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.
Ben Whishaw lights up the Croisette as he joins his co
Mississippi legislative leaders swap proposals on possible Medicaid expansion
AP Week in Pictures: North America
REVEALED: George Soros is PAYING left
Minnesota Uber and Lyft driver pay package beats deadline to win approval in Legislature
At least 17 people died in Florida after medics injected sedatives during encounters with police
Florida's Bob Graham remembered as a governor, senator of the people
Salernitana relegated from Serie A after blanking from Frosinone
What's next for Iran after death of its president in crash?
Google plans to invest $2 billion to build data center in northeast Indiana, officials say
Trump accepts a VP debate but wants it on Fox News. Harris has already said yes to CBS
Windows 11 users Start Menu will soon have ADVERTS