Why is Houston flooding so badly? Blame a bad storm and urban sprawl 

I was in Houston from June 16th - to August 25th and I noticed that their irrigation is HORRIBLE. Alot of grassy area with sitting water... looked like Florida there.

Man it happened so fast too. We live in Kingwood and in the morning we drove to the store for some extra supplies and by noon we were stranded and our cars were destroyed.

Tell me of anyplace that wouldn't flood with 52 inches thrown at it in a few days.

My house got flooded because the bayou near me swell and spill water. This happens twice already, first in 2001 for Allison and the 2nd hurricane Harvey. Both times was because it stalled dumping lots of rain.

Having grown up in Houston, I do agree that sprawl is a serious problem, but to blame the sprawl on the no-zoning ordinance is a fallacy and a tired stereotype. For many decades now, and through most of the big boom-growth periods that have occurred, land-use restrictions and heavily enforced deed restrictions have functioned as de facto zoning in Houston. Houston hasn’t sprawled any worse than other big sunbelt cities that have strict zoning laws, like Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix, or San Antonio. Houston’s problem is that it has annexed too many of it’s suburbs and effectively stretched it’s infrastructure too thin. The city-proper covers a mind-boggling 600 square miles. For perspective, that almost twice as big as NYC, and about 150 square miles more than Los Angeles. When these massive floods occur (and they have been occurring a LOT more frequently in the last couple of decades), it’s the sheer amount of AREA flooded within city limits that makes preparation more difficult. Houston desperately needs an overhaul for it’s drainage issues. The Addicks and Barker flood reservoirs worked fine when they were built back in the 1940’s, when Houston’s population was something like 500K and the city limits covered maybe 200 square miles. Now the metro population is right around 7 million and still growing. It’s not a matter of if, but when the next Harvey-level flood hits the city... I just hope they’re better prepared when it does. Houstonians have proved themselves to be compassionate and resilient, but let’s hope we’ve learned a hard lesson about smart growth.

Thats why it's important to have regulations on land use.. we can't denied that we are destroying our natural defense.. we have to implement natural barriers like rivers.. marshes.. swamps and forrest into land development to prevent these extreme floods and such things..

Native wild areas are so important it's the reason that me, someone who lives in Webster at about 32ft above sea level didn't flood. That and good drainage, at the very worst of the storm, the streets flooded up to the sidewalks.

Houston has some of the most restrictive building codes in the US

Very concise.....very good reporting...thanks

Not one mention of the petro-chemical plants affected by the storm. Not one mention of each petro-chemical plant being severely hit by the non-stop hurricane. I like the history provided, but there's a lot more to it than just infrastructure failure, c'mon.

Will the flood water withdraw naturally or be sucked up by something? That water might cause some disease, etc.

Michael Mannina and Rhett Z you have no idea what you're talking about. This area received more than 50 inches of rain in a very short period of time. Even if the area was undeveloped it would've flooded. Anything news coverage states, the opposite is likely true.

Maybe one day, Americans will understand that regulations have their purpose and are necessary.

Wow this look like Homer Simpsons creative art, turning the city into Venice

how does Housten sit on a Flat plain if the earth is round.

As a Project Inspector in the field of Civil Engineering I used to test soils. I thought the flooding was due to the fact that they have kalichi or caliche. A compacted type of clay that did not absorb moisture. Optimum Moisture. Which is a point where the soil could not hold any more moisture. As with any soil there is a point when a soil will become more compact with the more moisture is added until the soil becomes fluid. I have never had the chance to make a Proctor test to test the limits of this moisture content. If I am incorrect is there also some aggregate compounded with the flat particles which will slide when exposed to much water? I am from Minnesota and the only clay fill that I have encountered has never had the compaction that this type of clay/aggregate ratio. Maybe I am talking out of my ass. Please help. M

Just saw this from Washington post. lmao! Right right keep talkin lol. 56 inches of rain in a few days challenge going now ...everybody fill up your back yards with almost 5ft of water...

Why is Houston flooding so badly? uh, trillions of gallons of water that why duh!

RU-vid tells me one thing My friends tell me another thing The news tell me another thing And they're all the opposite... *What-*

I thought it was because of the amount of water. Now I know! It is because there are to many places!?

Oh by the way all my test were done by the sand cone method with silicon sand, camper stove, coffee cans, three beam weight balance, hand calculator, sealed glass jars etc. for those in the know. No nuclear test devices.

Snail hacked the weather like he hacked Tessa brooks

Zoning is very necessary........

