Overflowing reservoirs push water into 3,000 homes

Vehicles negotiate high water near the entrance to the Barker reservoir along Westheimer Parkway in Katy, TX on August 28, 2017. Vehicles negotiate high water near the entrance to the Barker reservoir along Westheimer Parkway in Katy, TX on August 28, 2017. Photo: Craig Moseley/Chronicle Photo: Craig Moseley/Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Overflowing reservoirs push water into 3,000 homes 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Water from the inundated Barker and Addicks reservoirs in west Harris County flooded upwards of 3,000 homes by Tuesday afternoon.

Overflows from the Barker Reservoir landed residents of Katy-area neighborhoods south of Interstate 10 in waist-deep water.

Laura and Rick Mendenhall waded into the flood waters, hoping to reach their now-flooded house at the Fairways at Kelliwood that they had abandoned Monday.

They wanted to grab possessions they had left behind, but they knew they would turn back if the water got too deep.

"Our subdivision has 89 homes," Mendenhall said. "And we're told there's water in all of them."

At the Primrose School on Weatgreen, near the flooded subdivisions, volunteer Debbie Anders welcomed residents and set up parking for volunteers lugging kayaks and skiffs to the area.

"We have no idea how many people are down there," she said, of the nearby neighborhoods.

As she spoke, military and U.S. Coast Guard helicopters flew over the flooded west Houston community.

The dams' vast watersheds -- encompassing west Harris County, plus parts of Fort Bend and Waller counties -- poured unprecedented amounts of water into the Barker and Addicks reservoirs. Coupled with more than 34 inches of rain, the reservoirs couldn't take any more water, flooding upstream communities, including the Fairways at Kelliwood, off of South Fry.

Flooding in neighborhoods ranged from water-logged streets to up to five feet inside of houses.

Homes will continue to flood in the coming days and possibly into next week, said Jeff Lindner, meteorologist for the Harris County Flood Control District.

"If you live in those subdivisions and you are not experiencing flooding that does not mean you will not experience flooding," Lindner said.

Both reservoirs, manned by the Galveston District of the Army Corps of Engineers, typically drain into the Buffalo Bayou, toward the heart of downtown Houston, said Edmond Russo with the Corps' Galveston district.

After Buffalo Bayou backed up from the week's rainfall, however, neither dam could drain.

Both reservoirs -- which are designed to be dry -- reached record water levels. Tuesday morning, Addicks was at 108 feet. Barker was at 100 feet, Russo said.

On Tuesday morning, water spilled out of the sides of Addicks Reservoir, putting seven subdivisions downstream of the dam at risk of flooding.

Similar overflows likely will begin at Barker by Wednesday, Lindner said.

There are more than 100 subdivisions under voluntary evacuation orders and two under mandatory evacuation orders, though more are expected to be included.

In 2007, the Corps found many aspects of the 70-year-old dams -- including the embankments, conduits and water control structures -- "probably inadequate" for an extreme storm. Two years later, the structures got the Corps' worst safety classification.

Since then, the Corps has embarked on a $73 million retrofitting project to keep neighborhoods downstream of the dams safe from floodwaters, including downtown Houston and the Texas Medical Center, said Lars be Zetterstrom, the commander of the Corps' Galveston District

The uncontrolled releases from the Addicks Reservoir are not signs that it is failing, Lindner said. The dam is designed to have water flow over the sides of it, eventually ending up in Buffalo Bayou, Lindner added.

The new construction on the dams, expected to be completed in 2020, would not make the dams any better to hold the influx of water from the week's rainfall, Russo said.

Days earlier, though, officials had hoped to avoid the overflows.

"That's exactly what you don't want to see happen," Lindner said over the weekend.

On Monday, officials started controlled releases of water through Katy-area neighborhoods. Their intent was to minimize pressure on the reservoirs' levies and damage from uncontrollable flooding.

By Tuesday, however, the controlled flow of more than 3,000 cubic feet per second was not enough to prevent overflow at the Addicks Reservoir.

The neighborhoods put at risk by the the downstream flooding from the Addicks reservoir include: Twin Lakes, Eldridge Park, the Lakes on Eldridge, the Lakes on Eldridge North, Independence Farms, Tanner Heights and Heritage Business Park, Lindner said.

"This is something we've never faced before, so we're trying our best to wrap around what exactly this water is going to do," Lindner said.

Because of the record dam levels and ongoing uncontrolled releases, officials are going to begin exploring the potential impact to structures downstream along Buffalo Bayou.

Officials still are deliberately releasing water from the reservoirs.

The Corps plans to release water from the Addicks and Barker reservoirs this week at a rate of 12,000 cubic feet per second, up from the 8,000 cubic feet per second they were aiming for Tuesday morning.

The water was expected to hit Twin Lakes first.

Residents have some time -- the water in the reservoir is rising slowly -- but they should keep an eye on the news and be prepared to leave their homes, Lindner said.

Harris County officials said they do not expect any impact to structures along Buffalo Bayou for at least the next 24 hours as the continue to perform releases from the reservoirs.

Once residents have evacuated, they could be out of their homes for several months. It took three months after the Tax Day Floods in 2016 for the reservoirs to drain, said Rhonda Brown, project manager with the Corps' Galveston district.

The peak planned flow coming out of Addicks is expected to happen on Aug. 31, when 4,500 cubic feet per second are expected to pour out of the dam. Spillover at Addicks is expected to continue through Sept. 20.

Back near Barker Reservoir, Favio Gonzalez and his wife, Doris, watched the man-made lake, across from their west Harris County home, slowly rising.

"I hope the water's going to come down," Doris Gonzalez said. But, she added, from under the umbrella she and her husband shared, "It is still raining."