It has been over six months since Hurricane Harvey made landfall in the Greater Houston area, damaging thousands of homes and causing millions of dollars in flood damage. Since that time many residents have still not returned to their homes, including several in The Woodlands area.

In the Timber Lakes-Timber Ridge neighborhood, located just east of Spring Creek, more than 200 homes sustained flood damage, many of which have since been left abandoned.

“We’ve talked about the abandoned homes—what are we going to do?” resident Shelley Rollins said. “Some of those homes have been sitting back there since the 2016 floods. We have several of those [homes] that have rats.”

To help find answers on what is being done to help repair flooding damage in the area and mitigate future floods, residents of the Timber Lakes-Timber Ridge neighborhood attended a
March 20 meeting with representatives from Montgomery County Precinct 3.

Evan Besong, manager of Precinct 3 projects, said while the county has been working with federal officials to acquire aid, it is still unclear how much aid the Greater Houston area will receive.

“[Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack] and I, back in January we actually went to Washington D.C. because one of the things we wanted to do was to make sure that dollars from the federal government were allocated down here,” Besong said. “And what that looks like, I’m going to be honest with you, we’re not too sure just yet because we don’t know how the federal government is going to allocate those dollars.”

However, Besong said since that time, the county has begun working with area entities like The Woodlands Township to advocate for funding for Montgomery County while working with engineers to determine where mitigation projects will be located.

While a timeline for funding these projects has still not been determined, Besong said the county is working to identify early warning solutions, which could help residents be aware of future potential floods.

He said the U.S. Geological Survey, a government biological science organization, is working to develop a phone application to help residents see water levels at nearby flood gauges.

For homes already damaged by floodwater, Besong said the county is also working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency on how to address home buyouts in the area.

“One of the things that the commissioner expressed to FEMA is that it’s ridiculous to pour money into homes that continue to flood,” he said. “One of the things that we want to look at is when [they’re] buying out homes, don’t buy them out as individual homes, buy them out in blocks and do it in bulk. I would imagine we would hear more information as it continues to come.”

Additional reporting by Abigail Loop and Hannah Zedaker