Appears Houston Mostly Built On Ancient Swamp Land. Prone To Flooding.

[TheMastersNemesis]

If you look very carefully the bayou system that was designed to drain water from the Houston area was like part of a much older swampy area. My guess is that the land was more or less dried out when the bayous were contained over time and channelled to by used as a flood control system. Of course in recent memory it is likely that as Houston grew more and more questionable land was developed between the low areas.

A lot of the flooding looks like is in lower areas that were ancient drainages. And it is likely that no one was around when this area was largely a swamp.

It may be that Houston should have never been developed.

[NutmegYankee]

1. Urbanization causes floods to be higher just because of impervious surfaces.

The buildings, concrete, and asphalt don't absorb rain and just channel it to runoff zones. In a natural landscape the rain would take much longer to to work it's way down to the river waterways.

[Pope George Ringo II]

2. There's no "appears" here

Large parts of the city are nominally reclaimed swampland, period. As it is, modern medicine is the only thing allowing it to be survivable, and nobody even remotely sane would live here until modern air conditioning. It's actually a nice place most of the time, but tropical storms just blow the place up.

[Angry Dragon]

3. No basements, water table too high, houses built on slabs

[Major Nikon]

11. Common all over the south regardless of the water table

[NutmegYankee]

16. With highly expansive clays, high soil moisture, and a shallow frost line, it's not economical.

Up in the Northeast the frost line is 3-5 feet below ground, making basements a good idea. Hell, even deck supports in my area require a 48" depth to avoid the frost line. Also, the glacial till soils don't swell like southern clay and drain well.

Having relocated over a decade ago, I have come to love the utility of a basement.

[dembotoz]

18. So basements are more a northern thing?

Can. Not imagine not having one

[Ilsa]

19. I have a daylight basement, very common

in areas where the land has frequent variations in altitude or just grade. My basement is underground on three out of four sides. It stays cool in summer, although I run a dehumidifier.

[dembotoz]

21. My dehumidifier runs all summer and off when furnace season starts

[NutmegYankee]

22. It's more uncommon in the North to not have one.

In many areas of the south, usually low lying coastal plains, basements are virtually non-existent. Houses are either on a slab or a crawlspace. Other areas do put them in, often in hilly areas where the soil drains better.

[KatyMan]

4. Isn't NOLA below sea level?

SF and LA are in earthquake prone areas, the northeast gets pummeled by snow sometimes and the Pacific northwest and Hawaii have volcanoes. Should we live anywhere?

[BigmanPigman]

5. Don't forget tornadoes in the midwest.

[KatyMan]

6. They must be really stupid to live there

Why don't they evacuate?

[sarisataka]

9. The moon,

It's geologically stable, no air so no storms, no flooding issues, pretty much ideal from a natural disaster perspective

[Kentonio]

12. Gets hit by asteroids all the time.

[sarisataka]

13. Damn...

Back to Realtor.com

[Warpy]

7. It should have been developed inland

with the port separate from the city. Water always wins.

[LeftInTX]

8. Houston was developed in response to Galveston's hurricane

Drainages/bayous that are near sea level have often changed course over time.

[TheMastersNemesis]

10. The Problem Is Sensible Development. No Place I Perfectly Safe.

Sensible development is staying out of the most dangerous areas and to mitigate reasonably the dangers that do exist where one does develop. What ever the danger damage and loss of life can be protected. We develop in so many areas where there should be none. And we fail to take protective measure where there is remaining dangers we cannot reasonable avoid.

[sarisataka]

14. So is Houston better, worse

Or equal to all the houses built in California's fire zone?

[cloudbase]

17. Pick your poison. n/t

[blogslut]

15. How is this helpful?

[Ilsa]

20. Lets remove all the homes and hotels off

of the beaches, too. Move them back a mile or so.