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

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.

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.

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.

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

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..

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

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

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

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

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.

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...

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

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.

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

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

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.