It's Floodin' Down In Texas.....

[bill_daniels]

A 96" water main burst, flooding I-610 East.

https://www.click2houston.com/news/l...-east-houston/

Never seen anything like it.

[RMVette]

Wowzers… a 96" main is huge but I'm sure it can easily be fixed with flex tape..

[BOTY]

Originally Posted by RMVette

Wowzers… a 96" main is huge but I'm sure it can easily be fixed with flex tape..


Attachment 39751

That is a huge break, feel bad for all the people impacted. Someone is gonna be looking for a new job, unless they were union.

[bill_daniels]

Originally Posted by BOTY

That is a huge break, feel bad for all the people impacted. Someone is gonna be looking for a new job, unless they were union.

The main is owned by the City of Houston, I don't even know how you'd try to assess blame for this. I guess the city uses smart pigs to check their steel pipes, but I'm not sure if this one is steel or plastic. I doubt anyone will lose their job over this. Lots of city workers are gonna rake in some overtime though.

[mrvette]

Rather serious doubt that anyone could have preDICKted that failure, I more suspect it was just some GEO-ILL-ogical happening, mommy earth got pissed and shook it off.....

[BOTY]

Originally Posted by bill_daniels

The main is owned by the City of Houston, I don't even know how you'd try to assess blame for this. I guess the city uses smart pigs to check their steel pipes, but I'm not sure if this one is steel or plastic. I doubt anyone will lose their job over this. Lots of city workers are gonna rake in some overtime though.

Around here their have been some severe repercussions for failure to perform to standards. Incorrect markings led to a couple houses blowing up.

[Lakota]

from attached link article from 2016:

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/new...nd-7951625.php

"Houston is sinking - and has been for decades.

As torrential rains have pounded the city in consecutive years, leading to repeated, heavy and deadly flooding, this inconvenient fact contributes to the region's misery.

Parts of Harris County have dropped between 10 and 12 feet since the 1920s, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey.

State and local officials have made various efforts over the past 40 years to stabilize the ground, but some areas continue to sink - by as much as 2 inches per year.

Spring Branch, where Interstate 10 and Beltway 8 meet, has dropped 4 feet since 1975. Jersey Village, along Route 290 and to the west of Beltway 8, is almost 2 feet lower than it was in 1996. And Greater Greenspoint, where Interstate 45 intersects with Beltway 8, has given up about 2 feet in the last decade alone, according to USGS data.

"When you lose that much, it makes an area prone to floods when they weren't historically," said Mark Kasmarek, a hydrogeologist for more than 30 years with the USGS.

There is little mystery to why this is happening: The developing region draws an excessive amount of groundwater to keep itself quenched. Over the last century, aquifers here have lost between 300 and 400 feet, leaving the land to collapse.

The science behind this phenomenon is called subsidence.

Houston sits in one of the nation's largest subsidence bowls, so-called because of the crater effect that happens when the ground caves.

A USGS map of Harris County shows the city's bowl containing many smaller bowls, some with 8- to 9-foot drops in elevation. Many of these areas are in places known to flood, like the Heights, Montrose, downtown and near the East End.

Rainfall collects and pools in the bowls, instead of seeping through the land, Kasmarek said.

Residents have seen it up close in Meyerland, a 6,000-acre neighborhood in southwest Houston that lost about a foot and a half over a 13-year period in the 1980s and early 1990.

Cracked foundations, uneven sidewalks and shifted floorboards are often telltale signs of subsidence, residents said.

Shifts in elevation do more than alter topography, said John Blount, a Harris County engineer. They also ruin the efficiency of a city's drainage system.

Blount saw a recent example of this when he and a crew were repairing a section of Kirby Drive.

"We noticed that drainage lines weren't at the grade they should've been, and they weren't allowing water to drain as quickly as they should," he said. "It's because the ground wasn't at the same level anymore."

[snide]

Originally Posted by Lakota

from attached link article from 2016:

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/new...nd-7951625.php

"Houston is sinking - and has been for decades.

As torrential rains have pounded the city in consecutive years, leading to repeated, heavy and deadly flooding, this inconvenient fact contributes to the region's misery.

Parts of Harris County have dropped between 10 and 12 feet since the 1920s, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey.

State and local officials have made various efforts over the past 40 years to stabilize the ground, but some areas continue to sink - by as much as 2 inches per year.

