Good luck - Hurricane Harvey

[TBoneTX 44,671]

Another report from buddy in rural county between Corpus & San Antonio (in direct path):

 

"I came out alright through this terrible storm.  Only thing I lost were about 2 dozen roof shingles and a roof vent.  This evening before it got dark, I went back onto the roof and nailed that roof vent back on.  My yard actually looks better since the grass has fallen over.  Also, the windows are now much cleaner.  This afternoon, I drove to Goliad just to see how those folks fared.  The damage was much worse.  There were huge oak trees that were uprooted and a few that broke right off from the base.  Mobile homes had their roofs torn off and metal barns had their tin roofs peeled back.  The eye went straight through Goliad and it was a category 3.  The winds were blowing 85 mph sustained with gusts to 100 mph.

"The next door neighbor's swing set fell over and their trampoline crossed the fence and into my yard.  I'm lucky that it didn't go farther and destroy a window.  The house across the street put in a steel fence about a year ago and part of it fell over.  Had I not weighted down the metal roofing I had bought, it would have been all over the place.  The trailer also moved a few feet.  

"Power is still down in my area but cell phone service came alive at around 8:30 pm.  I'm using a generator to keep the refrigerator and freezer cold."

[TBoneTX 44,671]

Houston TV reports are like a horror movie.

 

If any of the major freeways are still passable, the exit ramps and feeder roads certainly aren't.

Widespread street flooding, with structural flooding soon to come.

Yet more tornado damage in northwestern/southwestern 'burbs.

9.92" of rainfall measured at one station in just 90 minutes.

Other areas have gotten >5" of rainfall in an hour.

 

And the above was just from the first rain bands.

The second band has just begun.

[TBoneTX 44,671]

Nine more inches forecast to fall just in the next 12 hours.

Again, this is just the first day of a 4- or 5-day event.

No one is singing "How Dry I Am" right now...

[IAMX 3,055]

8 minutes ago, TBoneTX said:

Nine more inches forecast to fall just in the next 12 hours.

Again, this is just the first day of a 4- or 5-day event.

No one is singing "How Dry I Am" right now...

Did you soap up the car before it started?

[TBoneTX 44,671]

That reminds me of when, in the late '90s, I looked out of my then-apartment window during a heavy rainstorm and saw a neighbor furiously soaping down his car.  That was an efficient use of the weather.

 

Who knows what the morn will bring... fingers crossed...

[IAMX 3,055]

Tons of people on Twitter begging for help because of floods, apparently 911 isn't answering? 

[Dashinka 24,109]

14 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Mrs. T-B. is actually a certified translatrix/interpretress, so her English usually isn't too bad (with notable exceptions).

When she first arrived, her amigas in her English classes were jealous that she was married to a gringo and could practice at home.

Whenever I try to say anything in Spanish, the natives look alarmed and urgently point me toward the nearest bathroom.

Sounds like me with my Russian.  I can understand it pretty well and read it good.  Conversation level is not good at all.

 

I also hope you and the family make it through the storm safe and sound.  When I arrived in Krasnoyarsk last Sunday it was raining torrentially for the past 24 hours or so.  Of course they have never heard of storm sewers, so the roads were flooded which only slightly slowed down the Russian taxi drivers.  As my significant other says, Russian safari.

[TBoneTX 44,671]

8 hours ago, IAMX said:

Tons of people on Twitter begging for help because of floods, apparently 911 isn't answering? 

The wait-time can be 4 hours.

Many hundreds of high-water rescues.

Entire city of Houston paralyzed -- ALL freeway feeder-roads impassable.

National Weather Service or other authority estimates 650 billion (yes, b) gallons of rain fallen as of last night.

[TBoneTX 44,671]

3 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

1.  I also hope you and the family make it through the storm safe and sound.

2.  Of course they have never heard of storm sewers,

1.  Gracias, amigo.  (English-only outside the regional forums!  Reported!!!)

2.  The original fathers of Houston never heard of not building a city atop a swamp...

[TBoneTX 44,671]

It's sacreligious or obscene to admit, but I've proceeded with the Sunday laundry as usual.

We've been entirely blessed so far.

If the OP lives in southwest Houston, I'm concerned about him.

[TBoneTX 44,671]

Anyone interested in further flood poop can go to www.chron.com and probably see some images.  The infernal mercenaries will probably charge you if you want to see in-depth reports.

 

"The Houston Chronicle:  The Newspaper Unfit to Wrap Fish In..."

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

I cannot think of one kind thing I have said about this President. In this specific case the FEMA execution so far looks spotless and the support of the White House excellent (setting the pardon if the racist lying felon Aripo in the middle of this storm aside).

[TBoneTX 44,671]

The President signed disaster declarations for Texas & Louisiana (where the himmicane was originally projected to loop to) even before landfall.

The Texas National Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard are all on scene, performing high-water rescues.

There are no words adequate to praise all the local, state, & national emergency responders, many of whom have lost their own casas.

---

At our casa, the sun is temporarily out.  What a cruel hoax.

Thousands if not millions of casas have 5 feet of water in them.

 

One family with several children took refuge in their attic.

The husband's tools were up there.

He said that he was fully prepared to bash a hole up through the roof if the water threatened the attic.

 

The Level One trauma hospital in Houston is being evacuated.

Their basement flooded because of a septic issue, fouling all supplies (medical, linens, etc.) and apparently the pharmacy.

The entire Texas Medical Center is isolated, having to operate only with staff already on-site.

 

The Houston Independent Skool District has canceled its entire first week of classes, next week.

[TBoneTX 44,671]

One of the TV reporters had to walk 2 miles through high water in order to reach his photographer's truck.

The wall-to-wall TV coverage has been intrepid and stellar.

Some of these reporters are probably stranded wherever they're reporting from.

[JimandChristy 1,689]

What a desperate situation, good to see everyone pulling together in trying to help but I feel Congress should do something. Get them back from recess now and get a bill passed for extra funding for disaster relief.