floods and will recover from Hurricane Harvey; however, due to Houston’s structural development and floodplains, flooding will always be an issue unless the government takes initiative and makes a change to better the city’s future.