GCP Paper USA Inc.’s new manufacturing facility in New Caney is estimated to open in November or December, said Kelley Mattlage, chief operating officer for the East Montgomery County Improvement District, via email Aug. 26.

Zooming in: Officials for GCP Paper held a “fill it in” concrete pour ceremony for the plant in June, as previously reported by Community Impact. Construction began in June 2025.

Equipment is being moved into the facility before its opening, Mattlage said.

What they offer: GCP Paper manufactures and distributes paper products such as toilet paper, napkins, kitchen towels, facial napkins and special papers, as previously reported. The roughly 566,000-square-foot manufacturing facility is located within the East Montgomery County Industrial Park in New Caney, and is estimated to cost about $38.3 million to build.

The company is also expected to open a new 450,000-square-foot warehouse in the industrial park, as previously reported. Construction on that project is expected to kick off in 2030.

• Opening date estimated for November or December
• 19685 Emerald Lane, New Caney

On Aug. 11, Montgomery County Precinct 4 deployed a new road patching machine that is expected to perform roadway repairs quicker and better than previous equipment.

In a nutshell: The Durapatcher was purchased on Aug. 3 for $108,000, said Kennedy Williams, a community outreach staffer with Precinct 4 Commissioner Matt Gray's office, via email Aug. 26. The machine, which can fill potholes by spraying in a mix of liquid asphalt and crushed rock, is expected to make fixing roads easier with a longer-lasting repair.

“This new piece of equipment allows for a quicker response time and better-quality repairs when patching the roadway,” Williams said. “Prior to this machine, roads were patched by shoveling a material called cold patch into the hole and physically packing it down.”

The machine will not be used for full roadway repavings or expansion projects, Williams said.

Going forward: Precinct 4 has no plans to purchase additional Durapatchers at this time, Williams said. First, precinct officials want to evaluate the current machine's performance.

Greater Houston-area officials are monitoring conditions as a tropical system could bring heavy rainfall and the potential for flash flooding to the area as early as the morning of Sept. 1, per the National Weather Service.

What’s happening: Per the NWS, Tropical Depression 5 is expected to become a tropical storm after press time Aug. 31 before making landfall along the upper Texas or southwest Louisiana coast Sept. 1.

Gov. Greg Abbott at an Aug. 31 press conference said the storm is anticipated to make landfall near Chambers and Jefferson counties in the afternoon of Sept. 1. The worst of the rain is expected to be concentrated in Harris County.

That forecast could include a storm surge of 2-4 feet in Chambers and Jefferson counties, as well as local rainfall getting as high as 10-15 inches, including in some areas getting 3-4 inches per hour, Abbott said.

While the rainfall is expected to affect the area’s rivers, it’s too early to tell if it will pose any imminent danger, Abbott said.

Gov. Greg Abbott announced over $6.3 million in grants for 27 organizations that serve veterans in the Southeast Texas region as part of the Texas Veterans Commission’s Grants Across Texas Tour initiative according to a news release. The TVC is Texas’ state department of veteran affairs. 

Quote of note: “Texans are forever indebted to our brave veterans who selflessly answered the call to serve in our nation’s military,” Abbott said. “These Fund for Veterans' Assistance grants will provide the men and women who served in our nation’s military access to crucial services to improve their quality of life in Southeast Texas and the Coastal Bend area. Our state will always honor our veterans, their families, and their service to our state and our nation.”