Several initiatives throughout various Harris County departments will now move forward with Hurricane Beryl response and recovery efforts, including the deployment of two debris-removal contractors that will begin work on July 16, after commissioners approved by a 5-0 vote the six items for disaster relief funding at the July 15 court meeting.
What they're saying
Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey said his precinct is still recovering from the debris after June's rare wind storm, also called a derecho.
“We've not picked up everything from the derecho. There's still derecho debris on the streets in Harris County, so that needs to be understood. And two, this storm, Beryl, put a lot more debris, a lot more spread out throughout the county. So we need additional help on the ground, not only in terms of removal, but equally important is the ground monitors, in terms of documentation," Ramsey said.
Breaking it down
Items include the following actions taken by county officials:
- Applying for debris-removal reimbursement grant funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Texas Division of Emergency Management as county officials remove debris from private property and roads
- Authorizing $10 million within the Harris County Flood Control District's reserve fund budget to contract debris-removal services in various county channels, which also includes funding for staff augmentation and other support services needed by the department
- Authorizing public contingency funding not to exceed $30 million for Hurricane Beryl relief efforts that includes $24 million for debris removal vendors and debris monitoring vendors
- Ensuring the payment of all county employees during the debris removal recovery process
All approved items also considers the needs for unincorporated areas of Harris County, according to commissioners.
Also of note
The need for additional debris removal vendors that will ensure effective and timely cleanup efforts were lessons learned from previous storms, such as Hurricane Harvey that flooded the Greater Houston region in 2017, officials said.
Tina Petersen, Harris County Flood Control District executive director, was at the July 15 commissioners court meeting. She said the projects her department is completing, including items from the 2018 bond after Harvey, are making a difference and the reasons why hundreds of homes have avoided flooding, including homes in the Brays Bayou watershed.
"We know that these projects have made a difference. The work that we're doing is making a difference, and we continue to quantify it," Petersen said.
On the other hand
Harris County commissioners, and officials from the county budget office and flood control district also addressed the flood control district's deferred maintenance projects and the price tag associated with aging infrastructure.
Petersen said with the growth in Harris County's population and the increasing number of assets the flood control district has to oversee, at least $1 billion in project maintenance costs are being deferred.
"This is a problem decades in the making. [The Harris County Flood Control District] is 87 years old. Many large investments have been made in the organization's history, but quite a number of them were in the '50s and '60s," Petersen said.
Harris County commissioners approved by a 4-0 vote to discuss funding the department's deferred project costs in further detail at the Aug.6 court date. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo was absent from the vote due to a joint press conference with Houston Mayor John Whitmire on Beryl recovery efforts.
One more thing
At the Aug. 6 meeting, Harris County commissioners and county budget officials will discuss the possibility of a fiscal year 2024-25 tax rate increase to fund the Harris County Flood Control District's needs, according to officials.
