Westbury is in desperate need of REAL solutions to on-going, repetitive flooding along the Willow Waterhole Bayou (WWB).  The channel is inadequate and cannot even handle a 10 rain year event, per data published by the Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) for Flood Gauge 445 (located on WWB near Landsdowne Road). Hundreds of homes have flooded in 2013, twice in 2015 (Memorial Day and Halloween), in 2016 and in 2017.  Additionally, the bayou came within inches of overflowing its banks on July 4, 2018.  There is not enough capacity in the WWB as it flows through Westbury.  This is NOT a new problem; 200 homes flooded in 1975 and 1976 after development in the Fondren area caused much more water to flow into our neighborhood.  Adjustments over the years by HCFCD helped for a while, but the drainage system no longer functions as originally designed.  Westbury homes are flooding on a regular basis.  Something has changed over the years in the area of the convergence of the D112-00-00, D140-05-00, D140-05-01, and D140-05-02 ditches/bayous and a small earthen dam installed by HCFCD to reduce flooding in Westbury.

ACTION ITEMS FOR HCFCD/County Bond to reduce the risk of flooding WITHIN Westbury are listed below.  The full PDF document of the Action Items is below.  This document also contains a brief history of the flooding in Westbury plus some data from the flood gages on the Willow Waterhole Bayou.  

1.      D112-00-00, D140-05-00, D140-05-01, D140-05-02 and the “Westbury DAM area”:    

    This area does not function as designed.  Westbury should not be the unintended detention basin for Fondren area water or water not intended to flow to D112. 

è Regrade the Braewick ditches (D140-05-01 and D140-05-02) where they meet the Willow Waterhole Bayou (D140-05-00) on the western edge of Westbury.

è Revise scope of the proposed Harris County “Fondren Diversion Channel Improvements” to include channel improvements up and including the Willow Waterhole Bayou (D112) and also the relocation of the existing dam.

è Acquire detention between the D140-00-00 (Fondren Diversion channel) and the D140-05-01 and D140-05-02) Braewick ditches to offset channel improvements. 

2.      D112-00-00 (WWB): Provide new elevated bridges along the WWB at Landsdowne, Chimney Rock, and Hillcroft to reduce overflow. The water currently flows out of the D112 at the bridges even when the channel still has capacity.  

3.      D112-00-00(WWB):  De-silt and re-grade the WWB from the existing dam to Chimney Rock.  

4.      The city of Houston plans to replace street drainage in Westbury. Reroute storm water from South of W. Airport (the “Westbury South” section of Westbury) to drain directly into the southern basin of the Willow Waterhole Detention Lakes along the W. Airport extension. There is ample capacity in that specific detention lake. 

5.      Offer HCFCD Buy-out of Properties in Westbury along 5600 blocks of Cartagena and Ludington, other repetitive flooding locations in Westbury such as Parkwest3, and to provide “Extreme Event Overflows” to the WWB when street drainage capacity is exceeded.

The Westbury Civic Club (WCC) is aware that these items alone will not fix all the flooding in Westbury and there are other areas that need to be addressed.  Maintenance issues and city infrastructure problems are also very important and the WCC continues to advocate on these issues.