With Texas Building Boom Comes Higher Flood Risk
Over the years, planners, engineers, water quality experts and others have come to recognize how urban development can drastically alter the landscape and exacerbate flooding. The culprit, many experts believe, is impervious cover — the massive buildings, commercial strips and houses in addition to the asphalt and concrete that we walk and drive on every day. By stopping rain from absorbing into the ground, impervious cover increases the volume and speed of runoff from heavy downpours, pushing it in different…