Harris County Flood Control District officials announced earlier today that the Kingwood, Humble and Atascocita community has seen the worst of flooding from the San Jacinto River after Hurricane Harvey struck the area earlier this week.
Harvey dumped 27-35 inches of rain over Harris County, with multiple stormwater gages registering seven-day
readings of more than 40 inches and a maximum of 49.56 inches near Clear Creek at Interstate 45.
Harris County Flood Control Meteorologist Jeff Lindner said at an early morning press conference Aug. 30 that there is "good news" for residents near the east and west forks of the San Jacinto River.
"The river has crested in those locations," he said. The west fork and the east fork of the San Jacinto River, Lake Houston and the water below Lake Houston have all crested," he said.
The watersheds have fallen and are currently going down, he said, and "no additional flooding is expected."
The San Jacinto River Authority controls water distribution from Lake Conroe into the river. They issued the following statement Aug. 29:
"The Lake Conroe water level is continuing to slowly decline. The current water level is 203.7 feet above mean sea level (MSL), which is only 2.7’ over the normal pool elevation of 201’ MSL. Most docks and bulkheads will become visible once the lake drops another 0.7 feet to 203’ MSL; however, the lake will remain closed to public access due to floating debris. An announcement will be made once the lake is reopened to boat traffic. The release rate from the Lake Conroe dam has been reduced to 22,172 cubic feet per second (cfs) from its peak of 79,100 cfs. Water levels in the river downstream of the dam are beginning to decrease. One of the most significant statistics of this event (to date) contributing to the lake level and subsequent record release was the amount of water flowing into Lake Conroe. The peak inflow into the lake was approximately 130,000 cfs. The peak release rate from Lake Conroe was 79,100 cfs. This means that the operation of the dam buffered the peak flow that would otherwise have continued down the river and caused additional flooding.
While water from Lake Conroe does flow in the San Jacinto River, it is a small portion of the total flowing into the west fork. The majority of the water is currently draining from Spring Creek, Cypress Creek and Lake Creek. The East Fork of the San Jacinto River flows south from San Jacinto County near Cleveland. The San Jacinto River flows into Lake Houston. Water goes over the top of the spillway south into the lower part of the San Jacinto River. Major flooding is ongoing in the lower part of the San Jacinto River. The river will reach major levels at two feet below the 1994 levels."
