1996 Study Predicted Flood Risks Addicks and Barker Reservoirs Presented to West Houston Residents
Twenty-one years before Hurricane Harvey brought historic and unprecedented flooding to Houston, a 1996 reported prepared by the Houston Flood Control District predicted and emphasized the precise risks that lead to over 4,000 West Houston homes being flooded by the recent Addicks and Barker reservoir releases:
“The primary flood threat facing the citizens of west Harris County and west Houston comes from the inability to drain the Addicks and Barker reservoirs in an efficient manner.”
The report went on to conclude that the reservoirs would not even be able to handle a series of “normal frequent storms,” much less a major one like Harvey.
Their words became prophecy on August 28th, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began a series of releases from the Addicks and Barker Reservoirs that would ultimately flood thousands of homes in West Houston – the majority of which had remained unflooded during the worst of Harvey’s rains.
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