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. |
'Upstanding' exRevealed: The key sign that indicates a woman might be a PSYCHOPATHU.S. House votes to kill motion to remove Speaker Mike JohnsonKuwait's emir dissolves parliament again, amid political gridlock in oilPGA CHAMPIONSHIP '24: Justin Thomas gets rare experience playing a major in his hometownUS dedicates $60 million to saving water along the Rio Grande as flows shrink and demands growChina activates emergency response to flooding in southern regionsXander Schauffele shoots 67, leads by 4 over Rory McIlroy, Jason Day at Wells Fargo ChampionshipWoman sentenced to 55 years for death of longtime friend stabbed nearly 500 timesChina activates emergency response to flooding in southern regions