Grass covers the lot where Dolores Mendoza’s home used to stand. The house would be demolished and the lot underneath it restored as a greenspace that could absorb flood waters. Her home, which had been elevated 6 feet above ground after Allison, took on several inches of water and the roof started to leak.įor decades, Harris County, home to Houston and its surrounding towns, had a buyout program operating in Allen Field and other neighborhoods in the northeast pocket of the city: Residents could sell their houses to the county at market value and get assistance to move out of the floodplain. “You couldn’t even see the street signs,” she said. That was the first time that the floodwaters were chest deep. Mendoza remembers vividly when Hurricane Harvey dumped more than 60 inches of rain on the region in 2017. Proportion of homes in Harris County damaged when Greens Bayou flooded during Hurricane Harveyīut in recent years, flooding in Allen Field has gotten worse and more dangerous as climate change feeds stronger storms and new developments further upstream reshape the area’s floodplains. Her kids have grown up with the same memories. When it flooded during Mendoza’s childhood, the neighborhood kids would put on floaties and swim through the knee-deep or occasionally waist-high waters. Her memories of growing up include bike rides through the streets from one friend or cousin’s house to the next.īut her upbringing was also punctuated by intense floods that put her neighborhood underwater over and over again - to name a few, tropical Storm Allison in 2001, Harvey in 2017, and Imelda in 2019. “I have my maternal family on one street, and my paternal family on the other,” she said, laughing. Her parents and grandparents both met in the neighborhood, got married, and stayed here. In this corner of unincorporated Harris County, 13 of her closest neighbors are also her family: her mom, aunts and uncles, cousins, siblings. “I didn’t know my neighbors - there are 100 houses and you don’t know anyone.” She came back within a year. “I hated it,” she said flatly, remembering her attempt to leave. Once, when her daughter was young, she moved to a north Houston suburb not far away, so her daughter could grow up with safer streets and better schools. Repeat, an exploration of how communities are changing before, during, and after managed retreat.ĭolores Mendoza lived in the Houston neighborhood of Allen Field for most of her life. This story is part of the Grist series Flood.
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