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<br />. La Porte Planning Department <br />. Harris County Flood Control District <br />. FEMA Mitigation Region VI - Mitigation <br />. La Porte GIS Department <br />. Brookglen Homeowners Association <br />. Texas Water Development Board - Houston Field Office <br /> <br />Step 5: Findings and Recommendations <br /> <br />I. Findings: UNO-CHARI's findings for the Brookglen Repetitive Flood Loss Area Analysis <br />can be broken into four categories: <br /> <br />A. Drainage Issues: Properties in the Brookglen study area are subject to flooding due to heavy <br />rains and drainage problems. There are two sources of flooding that are related to drainage <br />problems. The fIrst problem is due to heavy rains and small storm sewers. The storm sewers are <br />designed to handle rainfall from only a 3-year event. Harris County Flood Control District <br />recommends design standards to handle between a 10- and 100-year event. The Klotz reports <br />recommend constructing a sheet flow path, or increasing the size of the storm sewers. <br /> <br />The second drainage problem in Brookglen is that the West Plantation Ditch overflows its banks <br />flooding the neighborhood streets, yards and even houses. Contributing to this problem is a <br />reported bridge or culvert constriction at Willow Springs Bayou and Fairmont Parkway (the <br />current Flood Insurance Study profile for Willow Springs Bayou does not show a constriction at <br />this location), and that the West Plantation Ditch was cut off at its intersection with an <br />interconnect to Spring Gully which was completed in 1997. <br /> <br />Several drainage improvements made over the years were meant to alleviate flooding in the <br />Brookglen area; however, properties have continued to flood, as is evidenced by the repetitive <br />flood claims data. <br /> <br />B. Mapping Issues: In June 2007 La Porte received a new FIRM. This FIRM shows two flood <br />zones and one floodway in the Brookglen neighborhood. Generally, the streets are mapped as an <br />AE zone, the lots as an X zone, and the land along the drainage ditches as an AE floodway. The <br />Base Flood Elevation for the Brookglen neighborhood is 20 feet above sea level. The ground <br />elevation is also 20 feet above sea level. These factors would usually indicate that the risk of <br />flooding is very low; however, the neighborhood continues to flood. Therefore, this study <br />concludes that the flood risk in the Brookglen neighborhood is under-represented on the most <br />recent FIRM. <br /> <br />c. Regulations Issues: Brookglen neighborhood residents have a set of deed <br />restrictions/neighborhood covenants to follow regarding what they can and cannot do to their <br />houses. The covenants mandate that all houses must have a slab foundation. Additionally, each <br />house must have a similar elevation above grade to their neighbors. These rules inhibit residents <br />from elevating their homes above the flood levels. The deed restrictions also include language <br /> <br />Brookglen Area Analysis - DRAFT <br /> <br />28 <br /> <br />9/8/2008 <br />