Spring Branch, where Interstate 10 and Beltway 8 meet, has dropped 4 feet since 1975. Jersey Village, along Route 290 and to the west of Beltway 8, is almost 2 feet lower than it was in 1996. And Greater Greenspoint, where Interstate 45 intersects with Beltway 8, has given up about 2 feet in the last decade alone, according to USGS data.

"When you lose that much, it makes an area prone to floods when they weren't historically," said Mark Kasmarek, a hydrogeologist for more than 30 years with the USGS.

There is little mystery to why this is happening: The developing region draws an excessive amount of groundwater to keep itself quenched. Over the last century, aquifers here have lost between 300 and 400 feet, leaving the land to collapse.

The science behind this phenomenon is called subsidence.

Houston sits in one of the nation's largest subsidence bowls, so-called because of the crater effect that happens when the ground caves.

A USGS map of Harris County shows the city's bowl containing many smaller bowls, some with 8- to 9-foot drops in elevation. Many of these areas are in places known to flood, like the Heights, Montrose, downtown and near the East End.

Rainfall collects and pools in the bowls, instead of seeping through the land, Kasmarek said.

Residents have seen it up close in Meyerland, a 6,000-acre neighborhood in southwest Houston that lost about a foot and a half over a 13-year period in the 1980s and early 1990.

Cracked foundations, uneven sidewalks and shifted floorboards are often telltale signs of subsidence, residents said.

Shifts in elevation do more than alter topography, said John Blount, a Harris County engineer. They also ruin the efficiency of a city's drainage system.

Blount saw a recent example of this when he and a crew were repairing a section of Kirby Drive.

"We noticed that drainage lines weren't at the grade they should've been, and they weren't allowing water to drain as quickly as they should," he said. "It's because the ground wasn't at the same level anymore."

I could never live there.

[dvarapala]

Originally Posted by Lakota

Rainfall collects and pools in the bowls, instead of seeping through the land, Kasmarek said.

That makes no sense. I actually installed a "bowl" (called a "bio-swale") in my back yard to catch rainwater and give it a chance to soak in rather than run off. Even with my ridiculously clay soil I never get flooding.

Unless the "bowls" in Houston are all covered with impermeable pavement, the water should soak in eventually. And if they are, then replace the pavement in the lowest section of the bowl - not only would that help with the flooding but it would replenish the aquifer as well.

[Stangkiller]

The Chevron building next to us closed at 3 and my sons daycare closed around 3:30 today so we had to leave early.

Watching this closely hopefully we can go back to work tomorrow. This basically closed every Houston restaurant in downtown and mid-town, this is a HUUUUGE impact.

[MadInNc]

Originally Posted by snide

I could never swim there.

*fixt

[DAB]

my sister lives in Katy, works somewhere downtown.

[DAB]

Massive water main break floods parts of Houston - YouTube

[Raazor]

time to drill some wells

[CB1953]

Originally Posted by DAB

my sister lives in Katy, works somewhere downtown.

I live in Katy also, all is well here...but that was a mess yesterday!

[Mr.Bigg]

It always was a cesspool there some days just a bit deeper.

[JetMechZ16]

Originally Posted by dvarapala

That makes no sense. I actually installed a "bowl" (called a "bio-swale") in my back yard to catch rainwater and give it a chance to soak in rather than run off. Even with my ridiculously clay soil I never get flooding.

Unless the "bowls" in Houston are all covered with impermeable pavement, the water should soak in eventually. And if they are, then replace the pavement in the lowest section of the bowl - not only would that help with the flooding but it would replenish the aquifer as well.

If the land is collapsing due to the aquifer being low there is less space under the ground for the water to occupy. The land is collapsing and taking the space that was filled with water.

[bill_daniels]

Originally Posted by JetMechZ16

If the land is collapsing due to the aquifer being low there is less space under the ground for the water to occupy. The land is collapsing and taking the space that was filled with water.

Attachment 39766

The majority of Houston gets their water from Lake Houston, which in turn, can take water from Lake Conroe if necessary. The area has been working to ditch well water. Even my Mom's MUD and others are connecting to surface water sources.

[Stangkiller]

Originally Posted by Stangkiller

The Chevron building next to us closed at 3 and my sons daycare closed around 3:30 today so we had to leave early.

Watching this closely hopefully we can go back to work tomorrow. This basically closed every Houston restaurant in downtown and mid-town, this is a HUUUUGE impact.

Kiddos daycare remains closed and my building downtown is under a boil water notice with limited water pressure, so I’m home with kiddo, wifey has to go to work however.

[simpleman68]