Floods from a devastating hurricane will not slow down or alter Houston’s construction boom.
Realtor.com reports that the city is looking at ways to mitigate flood damage after Hurricane Harvey struck the Gulf Coast late last month.
As one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities, developers took advantage of Houston’s lax regulations and a lack of zoning to build up new construction throughout the metro area. The rise in new home production ensured cheaper prices for buyers, but the drawback was that homes were built on land that used to soak up flood water when powerful storms hit the region. In response, the city has been building drainage systems and infrastructure to channel rainwater toward local bayous.
Mr. Blackburn, a professor of environmental law, believes conversations on regulation and a moratorium on development in the floodplains will go nowhere. Instead, he hopes a market forces-driven solution to preserving prairie lands and wetlands, like incentivizing farmers and ranchers to keep their land, could be feasible and accepted.
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