Following severe weather and widespread flooding, Montgomery County—including portions of the Conroe area, such as River Plantation—is grappling with the aftermath.
The Montgomery County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, along with the Montgomery Food Bank and The Salvation Army, set up a resource site May 8-10 in River Plantation.
“We delivered over 1,100 meals [May 7],” said Doug Skinner, board vice president of the River Plantation Community Improvement Association. “Breakfast, lunch and dinner, and people [were] crying. My guy says, ‘I can’t take that. I’ve never seen people cry over food.’ It’s bad. But we’re glad we can do it.”
Between May 2-4, around 10.28 inches of rain fell in Conroe near Hwy. 242 and the west fork of the San Jacinto River, while 5.8 inches fell near Hwy. 105 east of Second Street in Montgomery, according to the Harris County Flood Warning System.
Meanwhile, the San Jacinto River Authority conducted water releases from the Lake Conroe Dam as rainfall occurred, reaching a peak of 71,835 cubic feet per second. For comparison, the water releases during Hurricane Harvey peaked at 79,100 cfs.
Note: This map shows the total rainfall in inches between 1 a.m. April 30 and 1 a.m. May 6.
Diving in deeper
Skinner said over 200 of the around 1,400 homes in River Plantation flooded.
“All of them [were] along the San Jacinto [River] area,” Skinner said. “Everywhere else is just high and dry and never floods."
Along Hwy. 105, Vernon’s Kuntry Katfish flooded, and a GoFundMe had raised over $18,000 for the restaurant as of press time. The restaurant previously flooded during Hurricane Harvey, according to prior reporting.
“The path to reopening is uncertain at this moment, but one thing is clear: we have an amazing community,” restaurant officials said in a May 2 statement posted on Facebook. “Your continued support means everything to us, and we are grateful for it both now and in the future.”
What they’re saying
- “That’s what we do as a community association. We take care of our people. And we all went to work as soon as we saw the [flooding],” Skinner said.
- “I was out in River Plantation [on May 2], and where I stood, water came up 6 feet in a matter of four hours," said Jason Millsaps, executive director of the Montgomery County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
What else?
During their meeting May 7, Montgomery County commissioners approved waiving permitting fees for residents to rebuild damaged homes. The waiver applies exclusively to permits for rebuilding structures damaged by the early May storms.
“We've waived the fees simply as an incentive for property owners to be in contact with the county and go through that permitting process to make sure that [homeowners] do complete those permits appropriately,” said John McKinney, floodplain administrator for Montgomery County. “But also I think this is kind of just a goodwill gesture by the county.”
Residents who sustained a minimum of 15% damage to their homes from the floods can also apply for a disaster-based property tax exemption. The deadline to apply is Aug. 13, and applications must be filed through the Montgomery County Appraisal District.
