When rains fall, residents up a creek
By Sara McDonald
The Daily News
Published February 18, 2007
FRIENDSWOOD — When 40 inches of rain poured over Friendswood in 1979, Mark St. Cyr’s home stayed dry and problem-free. After that storm, he canceled his flood insurance, thinking that if that rain didn’t get in his house, nothing would.
But in the past 10 years, every time a heavy rain came, he grew a little more worried. As little as 5 inches would transform his yard into a swamp, and the water came closer to slipping into his home every time.
“My wife was just sitting there crying,” he said. “There’s nothing we could do.”
Four months ago, 2 of the 10 inches of rain that poured down ended up in his house.
Now the carpeted floors are concrete, and St. Cyr isn’t interested in fixing them until he knows the drainage problems are solved.
He could be on that concrete for a while.
The Choke Point
Rainwater from St. Cyr’s neighborhood drains to Mary’s Creek, one of the tributaries of Clear Creek.
And Clear Creek is one giant flooding problem with a solution that’s just as ambiguous as why the reasons work on it has been delayed.
Clear Creek winds from Pearland and empties into Clear Lake, but twists it takes in Friendswood cause a bottleneck during heavy rains.
In Pearland, ditches widen the creek and prevent flooding in that area. But the increased capacity to the west means flooding in Friends-wood, where the creek is still in its natural state. When the creek flows to League City, Nassau Bay and into Clear Lake, excess water has been absorbed in Friendswood.
“We’re the choke point,” Friendswood City Manger Bo McDaniel said. “It all comes to us. It’s like a freeway hitting a two-lane dirt road.”
39 Years of Study
The problem is nothing new. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began studying the creek in 1968 and planned to dig channels to relieve flooding, Bob Heinly, a lead planner on the project said.
But concerned environmentalists protested, and another study began with a solution with less environmental damage.
The Corps gave the most recent Clear Creek study to flood control officials in Harris, Galveston and Brazoria counties last week.
Heinly said he didn’t want to disclose the exact recommendations of that study yet, but said it gave a few options for alleviating the problems.
Even if those plans are approved, the final report won’t come out until December, and construction wouldn’t begin until 2009 or 2010.
It’s that delay some officials aren’t willing to wait for.
“What the Corps did to New Orleans overnight, it’s doing to Friendswood in 40 years,” Councilman Jim Hill said.
Residents such as Don Johnson, a former drainage director for Clear Lake City, are tired of waiting on the government, too.
“I think the Corps needs to get out of this business,” he said. “If it was left up to local drainage entities, who know the problem best, there might finally be some resolution.”
Small Solutions
For now, the city’s hands are tied because the creek is under federal authority.
The city can ease smaller problems, such as street flooding, although those improvements move slowly, too.
Streets in the Glenshannon subdivision are next to have older sewers replaced.
Developers have to abide by strict rules for drainage so there’s no excess run off.
But the city council learned recently that those stringent requirements hurt land-owners trying to build their own homes. They end up spending $20,000 to $50,0000 in engineering and construction fees to build drainage ponds the city codes required.
And it’s not just for homes near the creek. McDaniel said Friendswood’s code treats every home as if it were on the flood plain.
Growing Pains
But even with the strict rules Friendswood has for developers, it’s the development in other areas that causes the flooding.
As population boomed in Pearland, flooding increased in Friendswood.
The city’s own growth had something to do with the problems St. Cyr has.
His flooding issues began about 1998, when the Eignus and Friends Knoll subdivisions went up around his home, which he built in 1960.
For decades he didn’t think twice about flooding in his home. The empty fields next to his house soaked up rainwater. With the new neighborhoods, that all changed.
“If you had left this area cattle ranches, we’d all be fine,” McDaniel said.
Instead, there’s a threat the water could overpower the homes near the creek.
During Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, more than 200 Friendswood homes flooded. The city, along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, bought out almost all of the Imperial Estates subdivision.
If the creek problem goes unsolved, Hill speculated that few homes along the creek would remain.
Help Upstream?
But as Friendswood and the surrounding areas expand, the city has to rely on its neighbors for help.
Hill estimated Friends-wood only has about 8 percent of the land in the Clear Creek watershed.
The city has more than its share of the creek’s effects.
“Our help has to come upstream,” Hill said. “If they are not going to help us, they need to start selling us life jackets.”
St. Cyr said he didn’t plan to give up. He’s met with council members and talked to Legislators, trying to ensure his home will one day be safe again.
At 74, he can’t afford to move from the home he’s lived in for 47 years.
“We’re supposed to be in our golden years,” he said. “The past eight years have been misery trying to get this resolved.”
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