August 25 marks the one-year anniversary of when Harvey made landfall in Texas. It’s also the date of Harris County’s long-awaited flood control bond election. The bond would raise $2.5 billion, both to aid in Harvey recovery and reduce the risk of future flooding.
Harris County commissioners formally approved a list of 237 proposed projects at their August 14 meeting. The Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) drew up the list following a series of community meetings in all 22 of the county’s watersheds.
More than two-thirds of the money would go to fund what are deemed “local” projects – those Harris County would pay for itself, without any matching federal or state dollars.
“The resounding theme that we heard was that the residents want us to do more projects in a shorter amount of time, and what we’ve put together as part of this bond proposal provides an opportunity to do just that,” said HCFCD executive director Russell Poppe.
The bond would pay for projects ranging from construction of storm water detention basins to voluntary home buyouts. It would also include repairs to infrastructure damaged by Harvey.
Early voting is already underway and will continue through August 21.