Sidewalks, ROW, and not blocking drainage again

You have a right to put disaster debris out. You do not have a right to shut the sidewalk, the bike lane, or the only drain on a street that just proved it cannot handle rain.

The next band does not care that you are tired. Water goes to the low spot. If the low spot is your pile, congratulations, you built a dam.

ROW means right-of-way: the strip the city or county uses for utilities, walks, and trucks. Use it. Do not occupy all of it.

Do this now

1. Keep a passable sidewalk or a clear edge so kids, strollers, and wheelchairs can get by.
2. Pull debris off inlet tops, ditches, and the mouth of any culvert.
3. Do not stack against fire hydrants, gas meters, or pad-mounted electrical gear.
4. If a pile already blocked drainage, move it before the next forecast, even if that is ugly work.

Why this is not etiquette

Harris County and Houston both treat blocked drainage and blocked right-of-way as more than manners. After a flood, the second crest is often the one that wrecks a house that almost made it. Your carpet roll on an inlet is part of that story. 311 will take the report. So will a neighbor who had to wade again.

Sidewalks and METRO stops

If you live on a route people actually walk to a METRO stop, a sofa fortress is how someone ends up in the street. Cut a path. After dark, that path needs to be obvious. You do not need cones from a movie set. You need a gap a person can see.

Ditches in unincorporated Harris

A lot of the county still drains in roadside ditches, not buried pipes. Filling that ditch with wet OSB is a special kind of own-goal. Stack on the high side of the right-of-way if the precinct says to, and leave the channel open. If you do not know which side, ask the precinct, not the group chat.

Do this next

1. What the city or county will pick up after a flood
2. Where to pile debris so trucks can actually take it
3. Commercial providers hub

More in Debris & haul-off.