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. |
Commerce Department announces new restrictions on U.S. firearms exportsMyth of 'superhuman strength' in Black people persists in deadly encounters with policeMilitary veteran charged with attempting to make ricin to remain jailedUtah 'Karen', 48, is charged with sexual battery 'for yanking down 19 yearAthletes tied to Iowa gambling sting seek damages in civil lawsuit against state and investigatorsUSDA tells producers to reduce salmonella in certain frozen chicken productsMoment runaway Cavalry horses crash through parked eElite female bodyguards reveal the fascinating secrets of protecting AUS probes whether Tesla Autopilot recall did enough to make sure drivers pay attentionEuropean soccer leagues insist they have no plans for games in the US. A lawsuit could change that