Friday, November 16, 2018
Media Availability 10:30 am
Glen Forest Detention Basin (Bridge area)
111 Knobcrest (nearest address)
The Harris County Flood Control District and the Harris County Community Services Department are jointly hosting a bus tour for a contingency of state and local officials of the largest single flood mitigation project by the Harris County Flood Control District to date. Texas General Land Office Commissioner George P. Bush and Harris County Commissioner’s Jack Cagle and Rodney Ellis are among the contingency attending.
The tour will demonstrate how homeowner buyout and infrastructure projects combine to reduce future flooding in the county. The tour will include a 160-acre site near Greens Road and I-45 which will conclude in the Glen Forest Detention Basin, one of three planned contiguous basins.
Much of this project has been funded in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike with a combination of FEMA and Harris County Flood Control matching funds.
Harris County Community Services will demonstrate how The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding can be combined to help low income residents in the Flood Control Buyout areas with extra financial incentives that will enable families to find decent affordable homes outside of the floodway.
“Many residents on low or fixed incomes think they can’t afford to move to a new home at the price they could get for their current home. Our job is to identify the residents we can help with CDBG Disaster Recovery funds with a program designed specifically to meet their relocation needs,” Harris County Community Services Director Daphne Lemelle said.
The Flood Control District’s mission is to provide flood damage reduction projects that work. The Harris County Community Services Department, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s priority is to help low-to-moderate income areas,“ said Russ Poppe, P.E. Flood Control Executive Director. This effort demonstrates how the mission and priorities of multiple organizations at the Federal, state and local levels can intersect for the benefit of covering communities and improve long-term resiliency.”
For more information
contact: Cindy Gabriel, PIO
cindy.gabriel@csd.hctx.net
