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. |
Anglo American plans to break up its sprawling business as it tries to fend off takeoverPolice are still searching a suspect in the fatal shooting of a University of Arizona studentTop doctor, 57, reveals he is cancerEstate agent's 'charming' £125,000 threeMaine governor won't sign 35 bills adopted on final dayTennessee governor OKs bill allowing death penalty for child rape convictionsAlaska budget negotiators announce tentative deal as legislative session nears deadlineNINETEEN EU countries demand the right to introduce RwandaUS suggests possibility of penalties if production of Chinese electric vehicles moves to MexicoMaths teacher Rebecca Joynes, 30, accused of sleeping with two of her 15