Houston’s lack of zoning left city vulnerable to catastrophic floods
The images from the nation's fourth-largest city are shocking and, like the floodwaters, won't abate anytime soon. Catastrophic rains continue to pummel
The
The famously "un-zoned" city has allowed developers to pave over natural areas that provide resilience to floods, and build homes in the way of cataclysm. According to a 2016 analysis by ProPublica and the
Special Coverage: Hurricane Harvey
Floodwaters reached the roof lines of single-story homes Monday, and people could be heard pleading for help from inside as Harvey kept pouring rain on
Instead of being absorbed in the region's bayous, which are sponges of rainwater that provide natural protection against floods in an area with a long history of Gulf storms, the floodwater takes to the streets and makes deadly aqueducts of the region's highways and roads, as the harrowing pictures coming from
The situation is made more deadly by allowing more than 7,000 residential buildings to be constructed since 2010 in areas designated as flood zones by the
While troubling, the lack of regulations in
As seen by supporters of
Critics of the
Don't expect things to get better. Even with the knowledge that storms are predicted to become more frequent and more severe, President
Given its history of floods,
Despite such recent history, the state is spending billions of dollars to construct the
As
Without rules governing land use or federal regulations for flood preparedness, the scenes coming from
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