Houston

[glatt]

It's insane. This is a once in a thousand year flood, but at least some of the impact is caused by building practices in Houston.


I was reading up yesterday about the Addicks reservoir in Houston. It's kind of crazy. There are neighborhoods that were built inside the footprint of area potentially held back by the dam. The top of the earthen dam is at about 115 feet of elevation. Just below the dam, the elevation is about 90 feet. Behind the dam, one neighborhood in particular is located at 109 feet of elevation. So when the reservoir filled up yesterday and even with the flood gates open, the water rose to the level of the top of the dam and started spilling over it, that one neighborhood was 6 feet under water inside the reservoir.

This neighborhood, Barkers Branch, is inside the reservoir.

So I dropped into street view to see if maybe the houses there were built on stilts.

nope.


This street is at 109 feet, so the water would be about even with the roof of that truck parked there.

I just have a real hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that they built a neighborhood inside a reservoir.