Officials from the Harris County Flood Control District, and the Engineering Department, have been holding a series of meetings around the county to explain how the $2.5 billion bond issue, that was approved last year in 2018, will be used to alleviate flooding.
Last Tuesday, March 5 they met with residents of Barrett Station, at the Community Center, to show plans and hear ideas and comments from the public, according to HCFCD project manager Roger Duong.
HCFCD engineering director Marcus Stuckett explained that the Barrett Station area has two projects affecting the flow of storm water away from the district. Duong said that currently the drainage ditches are too flat, and the road and entire St. Charles neighborhood is too flat, and therefore water is not moving away in the ditches.
The proposed solution is to widen and deepen the existing ditches, moving the water from the east side of Barrett, to the west side, and eventually to the irrigation canal and the San Jacinto river.
The engineers said that this solution should lower the accumulated water by a few inches in a normal rainfall, and up to 3 inches or more in an intense storm.
Stuckett said that there were 13 projects currently identified within the watershed of the San Jacinto River. The watershed is actually 487 square miles, extending from Galveston Bay to the south, and beyond Lake Houston to the north. These 13 projects have totaled about $500 million and include bond money and local matching funds and grants.
The presentation by the engineering and flood control departments included maps showing where the work would be accomplished, including wider and deeper ditches, new collector pipes with inlets feeding water to the south and west, as shown on the map below.
