Four months after Hurricane Harvey, four major questions about recovery for 2018

Houston and the Gulf Coast are learning hard lessons about their vulnerability to flooding after Hurricane Harvey — which was the latest and by far the biggest in a three-year stretch of major inundations for Houston that included the Memorial Day and Tax Day floods.

People who didn’t think they needed flood insurance – because they weren’t in a designated flood zone – have learned that the flood maps are increasingly irrelevant. Local leaders and flood control planners are learning that 500-year floods may become regular occurrences.

Four months after Harvey stormed ashore and dumped historic rains on the coastal flatlands, major questions remain. The Tribune has reported on each of these (you can read all of our Harvey coverage, and we’ll keep following these storylines in 2018:

How will Texas spend billions in federal long-term recovery money? 

So far, the state is leaning hard on the federal government to fix what Harvey broke. Despite enduring the rainiest day in recorded history — up to 50 inches fell in parts of Houston at Harvey’s peak — Texas’ top leaders have resisted tapping the so-called Rainy Day Fund (which currently stands at about $10 billion) to help with the recovery.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced Texas will receive just over $5 billion for long-term rebuilding efforts. Texas leaders would like more. They have estimated the state needs as much as $121 billion — and they want as few limitations on how to spend that money as possible. 

They argue that officials in cities and counties battered by the storm know best whether money should go to individual households or public works projects. But the state’s requests for flexibility — along with an infrastructure-heavy wish list — have sparked alarm among housing advocates who fear homeowners and impoverished communities will get shortchanged in favor of large-scale infrastructure projects that could have little connection to disaster recovery.

A bigger question: How long will it take the money to get where it’s supposed to go? After Hurricanes Ike and Dolly struck the Texas coast, the state received $3 billion in 2008 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for long-term rebuilding.

When will Houston's justice system get back to normal? 

After Harvey hit in late August, trials in one of the country’s busiest criminal justice systems were delayed for months. Damage from the storm left the city’s Criminal Justice Center — a 20-story building that houses 40 courtrooms, the district attorney’s office and enough holding cells to accommodate 900 inmates — out of commission for months, and swamped its jury assembly building perhaps beyond repair.

Jury trials resumed October 16, but the backlog in pending cases persists. Judges continue to double up on courtrooms, with trial courts allocated on a rotating basis. The system is churning — but haltingly. And that will be the status “for the foreseeable future,” said Judge Bob Schaffer, administrative judge for the Harris County district courts.

Court officials said proceedings are not likely to return to normal until the facilities are restored to full occupancy, which could take as long as another year and will cost tens of millions of dollars.