"Harvey exposes Houston's long history of bad city planning"
Sept 2, 2017 3:50:07 GMT
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Post by bluemingidiot on Sept 2, 2017 3:50:07 GMT
It’s the only major U.S. city without a zoning code saying what types of buildings can go where, so skyscrapers sometimes sprout next to split-levels. Voters have repeatedly opposed enacting a zoning law. Texas is one of only four states along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts with no mandatory statewide building codes, and it has no statewide program to license building inspectors.
Houston’s clay soil doesn’t absorb water quickly. Paving over the saw-grass prairie reduced the ground’s capacity to absorb rainfall. Flood-control reservoirs were too small. Building codes were inadequate. Roads became rivers, so while hospitals were open, it was almost impossible to reach them by car. The acreage of metro Houston that can’t soak up rainfall increased by 32 percent from 2001 to 2011, according to U.S. Geological Survey data. City leaders resisted the notion that more drastic measures such as preserving green space and managing growth were required.
Texans were defenseless against rising waters contaminated by sewage and dotted with floating colonies of fire ants. Residents will return to damaged homes vulnerable to the spread of mold. Much of the damage, which could run to $100 billion or more by one estimate, is uninsured. “This will be the worst natural disaster in American history” in financial terms, Joel Myers, founder and president of AccuWeather, predicted.
www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/harvey-exposes-houstons-long-history-of-bad-city-planning/ar-AAr1cSe
Houston’s clay soil doesn’t absorb water quickly. Paving over the saw-grass prairie reduced the ground’s capacity to absorb rainfall. Flood-control reservoirs were too small. Building codes were inadequate. Roads became rivers, so while hospitals were open, it was almost impossible to reach them by car. The acreage of metro Houston that can’t soak up rainfall increased by 32 percent from 2001 to 2011, according to U.S. Geological Survey data. City leaders resisted the notion that more drastic measures such as preserving green space and managing growth were required.
Texans were defenseless against rising waters contaminated by sewage and dotted with floating colonies of fire ants. Residents will return to damaged homes vulnerable to the spread of mold. Much of the damage, which could run to $100 billion or more by one estimate, is uninsured. “This will be the worst natural disaster in American history” in financial terms, Joel Myers, founder and president of AccuWeather, predicted.
www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/harvey-exposes-houstons-long-history-of-bad-city-planning/ar-AAr1cSe
