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.
California congressman urges closer consultation with tribes on offshore wind
Xi's visit to Hungary, Serbia provide fertile ground for Chinese expansion in Europe
Father's quick reactions save the day as he catches baby daughter when she falls out of her pram
Demi Moore, 61, beams as she leaves the Gucci Cruise show with Nikolai von Bismarck
Mohammad Mokhber: Who is Iran’s acting president?
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle hint there are more quasi
Pixie Geldof displays her legs in a thigh
Takeaways from AP investigation into police training on the risks of handcuffing someone facedown
Nadal returns to Roland Garros to practice amid doubts over fitness and form
Future of Baby Reindeer 'confirmed' after fans of the hit Netflix drama begged for second series
Burglar hurled stolen mobile phones at police from the top of 60ft high roof during nine
EU agrees on a new migration pact. Mainstream parties hope it will deprive the far right of votes