Skeeters take the sting out of the Bees: Page 6
WEDNESDAY • AUGUST 29, 2018
Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 43 • No. 2
The Fort Bend Star and Fort Bend Business Journal office will be closed on Monday, Sept. 3, in observance of Labor Day. Visit www.FortBendStar.com
Fort Bend shoring up a year after Harvey Improvements being made to levees, drainage systems By Joe Southern
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A year after Hurricane Harvey paused over the Houston area and dumped more than three feet of rain, flooding streets, homes and businesses, cities in Fort Bend County are girding up for the next water disaster. Many of the communities in eastern Fort Bend County were designed to withstand either heavy rain or high water from the Brazos River, but when Harvey delivered both, severe flooding occurred. Almost as soon as the rain stopped, area cities and the Levee Improvement Districts (LIDs) that serve them began evaluating what happened and how it can be prevented from happening again. “The city is 100 percent protected by
those levee districts,” said Sugar Land Assistant City Manager Chris Steubing. The LIDs are systems of levees built around communities that are designed to be a barrier between homes and the rivers and also to drain water from within the communities. LIDs The Levee Improvement Districts bear the brunt of drainage and flood protection responsibilities across much of Fort Bend County. Most of the more than 20 LIDS along the Brazos River are making improvements and several will put bond issues before voters in November to fund additional improvements. The hardest-hit area in Sugar Land was First Colony, which is served primarily by Fort Bend County LID 2, along with First Colony LIDs 1 and 2.
FBC LID 2 is acting on five key areas to improve service to the district. According to Phil Martin, the LID is rehabilitating drainage channels in ditches B, C, and E, with construction under way. A third pumping station is in the preliminary design stage, as is a plan to lower the internal flood elevation. They will replace the pumps at the Mike Thelen Pump Station (Pump Station F) and the final design is almost complete. The district has also approved the installation of five new flood gauges and the upgrade of two existing gauges in cooperation with the City of Sugar Land and Harris County Flood Warning System to improve flood warning and monitoring. First Colony LID 2’s board has authorized its engineer to design and bid the installation of a third stormwa-
ter pump and the replacement of the existing backup generator and miscellaneous controls at the pump station. The proposed improvements will cost about $2.1 million and will increase the district’s pump capacity and enhance the district’s response time and operation during events. “Our district systems performed well during Harvey, and we realize how fortunate we are to have them and appreciative of the effort that has gone into maintenance and operation,” said Director Zach Weimer. “Our emergency action plan was well defined and our operator, LID Solutions, executed it well. We conducted after action reviews to determine what went well and what areas could be made even
SEE HARVEY, PAGE 11
Harvey during & after
The view from Riverstone resident Wes Farmer’s home during Hurricane Harvey. (Submitted photo)
Their view one year later after Harvey. (Submitted photo)
Family is rebuilding home in Riverstone a year after Harvey By Donna Hill FOR THE FORT BEND STAR
For Riverstone residents Wes and Wendy Farmer, life in their community near Steep Bank Creek is almost back to normal after Hurricane Harvey. One can still see brown waterline marks on the grass up on the levee. Visible too are three-foot high waterline marks on the fences in the neighborhood. Farmer, who was on a family vacation in Maui, Hawaii, in August of last year, didn’t need to watch the Weather Channel or look at his phone to know how much rain was coming to southeast Texas. A lot of that rainwater was in his house, and he saw it from the
security camera he had set up in his home. Then he discovered he didn’t have flood insurance. Recently, he and a friend were moving in his newly refurbished refrigerator. Another refrigerator was humming away in the garage. Farmer said it’s the refrigerator that continues to work even after the entire garage flooded. “When Harvey hit, the flood line went right across, like two feet from the corner of my driveway, which put me in a flood plain,” he said. He took a moment to look around and said the toughest things lost during the flood were his marriage certificate, their photos, and videos of the children. Farmer, who lived in
Wendy and Wes Farmer watched their home flood during Hurricane Harvey through their security camera while on vacation in Hawaii. (Submitted photo)
Southern California, said he’s been through several earthquakes, but it’s not quite like weathering a hurricane and losing possessions damaged
by water. His wife, Wendy, a Houston native, knows all about them. When Farmer and his wife finally returned to their home,
the scene was surreal. Personal effects were floating everywhere on the first floor. “Stuff came in and it went out and moved around the house, out of the house. We opened the front doors and we literally couldn’t see the floors, there was so much mud,” he said. “My wife was like a rock through everything. I just wanted to go berserk. ‘Relax,’ she said. ‘It’s just stuff.’” Determined to find whatever possessions remained, Farmer put a message on Facebook, saying he needed help. People came from all over to help get his life back to normal with food, cleaning supplies, and support. “My wife and I stayed upstairs for about a month. People were coming over ev-
ery night with hot food. And the HOA was incredible. They had bleach for us, toilet paper, paper towels, shop vacs.” After assessing the damage, Farmer finally found a contractor, HTX Restoration, who started working on the house in April. He moved back June 1 after living in an apartment for more than six months. His home, though not quite a war zone as before, has boxes and personal effects stashed in every square inch upstairs. He hopes to be back to normal within a month, with hosting get-togethers with family and friends first on his list. “We’ve always been the ‘entertainment house.’ And this year, we’re inviting everyone over for get-togethers,” he said.
Another Moon rising on the gridiron By Bill McCaughey FOR THE FORT BEND STAR
Tre Larsen, the grandson of former Houston Oilers quarterback Warren Moon, is leading the Austin Bulldogs this year. (Photo by Bill McCaughey)
If you watch Austin High School’s quarterback Tre Larsen this season, the first thing you will notice is he is a tall thin kid, about 6-foot 3-inches and 180. You will notice he has a strong arm and seems to have a good grasp of the game. You will notice that he has a laidback demeanor, nothing seems to upset him. You will notice that his teammates look to him as their leader. And if you are old enough, he just might remind you of his grandfather, Warren Moon. “There are a lot of similari-
ties between us. “When I was See the prep Particularly in in little league, football preview demeanor. Tre is I played defena very laid-back inside this edition. sive end. I knew young man, kind I could get up of like me. Neither of us are very the field and tackle someone. boisterous or loud. But I believe After two years as a defensive people listened when I talked,” end, I started throwing the Moon said. “He has a really football and I liked to do that strong arm. He is a decent ath- better than tackling someone. lete. He’s not an exceptional It was just fun to throw the ball athlete just as I wasn’t an excep- and you don’t get hit as much. tional athlete. I was just good Plus, I could watch my grandpa enough to play quarterback.” throwing the ball on the televiMoon was just good enough sion replays. He was always my to throw for 49,325 yards and inspiration,” Larsen said. 291 touchdowns, and just good Moon hopes to see as many enough to be inducted into the games as he can this year. Pro Football Hall of Fame in “I have seen Tre play and 2006. Larsen wasn’t always a quarSEE MOON, PAGE 10 terback.
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