Katy Flooding

[Engineer]

I'm considering moving to Katy. It's a wonderful area with all the malls and stuff planned but besides the atmosphere Ii have one question. Does it flood in Katy? I'm looking at Cinco Ranch or some areas on Mason south of I-10. The reason I'm really concerned is cause Katy is built inside a resevoir isn't it?

[TJones]

I'm considering moving to Katy. It's a wonderful area with all the malls and stuff planned but besides the atmosphere Ii have one question. Does it flood in Katy? I'm looking at Cinco Ranch or some areas on Mason south of I-10. The reason I'm really concerned is cause Katy is built inside a resevoir isn't it?

No, Katy is NOT built inside of a reservoir, it is outside the reservoir that protects Katy from flooding. What made you think the opposite ?

[Engineer]

The way the walls of the resevoir surounds Bush pPark along Hwy 6 and FM1093 it made it look like the Katy area is inside of it. Kind of how Bear Creek Park is inside one.

[TJones]

The way the walls of the resevoir surounds Bush pPark along Hwy 6 and FM1093 it made it look like the Katy area is inside of it. Kind of how Bear Creek Park is inside one.

I live across the street from Bear Creek Park, we have no problems with flooding there either. My house has been standing for 29 years and has never been flooded, and my house is literally one street from the reservoir, I don;t know how they control it, but it works great.

The way that the walls are built that way is because the reservoir is at a gradual decline, and the wall acts as a retainer for the water collection, there isn't an actual "wall" built around the whole thing.

btw, if you see a guy named Plastic running around here asking questions, avoid him like the plague.

Edited May 28, 2007 by TJones

[Engineer]

I don't get it. They call them resevoirs but don't have 4 walls. Besides a resevoir is an artificial lake. These are more like flood control planes or flood protection. I wonder why did they just build them in that area of town. Does it flood there often? Kingwood always floods and they need it. They are built by an actual resevoir. My god, wouldn't it be a disaster if the Lake Houston Dam broke. New Orleans had poor planning. When the levees break it basically becomes one big resevoir.

[TJones]

It used to flood here often, before the Army Corp. built the reservoirs.

[westguy76]

here are some links I know of that explain the purpose and uses of the reservoir

hcfcd

layout

I live in Cinco Ranch near Mason and Westheimer Parkway and we have no flooding

[Waterfall]

I don't get it. They call them resevoirs but don't have 4 walls. Besides a resevoir is an artificial lake. These are more like flood control planes or flood protection. I wonder why did they just build them in that area of town. Does it flood there often? Kingwood always floods and they need it. They are built by an actual resevoir. My god, wouldn't it be a disaster if the Lake Houston Dam broke. New Orleans had poor planning. When the levees break it basically becomes one big resevoir.

Your user name is "Engineer," but I have to guess you aren't a civil engineer. Anyways, Addicks and Barker Reservoirs were built in the late 1940's by the Corps of Engineers primarily as a response to the 1935 flood. They were situated west along both sides of Buffalo Bayou due to the belief that development in the city would never reach that far west... Their purpose is strictly flood control. Reservoirs can have four primary uses: flood control, water supply, recreation, and hydropower.

No riverine based reservoir has four walls. Look at Lake Mead (behind Hoover Dam) as an example. Some smaller water supply reservoirs have four sides which I think is your impression of a reservoir.

Katy is actually upstream of the Addicks and Barker and thus does not benefit from the reservoirs.

I didn't know that Kingwood always floods. Lake Houston wasn't built for Kingwood, Kingwood was built because it was near Lake Houston and US 59. The primary purpose of Lake Houston is to supply drinking water for the city. Of course, many of us have used it recreational purposes as well such as boating and fishing. It does serve somewhat of a flood control function as well. The Lake Houston dam and spillway is well designed and imagine that it will remain solid. It was constructed in the 1950's, so it has been through a fair number of hurricanes. An interesting fact is that the largest recorded flowrate in the state was recorded over the Lake Houston spillway in 1994. I cannot recall the exact cubic feet per second, but it was impressive.

[CDeb]

Thanks, Waterfall. Interesting info.