Another point - when does the difference of an inch or two of rain, over previous “extreme” hurricane events amount to a trend of unprecedented nature? It doesn’t.
And was that amount of rain derived from “greater heat energy” of Harvey? No. It was due to a colder front that Harvey ran into which stilled its advance inland and kept it over Houston longer, until it retreated.
I would love to see the results of a non-biased study of the depth of flooding as compared to the amount of paved surface area in this area as compared to the area 50 or 60 years ago.
I think the area would have still flooded (that’s a lot of rain) but I would like to know how much of that water would have been absorbed and percolated into the ground in undisturbed natural soils versus paved surfaces.
Roofs, sidewalks, road surfaces, parking lots, and a lot of other human modified surfaces are pretty much impermeable and contribute a lot to the potential for flooding.