Mandatory flood insurance in Fort Bend County

Mandatory flood insurance for homes in Fort Bend County? It sounds good in theory.

If I was a homeowner sitting behind a developer-designed flood-levee in Ft Bend County, I would want flood insurance. Especially considering that one day an historic flood will come down the Brazos River. Especially also since the entire 6-mile wide Brazos flood plain has been funneled down to a single narrow channel passing under Highway 59 at Greatwood.

Google earth shows the Brazos flood plain from Sugarland to Richmond has been parceled into neighborhoods sitting behind levees. County officials say that sixty percent of the county’s real estate wealth sits behind a levee. Obviously developers have had their way.

Furthermore the maintenance on these levees is limited to grass mowing. And nobody is broadcasting information to homeowners saying that developer-designed clay-based levees heave and crack and weaken over time. Nor have homeowners been briefed that levees in Ft Bend fall short of Federal standards that were used for the failed levees in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Mississippi River.

The situation in Ft Bend County is ripe for mandatory flood insurance, but did anybody notice the court rulings about flooding in New Orleans? The court ruled that New Orleans was a man-made disaster. Forget the hurricane they said, the man-made levees failed. A man-made disaster means insurance companies don’t have to pay. So I ask, which home sitting behind a man-made levee in Ft Bend County will be covered by mandatory flood insurance?

So how do reasonable people solve such a high-risk dilemma? Well, we either rid ourselves of activist Republican judges, or knock over the levees so folks in peril can count on flood insurance to cover ill-advised development.

Gene Haynes