Wednesday, October 21, 2026Houston edition
Houston
INVESTIGATION · CLIMATEHouston

Building permits issued inside a mapped floodway

We matched permit records against the flood maps the city already had.

The Short Version

What changed
Building permits were issued for land inside a mapped floodway.
Who it hits
People who live or own property in and near the mapped floodway.
What happens next
Any response from the city will be added to this story and dated.
What you can do
Check whether your address sits inside the mapped floodway, using the records in the Paper Trail panel.

We matched permit records against the flood maps the city already had.

This investigation is built on 19 documents, listed in the Paper Trail panel below. Lampline matched the records against each other and reports only what the documents support.

Paper Trail 19 documents

  • Building permit records
  • City flood maps

Part of the 19 documents on file for this story. Every document Lampline relies on is linked here in the published story. If a record cannot be published, the story says what it is and why.

What happens next

Any response from the city will be added to this story and dated.

What you can do

Check whether your address sits inside the mapped floodway, using the records in the Paper Trail panel.

How we did this

This sample page was built for launch preparation. The published story carries its method note here: the records requested, the people interviewed, and what we could not confirm. Lampline asks the people a story criticizes for comment and says what they said, or that they did not respond. Any use of AI tools in reporting or production is disclosed here.

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