San Jacinto River Authority explains release of Lake Conroe water
HOUSTON - Some homeowners are raising concerns that water releases from Lake Conroe are making flooding worse. The homeowners expressed their frustrations to FOX 26 Houston about the San Jacinto River Authority releasing water into the San Jacinto River which is now flooding.
"When we moved, we knew this was a high-risk area," said Jordan Ortiz, a resident of the River Plantation Community in Humble.
Ortiz said he made the difficult decision to evacuate his family from their home on Thursday because of rising floodwaters.
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"Where that water is flowing out from my yard and the yard next to it. I’m thinking I’ve got about stomach high water," said Ortiz.
The San Jacinto River Authority said in 2017 during Hurricane Harvey, the inflow into Lake Conroe was about 130,000 cubic feet per second. A few days ago, the SJRA said they saw a peak of 150,000 cubic feet per second.
"Our primary goal is to protect our dam," said Aubrey Spear, the general manager of the San Jacinto River Authority.
FOX 26 Houston asked the SJRA about people's concerns regarding the release of water they said caused their homes to flood.
" Well, once again, our role is to maintain the integrity of the dam and as we have rainfall and storm events, and Mother Nature sends that rain, we don’t know when and how long and how much, and we respond to that by opening our gates to protect our lake and our dam," said Spear.
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Meanwhile, downstream homeowners are facing a tough reality as floodwaters inundate their homes. But despite the challenges, they’re trying to stay in good spirits.
"Even last night I thought, let’s just keep it at five feet and below and we’ll just deal with that. In an odd way, I was just thankful because it could have been a lot worse," said Ortiz.
The SJRA said they've received 17 inches of rain in the last seven days and they are working to gradually reduce releases. Operations could change if another storm enters the watershed. They said they are continuing to monitor rain and runoff throughout the day.