A simulated-color image of Houston
Houston is located 165 miles (266 km) east of
Austin,
[42] 112 miles (180 km) west of the
Louisiana border, and 250 miles (400 km) south of
Dallas.
[43] According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 656.3 square miles (1,700 km
2); this comprises 634.0 square miles (1,642 km
2) of land and 22.3 square miles (58 km
2) covered by water.
[44] The
Piney Woods are north of Houston. Most of Houston is located on the
gulf coastal plain,
and its vegetation is classified as temperate grassland and forest.
Much of the city was built on forested land, marshes, swamp, or
prairie which resembles the
Deep South, and are all still visible in surrounding areas. The flatness of the local terrain, when combined with
urban sprawl, has made flooding a recurring problem for the city.
[45] Downtown stands about 50 feet (15 m) above sea level,
[46] and the highest point in far northwest Houston is about 125 feet (38 m) in elevation.
[47][48] The city once relied on groundwater for its needs, but land
subsidence forced the city to turn to ground-level water sources such as
Lake Houston,
Lake Conroe, and
Lake Livingston.
[9][49]
The city owns surface water rights for 1.20 billion gallons of water a
day in addition to 150 million gallons a day of groundwater.
[50]
Houston has four major bayous passing through the city.
Buffalo Bayou runs through downtown and the
Houston Ship Channel, and has three tributaries:
White Oak Bayou,
which runs through the Houston Heights community northwest of Downtown
and then towards Downtown; Brays Bayou, which runs along the Texas
Medical Center;
[51]
and Sims Bayou, which runs through the south of Houston and downtown
Houston. The ship channel continues past Galveston and then into the
Gulf of Mexico.
[25]
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