12 cars pulled out of Houston bayou in 6 days

The first of four vehicles was removed from Brays Bayou at Old Spanish Trail on Wednesday in Houston. The first of four vehicles was removed from Brays Bayou at Old Spanish Trail on Wednesday in Houston. Photo: Steve Gonzales Photo: Steve Gonzales Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close 12 cars pulled out of Houston bayou in 6 days 1 / 14 Back to Gallery

A pilot project to extract submerged cars from Houston's bayous has yielded 12 vehicles in its first six days.

The effort to test what it will take to pull cars from the water, preserve them for police processing and contain environmental impacts resulting from removal made its first catch on Jan. 27 when a gunk-covered 1987 Buick reported stolen in 1998 emerged from the bayou.

The effort, which includes weekends, began in a stretch of waterway between Old Spanish Trail and South Wayside Drive. The Buick and an orange-colored Hyundai Excel from the mid-1980s were recovered the first day.

A gold-colored pickup truck, a gray minivan and a difficult-to-identify car were pulled up last Thursday. Friday turned up a heavy vehicle with a missing roof, possibly an SUV, plus another find – also without a clear description.

Crews brought up a red GMC TrailBlazer and a late 1990s black Pontiac Grand Am on Saturday. Sunday's catch was an early 1990s Ford Ranger pickup.

The most recent pair, on Monday, were fished out after the salvage operation moved upstream of the Lidstone Street bridge over Brays Bayou. Both were from the 1990s: a white Chrysler LeBaron and a maroon Chevrolet pickup.

Recovered vehicles are towed to the Houston Police Department's impound lot. Most are believed to be stolen cars that were dumped, according to Sgt. Tracy Hicks with HPD's auto theft division.

Texas EquuSearch founder Tim Miller first brought the existence of dozens of underwater vehicles in the bayous to the public's attention in 2014 during a presentation to Houston City Council. He told officials the nonprofit search and rescue group discovered 127 in late 2011 while looking for 82-year-old Lillian High, whose remains were found three months later inside her car in an artificial pond. HPD officials at the time said they were aware of the vast majority of those submerged vehicles.

"Operation Submerge" is powered by $49,500 from Harris County Precinct 2 and the city. The Harris County Flood Control District, the project administrator, oversees a salvage company handling underwater recovery and a towing firm operating the crane that lifts the vehicles to the bayou banks then delivers them to HPD.

The extraction work is expected to continue for another week or until "the available funding for the pilot project runs out," flood control district spokeswoman Karen Hastings said in an email on Tuesday.

Anyone seeking information on the recovered cars should contact HPD at 713-308-3280.