THAT was a lot of rain – in a short period of time. Indeed, what weatherperson could predict (with a straight face) 30-plus inches of rain over a weekend?

As businesses, homes, and lives are repaired, we should take a moment to pause and consider making the tough decisions about flood minimization – decisions that we don’t seem to be able to make when the sun is shining.

I say flood “minimization,” rather than flood “control,” because there is no way to control a flood. The swamp that Houston is built on flooded long before the Allen brothers came, it certainly has flooded since, and it will continue to flood long after we’re gone.

Everyone agrees that we should at least try to minimize the damage to life and property that such natural events can have. As with most environmental issues, we have tackled the complex problem of flooding with isolated, solution-based approaches instead of integrated, prevention-based strategies.

One prevention strategy reminds me of the old joke about the patient at the doctor’s office who says, “Doc, it hurts when I move my arm like this.” The doctor responds, “Well, don’t move your arm like that!” Do we have the communal wisdom and strength to stop ourselves from rebuilding in areas that are prone to flooding? Could we at least stop rebuilding in areas that are known to be floodplains?

Such a strategy may work in residential neighborhoods that flood often, where moving single-family homes to higher ground is painful but feasible. But we can’t ask the entire medical center to do the same thing.

Additional prevention strategies, such as increased detention areas, targeted channel widening, and non-critical use of basement spaces are necessary.

Real flood prevention strategies are not technical in nature, but instead require incredible levels of interagency cooperation, political will, and economic foresight.

Phil Bedient, Houston’s Uncle Flood with 25 years of research on the regional flooding issues from his perch at Rice’s civil engineering department, predicted the damage that would occur to the medical center in a 1999 report commissioned by the district. He and others have known for at least a decade, if not two, what approaches we should take for proper flood prevention. But politics and economics have prevented those strategies from being implemented.

Sound familiar?

Recently, the Friends of Clear Creek have created a highly educated group of citizens who are able to communicate with agencies such as the Army Corps of Engineers in their own language. Their work toward a better regional plan for Clear Creek shows strong promise. Historically, we know that Buffalo Bayou survived the channel-happy Corps for decades because of citizen influence.

The lesson? Left to themselves, the experts and people in power cannot solve our complex environmental challenges with foresight without guidance from their citizens. If you’re concerned about flooding in Houston, get informed and get active.

Here are some places to start: www.bayoupreservation.org, www.clearcreekproject.org, www.floodalert.org