Northeast Houston community concerned with flooding due to downpours
Houston residents concerned with outdated drainage system after past flooding
The downpours on Saturday reminded the people living in northeast Houston of an ongoing problem. They say the street flooding is more than an inconvenience - it's a danger. FOX 26's Chelsea Edwards spoke with residents who are trying to fix the problem.
HOUSTON - Recent downpours have washed up a consistent problem for people living in northeast Houston. They say they've been going to the city for months trying to get solutions to street flooding.
During heavy rains, sidewalks in front of schools become pools of water, and roads that would take them to work become impassable.
"I was really scared to take my daughter to school or [didn’t know] if I was going to be able to pick her up," says resident Kourtney Revels. "The sitting water…it just accumulates."
Revels and others in her area complain that the drainage systems there are so outdated, they’re hardly draining at all.
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"It’ll flood the front of our neighborhood where we have no way in or out," she says.
Although recent storms have caused headaches, they are a drop in the bucket compared to what residents have dealt with during Hurricane Harvey or 2015’s Memorial Day flood. Revels believes many of her neighbors were left traumatized and get triggered during heavy downpours.
Neighborhoods in the area use open ditch drainage systems instead of underground ones like the gutters used throughout most of the city.
"In other systems, the water drains and flows under the ground. Over here, it sits on the side of our road," explains Revels.
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However, the ditches and their flood channels can get clogged with trees, dead animals, and illegal dumping which quickly causes overflows. The city says it’s up to residents to keep them clean.
"The property owner that is adjacent to the ditch would be responsible for that maintenance of that ditch," says Revels.
She represents the Northeast Action Collective (NAC) which has been pressuring city leaders to provide a solution. The organization says 88 percent of open ditch systems are in Black and Brown communities, and many haven’t been updated since being installed more than 50 years ago. They’re also in areas where property taxes may be too low to help fund improvements.
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NAC and members of another organization, Westreet Recovery, have been showing up at weekly city council meetings to request money for a small drainage project program that would also address the problem in southeast and other parts of north Houston. The groups also claim $22 million in tax dollars previously used for flood control, is being diverted elsewhere.
Revels says part of that money should go to figuring out the cost of improving the drainage systems. "We’re asking to get the maintenance done and to upgrade where we can," she says.
NAC is holding a rally and press conference Tuesday, May 23 at noon in front of city hall to throw support behind an amendment to the 2024 budget to invest in its proposed drainage project.
Revels hopes more neighborhoods join in to get the city to flow money towards a solution.