Community Impact reported Monday that federal, state and local officials met October 16 in the Spring-Klein area of northwest Harris County to discuss partnering on regional flood mitigation projects across Greater Houston, with Houston council member Twila Carter calling for measurable commitments and Montgomery County commissioners describing the difficulty of funding projects while holding property taxes steady.
According to the same report, a FEMA division director told the group the agency had not committed funding to any jurisdiction but wanted to be part of the solution, a FEMA deputy division director said shelf ready projects make applicants more competitive for grants, and the officials expect to meet again to begin working through specific projects. No dollar figures were attached to anything discussed.
Neither Lake Houston nor the San Jacinto watershed came up at the meeting as reported, but this matters here for two reasons. Lake Houston area flood projects compete for the same federal grant money, and Montgomery County sits upstream on the West Fork of the San Jacinto, where releases from Lake Conroe run down into Lake Houston.
