Low areas along San Jacinto flood

A homeowner in Highlands can be seen at left

The heavy rains that fell on Memorial Day evening, and continued the rest of the week, flooded low areas along the San Jacinto River in Banana Bend and Rio Villa, and other neighborhoods and streets.

In a 24 hour period, West Houston got 11” of rain, North Houston 5” and the Highlands/Baytown area about 9” according to the National Weather Service. Some residents were comparing it to the devastating flood from Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, but that storm dumped 35” while this week’s storm only had rainfall of about 20” for a 5 day total.

Harris County OEM reported about 531 high water rescues throughout the metropolitan area. The Harris County Office of Emergency Management issued a Warning on Wednesday, May 27 to all “Residents Below Lake Houston” that street flooding could cut off access for Neighborhoods near the river, for as much as 6 days.

They listed a number of websites to help residents.

For Flood Warning System:

www.harriscountyfws.org

For Flood Insurance information:

www.floodsmart.gov

For Flood Control District information:

www.hcfcd.org.

By the end of the week, not only street flooding and impassable roads were reported, but also soil and bank erosion along the river. Two residents on W. Houston Street near Highland Woods reported severe erosion: Betty Michalsky and Walter Shepard had dangerous erosion of the river side of their land. Reportedly the Harris County Flood Control District is investigating the river bank c