Good luck - Hurricane Harvey

[TBoneTX 44,671]

National Weather Service is still sifting through data.  However, as of now:

-- more than 150 tornado warnings

-- 29 tornadoes confirmed so far

[TBoneTX 44,671]

I went today to an estate sale in a flood-affected area of Houston, right near one of the bayous.

House after house had curb after curb mounded with construction and possession debris.

This was for blocks and blocks inland and perpendicular to the course of the bayou.

No one was spared -- not the residents of the 1950s bungalows, nor the upper crust in the million-dollar rebuilds.

One really needed to see this in person, rather than on TV, for it to hit home.

Happily, multiple FEMA inspectors with pleasant facial expressions were energetically traversing one street.

 

In contrast, the new house where the estate sale was held had been built with some forethought.

It was several feet higher than neighboring structures, with steep grades nearest the foundation.

No windows or doors were near "street level."

It alone, among all the others, seemed to have escaped the flooding.

 

Incidentally, at that sale, I scored a 4-button, 100% Merino wool Trabaldo Togna suit for $20.  The jacket fit me perfectly, and the pants needed only minor alterations.  I also got 4 perfectly fitting dress-shirts (a Tommy Hilfiger and 3 Austin Reed of London) for $10.  Total after tax = $34.28.  Mentioned chiefly to point out how many goodies can often be found at such events.

Edited September 17, 2017 by TBoneTX

[Dashinka 24,109]

Here is an interesting item from the after action review.  I am not sure what the command folks at HFD were thinking with this storm heading in.  Even with limited equipment, most people could have predicted that once the storm hit, those on duty would have been run ragged, and it would have seemed prudent to have additional manpower at the stations to rotate crews for rest.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4891248/Houston-Fire-Departments-Harvey-staffing-criticized.html

[TBoneTX 44,671]

Not once did I see a local article or hear word about inadequacies of any of the specific first-responder agencies.  (Note: Politics fell by the wayside during all this.)  Everyone did everything in their power to help.

 

Read in Sunday's paper that the >51" rainfall at Cedar Bayou (east of Houston) was the all-time record rainfall for a storm.  For urban areas, the rainfall at Hobby Airport was #1 and that at Intercontinental Airport was #3 all-time.  Finally, give or take a few trillion gallons (probably should have been "million"), the volume of water that fell was equivalent to the contents of Lake Tahoe.

 

I'd heard earlier that it was equivalent to the contents of Lake Michigan, which (without looking it up) I presume is bigger than Lake Tahoe.

Edited September 18, 2017 by TBoneTX

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

Someone told me that the vast majority ( I think he said more than 85% ) of those affected by the flood had no flood insurance.  If that is accurate, that is going to hurt a LOT of people in their wallets.

[TBoneTX 44,671]

I don't know the percentage, but it was a bunch.

People in many areas simply haven't needed flood insurance.

Neither of our neighborhoods (actual & rental houses) ever flooded, even during Trop Storm Allison.

I didn't want to pay for flood insurance.

This time, the streets entirely flooded, and the waters came up past the city sidewalks.

 

Shortly after Harvey, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decided to release flow from two of the reservoirs.

Hundreds of homes flooded that hadn't flooded from Harvey rainfall itself.

Now how is THIS fair or right?

 

I keep hearing vastly conflicting reports on how real estate values will change (or not) for flooded properties.

Unflooded homes should increase in value, most agree, but predictions about flooded ones vary widely.

[TBoneTX 44,671]

The National Weather Service is still analyzing rainfall totals from Harvey.

It just confirmed a 5-day rainfall total of 64.5 inches in Nederland, TX (between Beaumont & Port Arthur).

 

That's more than the entire annual rainfall of New Orleans and many other places, and it's also (by far) a record measurement for one location.

 

The NWS deserves credit for drawing careful, deliberate conclusions about various measurements, and for openly explaining the varying validity thereof.