This is why Texas needs to be its own country like seriously don't worry about us we will be just fine!!!!💪💪💪

It's silly to blame urban sprawl in Houston on the lack of zoning. Is Houston the only city that sprawls? In fact, lack of zoning allows the market to dictate the increase in density of development in the inner city that has characterized the city in recent decades. In other cities R1 designations are hard to change. But people outside of Houston can't wrap their minds around the idea of no zoning, so they jump to the conclusion that it is responsible for anything that happens.

To much concrete and asphault To many people.

houston has zoning codes....... see off of westhimer is a single family neighborhood, and over on richmond there is a lot of gated communities,,, we don't know what ur talking about,,,,,

if houston is the 4th largest city, who are the first 3 ?

We fuck up ok !!!!

It will be interesting to see if Texas voters decide they want stricter building/zoning regulations and better flood control measures and are willing to pay for this in the form of higher taxes and less freedom of choice to build how they want and where they want.

human trafficking the wrong woman can be costly

Concrete is not impervious to rainfall, it just drains slower. There goes her theory. Sprawl is natural and good.

Urban sprawl did not happen in a vacuum. Blame it on an absence of zoning. Blame it on climate change deniers. Blame it on a government that is a lapdog of the energy extraction industry, and blame it on unregulated capitalism.

#Prayforhouston

You said 'impervious'. You do know American's will be watching this?

What about the homeless? Were are they?

I hate this stupid BS. The reason Houston flooded? Harvey dropped so much rain the national weather service had to ADD ANOTHER COLOR to represent the amount that fell in just three days. Harvey rained more than Sandy, Katrina, and Ike COMBINED. There is no city in the world that can prepare for that kind of downpour. Over 9 trillion gallons of water fell. If you took all the water that fell and made it into a cube, it would be 4 miles in length x 4 miles in width x 2 miles high. People can talk about zoning laws and all that, but I live here and I know what happens. My condo complex has been here for 30 years and just a year and a half ago they cleared the land across the street to build a new neighborhood. The only way they could get a permit to build though was to agree to build a HUGE retention pond. The thing is the size of a football field and 10 feet deep. I can step out onto my back balcony and see over the fence into it. Yes, there's no zoning laws, but Houston handles things like this the back alley way, just refusing to grant permits unless things are done their way, without any laws or media coverage.

This is why living in south Florida is the best because it's built for hurricanes

A lot of money has been made in the Texas oil industry but none of it has been invested back in the area, its infrastructure. State government has been too busy 'protecting' marriage, seeking tax cuts and neglected to properly protect their citizens.

Btw you're exaggerating in the first line you read from that report. There have been 31 category five hurricanes since 1924, in the following years: '24, '28, '32, '32, '33, '35, '38, '53, '55, '61', '61, '67, '69, '71, '77, '79, '80, '88, '89, '92, '98, '03, '04, '05, '05, '05, '05, '07, and '16. The most windy of these was Hurricane Allen in 1980. The most deadly of them was Hurricane San Felipe II Okechobee in 1928. I imagine that these exaggerations and histrionics are needed to trick addled Americans into watching TV. But there is nothing extreme or really unusual at all about Hurricane Harvey. It is cyclical. We're in a down cycle now because it is colder than it was a decade ago. But it was still nowhere close then to peak hurricane cycle, which took place in the 1930s, when it was of course a lot warmer than it has ever been in recent years. The only record Hurricane Harvey will break is the accumulated stupidity of the people hit by it. And in that way I see it more as a form of natural selection. Build your city like an idiot and have flood issues. Simple! PS: Europeans invented cobblestones in the third century BC. Perhaps they can send some to Houston in the mail. Does wonders for draining away rain water from paved surfaces. Ah, too late now though I guess.

WHAT!!! THEY KNEW ALLLL THAT!!! SHIT!!! ALREADY!!! ... THEY JUST DID NOT CARE!!!!... THEY PUT MAKING MONEY!!! BEFORE!!!.... PEOPLE!!! ..SAD! NOW WATCH...HERE COMES THE REAL!! STORM! AFTER THE STORM!!!.. MILLIONS OF HOMELESS!!! PEOPLE!!! 😠😢

Bb-b-b-b-but muh Climate Change......

Houston has ALWAYS been prone to severe flooding, even before urban sprawl came along. It's a city built on a swamp. End of story.

Bad karma,Stolen land from Mexico.

"Where is climate change when you need it?" said the POTUS in one of his election speeches. Is that it?