What Harvey did (and didn’t) teach us about building in the floodplain

Meyerland, built on former rice fields in southwest Houston, was one of Houston’s earliest master-planned communities promising to bring suburban life relatively close to the city. But the neighborhood has been repeatedly ravaged by floods, with some of the worst damage occurring in Hurricane Harvey five years ago. Even though Meyerland shows us the repercussions of building in the floodplain and many communities throughout Houston are still recovering from Harvey, real estate developers continue to build in floodprone areas with nearly 1 in 8 houses built in the floodplain in Houston now. Development continues to blossom in West Houston throughout the floodplain in areas like Katy Prairie, but this time with newer, better building standards than what was required 50 years ago when Meyerland was constructed. But are the new standards enough to protect homeowners? Looped In hosts R.A. Schuetz and Marissa Luck sit down with Houston Chronicle’s county reporter Jen Rice to discuss how Houston’s development standards could potentially be putting property owners in flood-prone areas at risk. Read more about it: Houston keeps paving over rain-absorbent Katy prairie, even after devastating Harvey impacts How Harvey transformed resilient Meyerland from modest 1950s homes to raised mini-mansions Post Harvey, 1 in 8 homes permitted are in floodplains Harvey cost many their homes and their peace of mind. 5 years later, the damage lingers. After 3 inches of rain shut down a Katy community, residents want to know what went wrong   Support the show: https://offers.houstonchronicle.com/?offerid=125&origin=newsroom&ipid=podcast See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices