Houston: Addicks Dam and Bakers Reservoirs

57,571 Views | 405 Replies | Last: 7 yr ago by Rustys-Beef-o-Reeno
Rustys-Beef-o-Reeno
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Bondag said:

Mikeyshooter said:

Agreed on communication. I saw the tweet that said they started the releases at both reservoirs and was shocked.


Agree. My brother called me immediately and asked if he or parents would be affected behind Addicks. I looked him up and he is at 117 and parents are safe behind Barker. I drew a pic on my phone showing areas prone to flooding, and I still had to talk sister in law down that they would not be flooded by releasing water. not the conversation I wanted to have a few drinks in at midnight.
yep, I'm on night shift up at our backup facility and i still haven't been home, i saw the tweet and started calling neighbors like crazy to wake them up.
Bondag
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Yea. My house is off White Oak apparently after this week and I was somewhat worried because intersection with Buffalo is about a quarter mile away so while they were safe I didn't know how it would affect me. Turns out places closer to release point were affected first. Thankfully White Oak is almost back in banks now.
Fitch
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I finally made it over to Gessner/Memorial this afternoon. It's bad. And frankly getting worse.

Virtually everything west of Benignus and south of Memorial Drive is underwater. FEMA was setting up at Lantern Lane shopping center to unload boats into the flooded Memorial Drive and set in from there.

Water continues to rise in the area as the bayou goes higher at a couple inches an hour. It probably swelled three or four feet since early this morning and has begun coming back through storm and sanitary sewer drains.

No telling how long this is going to last. Maybe until the discharge rates at the reservoirs taper back...
thelaw4
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Not sure what's going on, but fort bend country just issued a mandatory evacuation due to Barker's flooding. It includes areas west of 99 that are currently dry.

http://fbcoem.org/new-mandatory-evacuation-for-barker-reservoir-area-communities/?platform=hootsuite
Shawdaddy
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Yeah, wife was up feeding the baby and saw that update. Includes our home which hasn't been included in any prior warnings. I thought that the reservoir flooding had already peaked. I'm a bit confused.
kjcAg
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Can anyone shed some light on this? We are in Harris County but just north of the red on the new map.
Shawdaddy
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There are a lot of comments on the fbcoem Facebook page. A lot of folks are confused. Someone called Harris county who's said they have no idea why ft bend is doing this. Someone else called ft bend and was told to be ready to evacuate at daylight.

All of this while the water is supposedly receding. There is speculation that the reasoning is that they don't want people returning to their homes, but this would be an awful way of accomplishing that. We are still high and dry.
DuncanField91
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??

They say Barker will crest several feet higher. The level has been coming down. Where is this new water coming from? Or did the COE get pressured to stop releases?
Rustys-Beef-o-Reeno
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DuncanField91 said:

??

They say Barker will crest several feet higher. The level has been coming down. Where is this new water coming from? Or did the COE get pressured to stop releases?


Flooded houses hw6 to 610 say otherwise
DuncanField91
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Rustys-Beef-o-Reeno said:

DuncanField91 said:

??

They say Barker will crest several feet higher. The level has been coming down. Where is this new water coming from? Or did the COE get pressured to stop releases?


Flooded houses hw6 to 610 say otherwise
But this is new information. Why the expanded mandatory evacuations? Water surface elevations are falling in Barker (down to 101 right now) and in the Buffalo Bayou right next to the top of these new evac areas (down to 105' from a max of over 118'). Water levels have to increase another 13' to get back to their peak levels - and even those aren't high enough to flood houses in the new evac areas. Something has changed...

...and Barker Dam will overflow at 104', so how does the Bayou upstream get to 118' without new rainfall?
DuncanField91
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TxAgLaw03RW
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Apparently rumors of a dam breaking? My sister and her family were just re-evacuated from her friend's house. They didn't have much in the way of explanation. They're now further west near Fulshear.

Anyone have any reliable info?
Dr. Horrible
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Can't imagine a dam break would cause a ft bend evacuation. If anything it seems like that would make the water move away from ft bend...
ursusguy
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http://fbcoem.org/new-mandatory-evacuation-for-barker-reservoir-area-communities/
longeryak
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Shawdaddy said:

Yeah, wife was up feeding the baby and saw that update. Includes our home which hasn't been included in any prior warnings. I thought that the reservoir flooding had already peaked. I'm a bit confused.
My understanding is the bayou is so backed up at this point that the outflow is no longer keeping up with the inflow. That is why the West end is being evacuated.
DuncanField91
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longeryak said:

Shawdaddy said:

Yeah, wife was up feeding the baby and saw that update. Includes our home which hasn't been included in any prior warnings. I thought that the reservoir flooding had already peaked. I'm a bit confused.
My understanding is the bayou is so backed up at this point that the outflow is no longer keeping up with the inflow. That is why the West end is being evacuated.

