Army Corps To Open Dams To Stem Houston Flooding
HOUSTON (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to begin releasing water into Buffalo Bayou from two flood-control dams on the western outskirts of the city.
Col. Lars Zetterstrom is commander of the Galveston District of the Corps of Engineers. He says water will be released from the Barker Reservoir and Addicks Reservoir very slowly on Monday morning to prevent uncontrollable flooding of downtown Houston and the Houston Ship Channel.
CBS 11 Meteorologist Scott Padgett says that flooding in Houston could get worse before it gets better.
Zetterstrom told KPRC-TV in Houston that water could be released from the Addicks Reservoir beginning at 2 a.m. and from the Barker Reservoir at 11 a.m. He adds that some neighborhoods on the fringes of the reservoir are likely to see some floods -- possibly by 2p.m. Monday.
Zetterstrom said the dams were performing as they were designed to perform in these conditions.
Downtown Houston is 17 miles downstream from the dams, which were built during the 1940s in response to a 1935 flood that inundated much of downtown area.
Zetterstrom says the water contained by the dams is "unparalleled in the dams' history." The waters are rising about 4 inches per hour.
Zetterstrom says the dams will impound water for one to three months as water is gradually released.
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