HOUSTON – One week from Saturday, people all over Harris County will vote on a $2.5 billion bond proposal to reduce flooding in the Houston area.
Early voting is underway. And if you look closely at the numbers, you will see lots of people casting ballots in the areas hardest hit by floods.
Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale voted early in the flood bond election. In the days after Hurricane Harvey, he opened his business doors to serve as shelters from the storm. Now he asks for Harris County voters to help too.
"We got to stop the flooding in Houston. It's too traumatic on our citizens. Too traumatic on the city," McIngvale said.
It's a bond proposal to help pay for flood mitigation like improved drainage, buyouts and more stormwater detention basins.
"This is going to define who we are as a community going forward," said Harris County Judge Ed Emmett.
Mattress Mack and Emmett voted in the Trini Mendenhall community center on Wirt Road in northwest Houston, one of the locations showing the highest early voting turnout.
Other areas with lots of votes cast are in the flood-damaged areas like Cypress and Champion Forest area, Clear Lake, Kingwood, Memorial, Southwest Houston and Spring Valley. The Harris County clerk expects to see those numbers increase greatly on Election Day.
"They have a personal stake in this and I do expect a good turnout in those areas that were impacted,” said Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart. "Their friends and neighbors of those people who are impacted, you know, who know their friends were impacted. They're going to turn out."