http://reason.com/blog/2017/09/01/no-flooding-in-houston-was-not-caused-by

According to one estimate, Houston's paving over of wetlands cost it the ability to absorb four billion gallons of water. Hurricane Harvey dumped 19 trillion gallons of water on the city.

Sure - sprawl made things worse. Impermeable land made things worse. Perverse flood insurance incentives made things worse. But Houston got more rain in three days than Seattle gets in a year and that's simply beyond the scope of civil engineering.