Northeast Houston residents plagued by flooded streets, Yale Climate Connections report

During storms, many residents of northeast Houston brace themselves for flooded streets and yards.

Espinoza: “There’s people who have lost their homes … and just people who are traumatized now, every time it rains.”

David Espinoza is with the Northeast Action Collective, a community advocacy group.

Houston is home to more than 2,000 miles of open roadside ditches. They’re designed to collect stormwater, funnel it under driveways, and carry it away from yards and roads.

But this system often fails because many of the ditches need regrading and maintenance, or are obstructed by weeds and debris.

For decades, people could report problems to the city via a help line. But homeowners were responsible for keeping the ditches and culverts clear.

Espinoza: “ … which for a lot of senior citizens or disabled folk, that’s not possible. And if the house was abandoned, then it was definitely not happening on that specific part of the street.”

So his group has been pushing for change.

Last year, they celebrated a win when Houston passed a new plan that requires the city to maintain the ditches and increases monitoring and repair efforts.

But Espinoza’s group continues to advocate for better drainage infrastructure so residents can stay dry as climate change brings more extreme rain.

Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy / ChavoBart Digital Media