Are there any civil engineers out there? I am only a Landscape Architect by training but I do at least know how Q=CIA works. That is the formula for figuring runoff from rain where Q= quantity of rain, C=coeficiet of friction, I+ rain intensity and A= area. The purported purpose of the "drainage fee" tax is to widen and deepen the bayous in Houston to prevent flooding. It seems to me that this ismissing the real cause of periodic localized flooding in Houston. Street and home flooding is rarely the result of water rising out of the bayous with the exception of the subsidence influenced areas in Myerland. The localized flooding is more the result of high intensity rainfall in areas with a high percentage of impermeable surfaces (urban areas with lots of concrete and roof area). The street in Houston are desinged to be the primary carriers of runoff, usually 12 to 18" below the existing grade. The streets then carry the runoff to the underground storm drainsystem and then to the bayous. Barring ripping up the streets and enlarging the storm drainge system over the entire city, there is very little any amount of tax money can do to correct localized flooding. It seems to me our tax money would be much better spent in educating our populace to get off the street during flood events and to collect a Flood Disaster Relief Fund to quickly help the victims of localized flooding to get their lives back to normal. Harris County is conducting a very effective campaign to develop retention ponds to help stop flooding on the lower reaches of our bayous, but I see very little that the city can actually accomplish by taxing Churches, Schools and the County other than allow them to tranfer the existing drainage monies to other projects. Folks, Houston is only 50' above sea level. The average slope of our land is 1 foot of drop per 1000' feet. It takes about 2' per 100' of slope just to get water to run over a grass surface. We have paved over a flat table top so when we get 6" of rain it is going to flood. Education and good flood insurance are the way to deal with it on a local basis. The county's retention pond plan is the best way to deal with it on a regenal basis. The City just wants your and your churches money.
Would MORE openings for the drainage help? Instead of every 90 ft . .. make them every 30 feet. Should be a little cheaper too? Rocket River
Talk about a rocket river... wait until you get sucked down into one during a flood! I remember exploring the drainage systems when I was a kid. You could go from Sims Bayou at Broadway to Hobby Airport underground. There are tunnels branching off that go into the neighborhoods. We scared the hell out of a postman one morning by saying, "Hi!" from a drain on a street. Those were the days. Like Gene says, Houston just floods. You keep paving more and more of it, keep adding more and more people, and you get these great floods with their attendant misery and danger. It's always done that. Maybe we should import the Dutch to figure out how to manage it. They do, pretty much. Of course, they have spent billions of dollars and hundreds of years doing it. Nevermind.
According to reports from a number of flood control experts, the problem is wide ranging. You are absolutely right that "flash" flooding - the stuff that happens when massive amounts of rain fall in a small area - is an issue, however, many of the bayous that had never come out of their banks have been more prone to do so recently. White Oak, upper Greens, Braes, Buffalo and others that either stayed within acceptable limits or only came out in certain flood-prone areas are now starting to re-draw flood planes. I don't necessarily think the answer is a drainage fee. I'm not convinced that will fix the problem. However, the dumb idea that straightening and concreting bayous would help move water away from Houston faster and the massive amounts of development along those same waterways are the primary culprits. Retention ponds will definitely be helpful, but it is also going to take deepening many of the waterways AND returning some of them to their natural state. The trees that were cut down and the brush that was removed often increased water absorbtion rates and slowed flooding. The drainage fee, IMO, won't solve the problem. But, the money will ultimately have to come from somewhere to fix it.
Don't worry. I believe Bush is considering an import tax on all rain clouds originating in other countries. For rain clouds originating in international waters, we will bill the UN.
