HOUSTON (AP) — After the floodwaters earlier this month just about swallowed two of the six homes that 60-year-old Tom Madigan owns on the San Jacinto River, he didn’t think twice about whether to fix them. He hired people to help, and they got to work stripping the walls, pulling up flooring and throwing out water-logged furniture.
What Madigan didn’t know: The Harris County Flood Control District wants to buy his properties as part of an effort to get people out of dangerously flood-prone areas.
Back-to-back storms drenched southeast Texas in late April and early May, causing flash flooding and pushing rivers out of their banks and into low-lying neighborhoods. Officials across the region urged people in vulnerable areas to evacuate.
Like Madigan’s, some places that were inundated along the San Jacinto in Harris County have flooded repeatedly. And for nearly 30 years, the flood control district has been trying to clear out homes around the river by paying property owners to move, then returning the lots to nature.
US overdose deaths dropped in 2023, the first time since 2018
The spy who came from the circus: He was a favourite of George VI, a chum of Churchill
F1 now makes 3 stops a season in the United States. Could Miami become a victim of oversaturation?
DAILY MAIL COMMENT: A thumping, but PM must keep up the fight
Amir Khan's £11.5m luxury wedding venue finally hosts its first marriage: Bride arrives on horse
Gambling bill to allow lottery and slots remains stalled in the Alabama Senate
A tornado hit an Oklahoma newsroom built in the 1920s. The damage isn't stopping the presses
Kyle Walker is welcomed back to £3.5million home he shares with Annie Kilner
California congressman urges closer consultation with tribes on offshore wind
Ministers told to redraw green plans after High Court rules UK's current net zero strategy unlawful
'The Apprentice,' about a young Donald Trump, premieres in Cannes
Twins stretch win streak to 11 with 5