Need some understanding from those in/from Houston or a flood prone area

[KY_EnviroGuy]

8. D-E-N-I-A-L

As in most things human. And, we seem to have a habit of building cities on waterways or near oceans for economic reasons. There's several well-researched articles floating around that explains Houston's water history, poor long-term planning, loss of open ground, excessively rapid growth, ground subsidence, and what would be required to help the problem. A few experts have spent entire careers studying this. Do some web searching and you'll find plenty of Houston flood control critiques.

This problem cannot be prevented entirely in Houston, but risks can be reduced for some areas. Experts say massive bulldozing of thousands of homes and business to expand/deepen/relocate drainage canals, bayous and rivers would be required, but even that would not prevent flooding in many areas where land subsidence is bad. Houston is sinking!

Ironically, part of Houston's problem is it's continuously booming economy primarily from the petrochemical industry, and it's expanding so fast that flooding mitigation efforts cannot keep up. A lot of folks simply don't want to pull up roots and move away from that boom!