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.
Max Homa is among a group of Masters contenders who are vying for their first major title
Retiring Chairman Sean McManus leaves CBS Sports with its critical properties locked up long
Speaker Johnson to meet with Trump, offers Marjorie Taylor Greene advisory role as own job teeters
Why US Catholics are planning pilgrimages in communities across the nation
Biden could miss the deadline for the November ballot in Alabama
What to expect in Michigan's state house special elections
'The Apprentice,' about a young Donald Trump, premieres in Cannes
Wrexham eyes another promotion, this time to 3rd tier of English soccer
Georgia Republicans choose Amy Kremer, organizer of pro
Republican Sen. Rick Scott softens his abortion position after Florida Supreme Court ruling