Mayor Turner to appoint a flooding czar

Spring firefighter Kenneth Eisfeldt lifts 3-year-old Valerie Negrete to safety as the family is evacuated from One Westfield Lake Apartment in Houston, Texas, Wednesday, April 20, 2016. The Negrete family had not been out of their home since Sunday. Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes and major highways were closed after the rains that started Sunday overwhelmed Houston's bayous. Forecasters have issued another flash flood watch for Houston through Wednesday night. (Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT less Spring firefighter Kenneth Eisfeldt lifts 3-year-old Valerie Negrete to safety as the family is evacuated from One Westfield Lake Apartment in Houston, Texas, Wednesday, April 20, 2016. The Negrete family had ... more Photo: Steve Gonzales, Associated Press Photo: Steve Gonzales, Associated Press Image 1 of / 248 Caption Close Mayor Turner to appoint a flooding czar 1 / 248 Back to Gallery

Mayor Sylvester Turner had planned this week, in his first State of the City address, to announce the appointment of a flooding czar to coordinate regional agencies' attempts to limit damage from severe storms, the mayor said Wednesday.

It was only fitting, then, that the speech was cancelled amid historic flooding on Monday, the second "100-year" event, or worse, in less than 12 months.

"I said very early on in my administration that flooding would be a very high priority. What has happened recently only accentuates the importance of moving on it," he said. "I intend to do that and give that person the sole responsibility of pulling together all the different stakeholders and coming up with a definitive plan on how to address flooding in the city of Houston."

This week's flood proves drainage is a regional issue, Turner said, and will take developers, neighborhood leaders, engineers, businesses and city, county and federal drainage officials at the table to address.

The task force he anticipates reporting to the new flooding coordinator, Turner said, should look in particular at increasing detention in the region. Detention ponds store water on its way into the bayou system in the hopes that the channels do not break their banks, as happened Monday.

Turner withheld the name of the person he has in mind for the flooding-focused job, but did provide a basic update on flood recovery efforts. Most notably, he said a voluntary evacuation was underway in the Kingwood's Forest Cove area.

Turner also announced he hoped to address residents' confusion about how to help flood victims by setting up a Greater Houston Storm Relief Fund to accept donations.

The nonprofit fund already has received a $50,000 donation from Waste Management, Turner said. Residents can visit www.houstonrecovers.org and follow the instructions to donate themselves.

"I don't think any of us can lose sight that what happened on Monday was of a historic nature. There was a lot of rain that came down, and then water is still falling. We'll just have to continue to work through it. What's important to people who've already been adversely impacted is getting them back on the road to recovery."