Bohac Gives Update on Brickhouse Gully Progress

HOUSTON - State Representative Dwayne Bohac (R-Houston) recently contacted the Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) to request an update on the progress of flood control measures for Brickhouse Gully. The HCFCD is currently working on several projects, including a new detention basin, to reduce the risk of flooding along this vital tributary to White Oak Bayou. Bohac is pleased to report that repairs to the failed concrete walls and the creation of the new basin are on schedule.

According to the HCFCD, the district recently advertised for bids for additional repairs, on top of those repairs already completed, and all bids have been received. Harris County Commissioners Court met on April 26, 2005 to award a contract on Brickhouse Gully to repair additional failed concrete paving from the confluence of White Oak Bayou to approximately 250 feet upstream to Watonga. The engineer’s estimate for this project is $1,045,000.00.

Secondly, the HCFCD Planning Department has completed a preliminary hydraulic analysis of the proposed detention basin to be located west of U.S. Highway 290 between W. 43rd Street and W. 34th Street. The purpose of the analysis was to document if the detention basin would be effective in reducing the potential of flooding in the Brickhouse Gully watershed. The analysis concluded that the existing Brickhouse Gully has the capacity to convey the 10-year flood within its banks, but results in out-of-bank flooding for larger storms. It is estimated that the new detention basin would bring the 25-year flood within the channel banks for the reach of Brickhouse Gully downstream of the proposed site.

HCFCD has already retained an engineering consultant to begin work on a Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) for the detention basin. Following the completion of the Engineering Report, HCFCD will begin with the design of the detention basin, and once the design is complete a contract will be awarded for actual construction of the basin. An estimated timeline for construction is probably the later part of 2005 at the earliest or the first quarter of 2006.

Bohac reported last September that the design of the project was expected to be completed by March 2005 and that the project would then go through the bid process sometime in April 2005.

“I am pleased to see that the Brickhouse Gully project appears to be on schedule,” Bohac said. “This represents forward progress in making sure we prevent future flooding in Mangum Manor and Oak Forest. A new detention basin, combined with ongoing renovation to the existing concrete sides and base of Brickhouse Gully, should greatly improve the capacity and water flow of this vital waterway.”

Brickhouse Gully starts near Gessner and Clay Road and runs east between Clay (43rd Street) and Kempwood (34th Street) until it intersects White Oak Bayou in the Watonga area. Many areas in the watershed recently experienced significant flooding due the devastating rainfall amounts brought by Tropical Storm Frances in 1998, Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 and recent torrential rains.