Just over a week after Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said at a Houston press conference a third reservoir in the city was needed for flood mitigation, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick appeared to back the idea. Addressing a sizable crowd at St. Vianney Catholic Church in West Houston on Tuesday, Patrick and state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, advocated for the project. “It is time, in my view, that we move forward and we build that dam on Cypress [Creek] as well as the White Oak Bayou, and as well as the west branch of the San Jacinto [River],” Patrick said. “These are going to be expensive projects, but we have to do them.” The idea is not new. The Harris County Flood Control District proposed mitigation projects along the Cypress Creek watershed in 2013, including a 4,000-8,000-acre upstream water storage facility, for a combined $325 million. Patrick acknowledged it may be difficult to persuade state and federal representatives to approve such a price tag for a project specific to the Greater Houston area. But he said he believes it is also necessary to protect the region’s oil and gas industry, which accounts for approximately 45 percent of the nation's petroleum refining capacity and 51 percent of U.S. natural-gas processing plant capacity, according to S&P Global. Patrick, Bettencourt and state Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, hosted the meeting to share flood recovery information with area residents. Other speakers present included Kevin Hannes, federal coordinating officer of the Federal Emergency Management Agency; John Barton, Texas A&M University associate vice chancellor and member of the governor’s Rebuild Texas commission; and Ann Idsal, chief clerk of the Texas General Land Office. Nim Kidd, Texas Division of Emergency Management chief, and Col. Paul Owen, southwestern division commander for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, were also present to answer questions. Many residents used the opportunity to ask about the reasoning behind the Corps’ decision to have controlled releases of the reservoirs starting Aug. 28. The releases were done to relieve the structures and prevent a collapse. Homes on all sides of the reservoirs—particularly those on the east side along Buffalo Bayou—flooded, but Owen said the water that entered residents' properties was not solely the fault of the reservoirs. “By the time that Harvey had dumped 1 trillion gallons of rain in Harris County alone, the reservoirs had captured about 140 billion gallons of that water,” he said. Owen said living along a flood plain or near a dam always brings risks. Many in the crowd were vocal in their disagreement at his response. Owen said he could not directly address the multiple lawsuits that have been filed against the Corps in relations to the dam releases. “What would you expect from your government if your home flooded as the result of a decision [they] made?” one resident asked.