To Whom it may concern,
The resident living at 6915 XXXX Street Houston Texas XXXXX has placed five vertical pieces of rebar in the City Drain / Water Way causing flooding to all properties upstream every time there is significant rainfall.
These rebar pipes are intentionally placed to restrict the water flow and cause flooding. During heavy rains this rebar causes debris that would normally flow downstream to back up against this rebar resulting in restricted, then completely cut off, city drainage.
The entire driveways and front yards of properties upstream, namely, 6911 XXXX Street, 6907 XXXXX Street and 6903 XXXXX Street flood so severely we can not see our driveway to leave because its underwear which is a major safety hazard.
During heavy rains water backs up all the way to the front door making it impossible to step off the porch without stepping into 3 to 6 inches of standing water. Again, this is a major safety hazard being caused intentionally.
Here is a diagram of the properties showing where the rebar is placed between the driveways.
Below is a picture of the inside of the culvert pipe that runs under 6915 XXXX Street’s driveway. This is looking in from the West side towards the east. As we can see here it’s 80 to 90% clogged with dirt.
Below is a picture inside the inside of the pipe that runs under 6911 XXXX Street’s driveway.
This is looking from the west end of the pipe to the east towards 6915 XXXXX Street. As we can see here it’s 90% open and clean.
We have been asking the resident at 6915 XXXX for years to please remove the rebar. He refuses. He seems to be mentally unstable, in our opinion, based on many factors. This issue being only one of many.
We reported this problem to 311 a few months back and the City sent out trucks on 12/07/2022 to clean the ditches upstream. We knew it was related to the ticket we called in because they started at our driveway of 6907 XXXX.
They completely got it wrong. I went out to meet with them and they came over and looked at the rebar and took pictures of it but said they had to stick to what the service ticket directed them to do. They agreed it was a problem.
For the record they said that water in these ditches drains or runs from east to West and that’s why they were cleaning the ditches to the west of our house. The water in fact runs from the West to the East towards HXXXXXXXXXX Rd.
Now, the Resident at 6915 XXXXX is actually putting his residential plastic wastebaskets between the driveways to block even more water. We have video evidence of him doing it multiple times.
We pull the trash can out before it rains and as soon as we turn around he sticks it back in there. This is clearly an intentional violation of Section 28-1 “Obstructing Ditches” and it’s clearly and repeatedly being done with malicious intent. Again, we have actual video of him doing it so there is no question about who is putting it there. I would be happy to share the video with you.
We are not seeking to get him fined or in any trouble. We only want the water to flow so our properties don’t flood any more. The rebar has to go and the culvert pipe has to be cleaned out.
This photo was taken June 4th, 2021. He has since added one or two more rebars to further case flooding.
This was taken today 01/30/2023
This was taken on 01/28/2023 as I was pulling out of my driveway. I pulled it out and laid it on the grass.
This was taken today 01/30/2023 when I got home from work.
Again we have video of him actually putting this in the City Water Drain.
We know most of this is a Civil Matter and we do intend on pursuing that aspect of this ongoing issue with this man but for now we need the City to get the water flowing because this is truly a safety matter.
This is a screenshot of our driveway during this last heavy rain on Jan 24th, 2023. As you can see the water is so high over the driveway on our side (Right), we can’t tell where the edges of the culvert are while driving in and out.
As you can see he has recently “raised his driveway” with bricks which even made it worse as water now can not flow over his driveway, nor under it. It has no place to go but into our property at 6907 and 6911 XXXXX St.
We respectfully request that you please enforce the code so we may have some relief. Please have the rebar removed and the culvert pipe cleaned out for 6915 XXXX Street.
Terry XXXXX
I can be reached at XXXXXXXX on my cell phone. You can also reach out to Andy XXXXX of 6907 XXXX St. at XXXXXXXXXX
I received a reply on Monday Feb 6, 10:04 AM and this is what they had to say
“City ROW inspector 8XX investigated the concern at 6915 XXXXX St. He observed that it is not a new construction. However, he left a red tag notice to remove plastic basket which probably put over there for protection and it is not holding/blocking water there. If the problem occurs/ persist that concern will be reported to Drainage Dept of City of Houston. No further action is requires. This case is closed. ”
So, they only saw the trashcan but not the rebar? With all that detail I provided the “Engineer” only found the trashcan was worth mentioning in his report.
AND he thinks it might have been put there for “Protection” reasons?
Of course he could not see water being restricted because there was no rain that day.
Any reasonable person, or “Engineer”, should have been able to look at that rebar, calculate in their minds (Or look at the image I provided) what it might look like on a day with heavy rains “As I reported in my email”, and imagine what would happen if leaves, cut grass, trash in in general, were floating on top of the water headed down stream like it’s supposed to do, encountered this rebar. What would be the result of such an incident? Surely, the logical conclusion would be, “This is going to cause the water not to flow in the manor in which the city has designed the water to flow in this area”. “This is a Civilian interfering with the City’s Engineered Water Way” Hmmm?? Ah heck, lets just remove this trashcan. That should do this trick.
Needless to say this is not a resolution tot he problem I’m reporting.
I followed up / Replied to their email on 02/06/2023 and you can see that email here (Link)