HOUSTON (AP) — After the floodwaters earlier this month just about swallowed two of the six homes that 60-year-old Tom Madigan owns on the San Jacinto River, he didn’t think twice about whether to fix them. He hired people to help, and they got to work stripping the walls, pulling up flooring and throwing out water-logged furniture.
What Madigan didn’t know: The Harris County Flood Control District wants to buy his properties as part of an effort to get people out of dangerously flood-prone areas.
Back-to-back storms drenched southeast Texas in late April and early May, causing flash flooding and pushing rivers out of their banks and into low-lying neighborhoods. Officials across the region urged people in vulnerable areas to evacuate.
Like Madigan’s, some places that were inundated along the San Jacinto in Harris County have flooded repeatedly. And for nearly 30 years, the flood control district has been trying to clear out homes around the river by paying property owners to move, then returning the lots to nature.
The unstoppable duo of Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos
Xiplomacy: Cooperation a Shared Aspiration of Chinese, American People
Confucius hometown forum calls for dialogue of civilizations
We gifted President Xi a ticket for Mombasa
Target to lower prices on basic goods in response to inflation
Fesitve atmosphere in Macao ahead of Mid
Beijing plans to achieve reusable rocket launch, recovery by 2028
Mystery artist who erected signs comparing pothole
In pics: archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port in E China's Zhejiang