Today, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) recognized the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Harvey and highlighted past and ongoing projects to protect TX-07 homes and businesses from flooding. 

“Today, we mark the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Harvey and its profound impact across our region,” said Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher.  “Since that day, our community has worked together to rebuild and respond to the threat of flooding.  While the work on long-range projects continues, I am pleased that we have worked together to make meaningful progress—from obtaining FEMA funding to restore the capacity of the Addicks and Barker Reservoirs to completing Project Brays.  Our work continues, and I am committed to working to protect our communities from flooding and to continuing the fight to ensure our community receives the funding Congress intended to do so.”

Since taking office, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher has worked with city, county, and federal officials on both sides of the aisle to make sure Texas’ Seventh Congressional District can get the resources it needs for recovery efforts and to implement policies to rebuild and prepare for future storms.  She has held annual constituent town halls on flooding with United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) and other stakeholders.  Responding to the needs of her constituents, she has: 

• Led the bipartisan effort to expedite delivery of $4 billion in federal disaster relief funds from HUD, which was signed into law by President Trump in 2019. 
• Led a bipartisan amendment to provide an additional $45 million in additional relief for households affected by Hurricane Harvey, which passed the House. 
• Wrote the bipartisan HELP Act as her first standalone bill to cut through red tape and allow disaster relief projects to begin sooner.  This bill has passed the House of Representatives twice with broad support and is progressing in the Senate, recently passing a key Senate committee. 
• Led bipartisan legislation, the Built to Last Act, to use science and date to protect infrastructure against the risks of strong weather events.
• Included provisions in the Water Resources Development Act of 2020 to invest in Houston’s water infrastructure and improve flood protection projects in the Houston region, including authorization for: 
  • The project to widen and deepen the Houston Ship Channel;
  • A new federal study to uncover gaps in flood management coordination between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and other agencies; and
  • Increasing the federal share of local natural infrastructure projects designed to increase resiliency.  
• Announced the award of more than $45 million in federal funding to Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in 2021:
  • $9.8 million to help repair Barker Reservoir Watershed from damages caused by Hurricane Harvey and restore channels, including Mason Creek and Upper Buffalo Bayou, to pre-Harvey levels of conveyance; and
  • $36,717,825.60 to help repair Addicks Reservoir channels from damages caused by Hurricane Harvey and to restore channels to pre-Harvey levels of conveyance. 
• Announced a FEMA grant of $1,656,849 in federal funding for repairs to the Kendall Library and Community Center, which closed because of damages caused by Hurricane Harvey.
• Helped facilitate an extension of the public comment period and an extension of the Buffalo Bayou and Tributaries Resiliency Study to study the potential implementation of underground tunnels, which were approved along with additional funding for the study. 
• Secured funding for several flood mitigation and water infrastructure projects through the congressional appropriations process, including:
  • $9,950,000 for Harris County Flood Control District to design and construct the Meyergrove Detention Basin, a 7.5-acre stormwater detention basin for the conveyance of more than 50 million gallons of stormwater away from nearby homes, businesses, and community resources benefitting areas that have experienced repeated flooding events and severe damage.
  • $625,000 for the City of Jersey Village for new storm sewer lines on Seattle Street that will help remove rain from the streets and hold it in the larger storm water pipes to help prevent street flooding and reduce the risk of home flooding on these blocks.  
• Received initial approval for her requests for congressional funding in the upcoming fiscal year for projects to improve conveyance along the Poor Farm Ditch and to reduce flooding in Southside Place and West University Place. 

Congresswoman Fletcher has also fought to ensure that Texas’ Seventh Congressional District, the City of Houston, and Harris County get the federal funds Congress intended.  In 2018, Congress appropriated $28 billion in CDBG-DR funds to rebuild after disasters and mitigate against future storms. $4.383 billion of those funds were allocated to Texas as it recovered from Hurricane Harvey.  Congresswoman Fletcher has advocated for those funds to come to Houston and Harris County, submitting formal comments submitted to the Texas General Land Office (GLO) on the State of Texas Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Mitigation Action Plan (Draft State Action Plan) for the distribution of federal funding to help communities affected by Hurricane Harvey and formal comments to the GLO on Amendment 1 to the Draft State Action Plan, leading her colleagues in submitting a formal comment on H-GAC’s proposed plan for mitigation funding, and advocating at every opportunity for a fair distribution of the funds, as Congress intended.