Hurricane Harvey is now expected to develop into a dangerous Category 3 storm and come onto land near Rockport late Friday or early Saturday.
Even though Orange County is not included in the hurricane and storm surge warning areas, the National Weather Service predicts the county could get 10 to 15 inches, or more, during a three-day period beginning Friday.
As people went to stores to stock up on water and other supplies, employees at the Orange County Drainage District were working in the field preparing for the deluge.
“All crews are checking culverts and blockages so when the water rises, the ditches don’t flood,” said Don Carona, general manager of the drainage district.
The expected heavy rain is coming when the ground is already saturated from a rainy year. “The rainfall over these past several months has been staggering,” he said. “It has prevented us from doing some of our regular maintenance.”
He added, though, when the rain stops, “we’ve been very, very active.”
Recently, the district has been cleaning Cooper’s Gully east of Simmons Drive in the city of Orange. Carona said they annually assist with cleaning the gully. They will target the the gully west of Simmons later.
The city has a pumping station where Cooper’s Gully goes into the Sabine River. The gully drains about a third of the city.
After predictions of Harvey developing again into a storm and moving into the Gulf of Mexico, the drainage district targeted problem areas. “Over the last day or two we have looked at the areas that have traditionally flooded,” Carona said.
Those areas include Forest Heights north of Vidor and Bessie Heights in Bridge City.
In addition, the crews have been answering citizen calls to check their ditches.
A few years ago, the district built a detention pond off Cow Bayou. The pond can hold rain water from draining into the bayou to alleviate flooding in the area. The detained water can be released into the bayou when the levels go down.
Carona said drainage district crews will be working throughout the weekend storm to check for blockages.
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