Lessons Learned?

A number of articles have been written in recent days looking back with 20-20 hindsight about what Governmental leaders in Houston could have done to prepare for such an event as has been unfolding there over the last week.  The common theme among them all is that this will happen again and that now is the time to do something to mitigate damage in the future. 

A particularly interesting article in the Texas Tribune’s online feed offered four things leaders must do to prevent future flooding disasters.  They include:

1.  Preserve and restore as much prairie land as possible.  Tall grasses could absorb huge amounts of floodwater.

2.  Restrict development in floodplains and buy flood-prone homes. Buildings continue to go up in vulnerable floodplains all over Harris County… Although some have chosen to elevate their lots to protect homes and businesses from rising floodwaters, that strategy may only increase the flood risk for those around them. 

3.  Plan for climate change.  In planning for flooding from future storms, local officials largely look to past rainfall totals and weather patterns. But climate change will heighten the risks that the region already faces. 

4.  Educate the public.  Hundreds of thousands of people have moved to the Houston area in recent decades; it’s consistently ranked as one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities. But people who move to flood-prone areas are often unaware of the risks.

An article in the Atlantic called Houston’s flood a “DesignProblem,” adding, “It’s not because the water comes in. It’s because it is forced to leave again.” 

In the cases of Katrina, Sandy or even Japan’s tsunami, where an area is inundated from the outside, “the flooding problem appears to be caused by water breaching shores, seawalls, or levees. Those examples reinforce the idea that flooding is a problem of keeping water out—either through fortunate avoidance or engineering foresight.

“But the impact of flooding, particularly in densely developed areas like cities, is far more constant than a massive, natural disaster like Harvey exposes. The reason cities flood isn’t because the water comes in, not exactly. It’s because the pavement of civilization forces the water to get back out again.”

The article quotes Thomas Debo, an emeritus professor of city planning at Georgia Tech and a stormwater expert as saying, 

“Just as limiting impervious surface is not the solution to urban stormwater management, so government-run, singular infrastructure might not be either. ‘It’s much more difficult, and a much bigger picture. There is no silver bullet for stormwater management.”

The article goes on to say that “the hardest part of managing urban flooding is reconciling it with Americans’ insistence that they can and should be able to live, work, and play anywhere. Waterborne transit was a key driver of urban development, and it’s inevitable that cities have grown where flooding is prevalent. But there are some regions that just shouldn’t become cities.

 Debo concludes, “Parts of Houston in the floodway, parts of New Orleans submerged during Katrina, parts of Florida—these places never should have been developed in the first place.”

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