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; 12.2 Cities The situation reached a general crisis in late August as German troops continued to mobilise against the Polish border in August 23 when tripartite negotiations about a military alliance between France the United Kingdom and Soviet Union stalled the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Germany. This pact had a secret protocol that defined German and Soviet "spheres of influence" (western Poland and Lithuania for Germany; eastern Poland Finland Estonia Latvia and Bessarabia for the Soviet Union) and raised the question of continuing Polish independence the pact neutralized the possibility of Soviet opposition to a campaign against Poland and assured that Germany would not have to face the prospect of a two-front war as it had in World War I Immediately after that Hitler ordered the attack to proceed on 26 August but upon hearing that the United Kingdom had concluded a formal mutual assistance pact with Poland and that Italy would maintain neutrality he decided to delay it. The new state grew rapidly as migrants poured into the fertile cotton lands of east Texas. With their investments in cotton lands and slaves Texas planters established cotton plantations in the eastern districts the central area of the state was developed more by subsistence farmers who seldom owned slaves, The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts is a relatively new addition to the Theatre District it was designed by architect Robert A M Stern and completed in 2002 providing two theaters specifically for theater and musical performances. Sarofim Hall a 2,600-seat theater acoustically designed for touring Broadway productions is home to "Theatre Under the Stars." Zilkha Hall an intimate 500-seat venue with full orchestra pit showcases smaller touring groups.

During its recent history Houston has flooded several times from heavy rainfall which has been becoming increasingly common. This has been exacerbated by a lack of zoning laws which allowed unregulated building of residential homes and other structures in flood-prone areas. During the floods in 2015 and 2016 each of which dropped at least a foot of rain parts of the city were covered in several inches of water. Even worse flooding happened in late August 2017 when Hurricane Harvey stalled over southeastern Texas much like Tropical Storm Allison did sixteen years earlier causing severe flooding in the Houston area with some areas receiving over 50 inches (1,300 mm) of rain the rainfall exceeded 50 inches in several areas locally breaking the national record for rainfall the damage for the Houston area is estimated at up to $125 billion U.S dollars and it is considered to be one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the United States with the death toll exceeding 70 people on January 31 2018 the Houston City Council agreed to forgive large water bills thousands of households faced in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey as Houston Public Works found 6,362 homeowners' water utility bills had at least doubled. ; ; . . .