Harvey: Flood Threat Diminishing As Releases Continue Of Addicks, Barker Reservoirs

FORT BEND COUNTY, TX — Officials with the Harris County Flood Control District announced Thursday that the reservoir levels in Addicks and Barker reservoirs are receding and the danger to flooding to homes and businesses downstream is passed.

“The pool level at Barker Reservoir has peaked and has crested…and there will be no additional home flooding likely in that area,” Meteorologist Jeff Linder said, referring to homes downstream in Fort Bend County.

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Linder said much the same about Addicks Reservoir, but law enforcement officials in Fort Bend County are enforcing a mandatory evacuation order, which means if those who elected to stay during the flooding leave their homes, they will not be allowed to return until the order is lifted by Fort Bend County Judge Robert Hebert. (For more hurricane news or local news from Houston, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Houston Patch, and click here to find your local Texas Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

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“The basic message is if your house is flooding and you can’t drive to it, you don’t need to go to it,” Linder said. “They also want to keep people out of that area that shouldn’t be back there, and maybe don’t live there.”

Mandatory evacuation orders were enacted in various parts of Fort Bend County on Saturday and Sunday as Hurricane Harvey hammered the Houston area with torrential rain and flooding, stretching into five days.

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Officials in Fort Bend County’s Office of Emergency Management released a statement early Thursday, contradicting the Harris County Flood Control District that flooding downstream was imminent, when that was actually not the case.

In some cases, people got a knock at their doors shortly after 1 a.m. telling them the flood waters were rising and they needed to evacuate their homes now, KHOU reported

Linder said the releases have remained steady and flooding could happen along the bayou while the release is happening, but that the reservoirs were going down.

“As long as we continue release rates, there will continue to be flooding along Buffalo Bayou at the rate there is now,” Linder said. “There will be fluctuations in the water levels over the next few days, due to change in the release rates. As for other watersheds, the water is falling and crested in all watersheds across the county...many areas will actually see the water levels go down.”

Carried To Safety: Houston Police SWAT officer Daryl Hudeck carries Catherine Pham and her 13-month-old son Aiden after rescuing them from their home surrounded by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

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