*The following information was furnished to Inverness Forest Improvement District by the Harris County Flood Control District.
For those of you that do not know, we want to share information about the importance of protecting the subdivision’s levee from damage that all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles can cause.
There have been about 550 flood insurance claims since 1978 within the Inverness Forest Improvement District (District). Almost all of the claims were made prior to construction of the levee and detention basins. The Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) estimates 147 homes would have flooded during Hurricane Harvey if the levee was not present.
HCFCD constructed the levee, detention basins and pump station in response to the District’s petition, on the condition that the District would provide operation and maintenance services for the levee. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) requires verification that the levee system has been maintained in accordance with an adopted operation and maintenance plan, in order to include the levee system on the Flood Insurance Rate Maps. Flood insurance would be mandated and the cost would be much higher if FEMA determined the levee was not being maintained properly.
BEING A DIRT EMBANKMENT, THE LEVEE CANNOT WITHSTAND REPEATED TRAFFIC ALONG THE TOP OR AT THE BASE OF THE LEVEE. All-terrain vehicles and motorcycles can cause rutting and erosion of embankment soils, which increases the District’s maintenance costs. The levee is for the protection of many homeowners within the District. The use of all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles along the levee and the three detention basins increases maintenance costs for everyone in the Inverness Forest subdivision.
HCFCD will assist with installation of NO TRESPASSING SIGNS along the levee, but we need the entire neighborhood to be on watch for persons disobeying these rules and to call our patrol officers if an unauthorized motor vehicle is present on the levee or detention basins. Trespassers can be prosecuted by HCFCD for having an unauthorized motor vehicle within the easements designated for the preservation of the levee and detention basins.