Here is the USGS station close to the west end of the evac area.

https://www.harriscountyfws.org/GageDetail/Index/2030?span=24%20Hours&v=surfaceBox

This looks really normal to me. The western areas get street flooding around 115.3' and house flooding didn't occur even at 118.4'. I think this is a mistake.
DuncanField91
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I do think there has been damage to the channel banks along the Bayou and it's tributaties, but does that really warrant a 3am evacuation? They didn't mention anything like this. I heard there is an 8am press conference. Also, my neighbor just spoke with the Corps of Engineers on their hotline and they don't know why Ft. bend did this. Hopefully the 8am event is more informative.
sts7049
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this has to be a mistake. i can't figure out how this could possibly be a new risk with no new rain.
Oh Four Five
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Stupid way to do it if you ask me.
Flashdiaz
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I can understand switching the voluntary evac to mandatory evac but why add neighborhoods... especially to the west of 99?
kjcAg
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It seems like they have added new sections to this order. Why would they tell a bunch of people who haven't gotten close to flooding that they HAVE to leave? If that's the real reason, heads are going to roll.
Flashdiaz
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Ch 11 just talked to someone at the FB office and said they were going to revise the map... hopefully within the hour.
- not expected to put more water in the street.
- done to keep people out of their flooded house.
hatchback
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The sister-in-law who lives in Grand Lakes of Cinco Ranch received this message from a neighbor who is still in the neighborhood in regards to water levels behind the Barker Dam.
Quote:

From a neighbor I spoke with:

Constables and authorities at intersection of Peak and Fry today regarding (1) drainage of water flowing upstream (west) from section 3; (2) planned releases for Friday:

I was told planned release for a Friday will cause 2-3 feet rise in water in section 3. This will force those waters upstream into sections one and two. Saturday is the day we will know which homes are truly flooded in sections one and two. This is not over because section 3 is back flowing that's what you are seeing flooding the streets in section one. It's back flow. Trust your instincts and be safe.
This doesn't make any sense. How is flooding going to get worse behind the dam as water is released? What's the point of spreading information like this?

She finally got photos of the exterior of their house and they have between 14-18 inches of water against the house. The information above led her to believe that there will be an additional 24-36 inches against their house.
hatchback
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k2aggie07 said:

My folks live on Colombia falls, they back up to Peek. Happen to know if their house looks like this?
I don't know. My soon-to-be sister-in-law lives in Grand Lakes (evacuated to Dallas with her husband and two little boys) and I'm receiving photos from her that she's being sent by neighbors. Sorry I couldn't be more help.
sts7049
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agreed, that makes zero sense.
Dr. Horrible
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Has anyone ever looked at how high the Brazos would have to get before it starts dumping into the different Houston watersheds, possibly Barker?
thelaw4
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Flashdiaz said:

Ch 11 just talked to someone at the FB office and said they were going to revise the map... hopefully within the hour.
- not expected to put more water in the street.
- done to keep people out of their flooded house.
This is outrageous. Why cause a panic in the middle of the night like that and imply that additionally, flooding will occur? I'm really unimpressed with how the county has handled this, between this and having a website that doesn't scale or work across all browsers.
Flashdiaz
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thelaw4 said:

Flashdiaz said:

Ch 11 just talked to someone at the FB office and said they were going to revise the map... hopefully within the hour.
- not expected to put more water in the street.
- done to keep people out of their flooded house.
This is outrageous. Why cause a panic in the middle of the night like that and imply that additionally, flooding will occur? I'm really unimpressed with how the county has handled this, between this and having a website that doesn't scale or work across all browsers.
and do it at 2am.


They just confirmed they do not expect flooding and it was done to keep people out of flooded houses.

Basically said if you can't drive to your house, don't go back in.
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DuncanField91
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So we get a 2am mandatory evacuation notice because procedurally, the sheriff needs this order to restrict people returning to flooded homes. Thanks for another sleepless night Judge.

Edit: oh, and the garbage trucks just came through the neighborhood to pick up trash. Makes sense.
Jethro95
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Flashdiaz
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DuncanField91 said:

So we get a 2am mandatory evacuation notice because procedurally, the sheriff needs this order to restrict people returning to flooded homes. Thanks for another sleepless night Judge.

Edit: oh, and the garbage trucks just came through the neighborhood to pick up trash. Makes sense.
some officers probably got in a verbal fight with a stubborn homeowner and needed the authority to kick people out of their house.
DuncanField91
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Yep, probably so. Stress is wearing on everyone.
Oh Four Five
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Why not extend the curfew to all of the county and then release the refined list in the morning? Why announce the order at 2AM?
Sazerac
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I evacuated to a house that was incorrectly on the first version of the map. It was chaos at 3am.
 
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