Does Houston have too much concrete?

The amount of rain right now is beyond epic and would overwhelm any system.

This is basically the third time in three years (and the worse of the three) where there has been major flooding in Houston.

Houston's drainage system is pretty natural - lots of green space to soak up water, water drains into tiny creeks and bayous, which flow into larger ones, which eventually make their way to the Brazos River or Galveston Bay. (And a few others, but those are the major ones).

You also have some resovoir / flood control structures that hold water back from entering into the major bayous... but most of those structures are on the outskirts of the area.

Every time you build, you are making the natural drainage less effective. To combat this, you need to do retention work, or you need to invest in additional drainage structures.

Having lived there for a number of years, I never felt that the measures taken (build a pond here, etc) were nearly enough to compensate for all the development going on. A lack of zoning and a general desire of small government seem to make this happen.

Everyone likes to bash NOLA for their drainage issues. Lots of people say we should not rebuild in certain areas of NOLA. Once the immediate emergency is over, is it time we start looking at the issues for Houston?