Credit: LESAM.org/University at Buffalo/Images via Google Earth
A Google Earth image series produced by University at Buffalo researcher Chris Renschler’s team shows land use and land cover transitions around Houston's Addicks and Barker reservoirs since 1944. The images show the location of the reservoir gates and how new developments have crept closer from the East towards and around the reservoirs as time has passed. As a consequence, thousands of homes that are now too close to the maximum reservoir level have reportedly been flooded and will likely deteriorate while sitting in floodwater for longer, as happened after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Renschler says.