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.
Xi to begin Serbia visit on the 25th anniversary of NATO's bombing of the Chinese Embassy
Christina Hendricks recreates her wedding for her Alzheimer's
China's clean energy sectors gain edge via innovation, supply chain
I was 'brokefished' by my friend for £400
Michael Massey, Maikel Garcia key a 7th
Tom Brady fans in hysterics over Netflix Roast as they hail the quarterback's jokes a 10/10
Zendaya's Met Gala style: Her biggest and boldest fashion statements so far
Candice Swanepoel stuns in a form
Zimbabwe wins toss and bats first in 3rd T20 against Bangladesh
Cruise worker 'murders newborn son on board ship': Shocked co
Tom Brady teases Bill Belichick for infamous Ring doorbell footage of former Patriots coach