7 ms·
Which other city in the US can handle 40 or 50 inches of rain, and 15 trillion gallons of water, within a one week timespan? That's as much rain as most US cit
by pdq 9y ago
Which other city in the US can handle 40 or 50 inches of rain, and 15 trillion gallons of water, within a one week timespan? That's as much rain as most US cities get in a year.
This is not the fault of poor planning or poor infrastructure in Houston. It's freak weather event that shouldn't just be given partisan rhetoric.
- dlp211 9y agoProbably none, but it's not a matter of what city could survive unscathed, it's a matter of what city has minimized the consequences. Houston has allowed for basically unfettered growth constraining their bayou's and preventing flooding infrastructure to be built. Hopefully Houston uses this disaster to rezone and allow for appropriate land management.
- enraged_camel 9y agoPoor planning and poor infrastructure may have contributed to the problem: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/investigations/harvey-urban-planning/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/investigations/... This is not "rhetoric" and there is also nothing "partisan" about it.
- 2_listerine_pls 9y agoYou cannot compare a normal city to Houston without considering hurricanes, dams, rivers and sea level.
- randcraw 9y agoSimilar freak weather happened 16 years ago in Houston (Allison, $5 billion in damage). It took Houston at least 5 years to recover then. It's pretty clear now that between the upgrades in water management after Allison and the addition of another 2 million residents since then, Houston wasn't as well prepared as it should be for another Allison, much less a Harvey. In the past two consecutive years, Houston has experienced significant urban flooding due to what are now "typical" big rains. But even 1-year storm events like those were too much for the city's drainage system to handle. The city fathers must be aware that flooding has become a chronic problem. The lesson from Katrina was that New Orleans' levees were undersized and unable to withstand overflow, leading to catastrophic flooding, and the destruction of homes not built to a modern flood-resistant design standard. I think the lesson from Harvey was not that Houston has a severe drainage problem, but without significant upgrades, the problem is going to guarantee more ongoing and occasionally catastrophic floods in the very near future.