HOUSTON (AP) — After the floodwaters earlier this month just about swallowed two of the six homes that 60-year-old Tom Madigan owns on the San Jacinto River, he didn’t think twice about whether to fix them. He hired people to help, and they got to work stripping the walls, pulling up flooring and throwing out water-logged furniture. What Madigan didn’t know: The Harris County Flood Control District wants to buy his properties as part of an effort to get people out of dangerously flood-prone areas. Back-to-back storms drenched southeast Texas in late April and early May, causing flash flooding and pushing rivers out of their banks and into low-lying neighborhoods. Officials across the region urged people in vulnerable areas to evacuate. Like Madigan’s, some places that were inundated along the San Jacinto in Harris County have flooded repeatedly. And for nearly 30 years, the flood control district has been trying to clear out homes around the river by paying property owners to move, then returning the lots to nature. |
Grease star Susan Buckner dead at 72: The actress played cheerleader Patty opposite Olivia NewtonFormer Las Vegas casino executive to be sentenced in bookmaking money laundering caseHouston mayor says police chief is out amid probe into thousands of dropped casesTikToker reveals the 'dystopian hack' that snuck her résumé past AI bots and landed her three jobsFreya Allan goes braless in a longAndy Murray to return from ankle injury at Geneva Open this monthREVEALED: The full list of celebrities who have admitted to taking OzempicPrettyLittleThing billionaire Umar Kamani and new wife Nada host DisneyA Cambodian court sentences a union leader to 18 months in prison for comments on FacebookRojas and France help the Mariners knock off the Twins 10