HOUSTON – When the skies cloud up and rain starts to fall in Meyerland, along Bray’s Bayou, people here get concerned. Some homes in the area have flooded three times in just eight months.
"It takes anywhere from eight to 10 hours for (the water) to drop, said Rodney Hill.
Hill has lived in the neighborhood for 25 years. He said he had nine to 10 inches of water in his home during one of those floods.
"When you see a pretty decent rain that's going to come, particularly something from the west, and with the bayou filling up before it actually gets to us, (residents) come home. They get prepared to move furniture," Hill said.
The Harris County Flood Control District said it spent about $85 million on capital improvements in the last year. Every day, it said its workers check the bayous and remove obstructions that could slow stormwater flow.
The district monitors 144 rainfall and stream level gauges along the bayous.
Residents worry that water from other neighborhoods quickly hits the already-full bayous, causing water to back up into his neighborhood.
"Meyerland in my mind is essentially a retention pond that's holding water that we can't put in the bayou,” Hill said.
One Meyerland resident pointed out a home that he said was “water proofed.”
The tenant at a home on Glenmeadow confirmed the owner sealed the walls, behind the bricks, up to a height of three feet.
There are also doors that slide into tracks to cover exposed areas like door openings around the home.
The City of Houston is also spending an initial $10 million to work on 22 of about 100 flood-control projects in neighborhoods that could flood beyond the bayous.
That spending is part of the Storm Water Action Plan.