Hurricane Harvey

[Meadbh]

I have to ask, was any consideration given to evacuation?

[REWahoo]

Telling 2.4 million people to hit the roads at the same time - knowing they could safely go only north or east - would have probably put more lives in danger than the current circumstances.

[Another Reader]

Channel 26 is helpful. It did not show up on the first page of Google results...

The Red Cross is opening shelters. Guess it takes awhile to set these up. Getting dark there...

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meadbh Be kind to the staff. They are probably working double shifts and are trying to look after their own homes and families. Everybody will be impacted in some way. Rest assured that the staff have DW's safety as their primary concern. Thank goodness she us doing well post op. I hope this nightmare is over soon.

She's understands the crisis and is hanging in there and not being a problem. Fortunately, she is past the critical days after the surgery and has the drain tubes out and is fairly mobile except pretty weak.

[LOL!]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meadbh I have to ask, was any consideration given to evacuation?

Definitely, yes. A couple days ago the Houston mayor suggested that folks living in low-lying areas, especially those that flooded last year, should evacuate to higher ground. Some people drove to Dallas.

But there was no mandatory evacuation order, but experience shows most people would not go until they lost power. And surprising to me, there are not widespread power outages yet. And the water supply is still safe.

My wife told me she wouldn't evacuate, but would just camp out upstairs.

But lots of places are closed because no employees can get to work, so no need for cash either.

Things could be different soon.

[Calico]

I have been viewing the devastation in Houston and elsewhere in Texas off and on all day today online.

My prayers go out to all the folks dealing with this horrific storm and the continuing floods. I can't imagine how traumatic this must be for all concerned.

Prayers also to all the first responders whose bravery never ceases to amaze me.

[Breedlove]

Please say prayers for all the people of Houston the Army Corps of engineers are going to let the Addicks Dam and the Cypress Creek Dam go .

I don't know how much but the reservoirs cannot hold any more , this will probably put all of the west side under water I 10 / Buffalo Bayou downtown Houston will be seriously under water. I am shocked but they explained the give and take from it .

[Ronstar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Breedlove Please say prayers for all the people of Houston the Army Corps of engineers are going to let the Addicks Dam and the Cypress Creek Dam go . I don't know how much but the reservoirs cannot hold any more , this will probably put all of the west side under water I 10 / Buffalo Bayou downtown Houston will be seriously under water. I am shocked but they explained the give and take from it .

Thats a shame. I worked on the survey of the Addicks dam for the corps of engineers in 1980. They had plans to improve it then. But whatever they did certainly cannot handle this storm.

[NW-Bound]

Darn! Two years ago there was a severe drought and now there's too much water.

A Web site said "the dams are designed to hold about 410,000 acre-feet of water, but 20 inches of rain amounts to more than 1.8 million acre-feet of water, and so far, Houston has received more than 22 inches of water in August 2017, making it the wettest month on record, according to the Harris County Flood Control District."

This is scary.

[Another Reader]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Breedlove Please say prayers for all the people of Houston the Army Corps of engineers are going to let the Addicks Dam and the Cypress Creek Dam go . I don't know how much but the reservoirs cannot hold any more , this will probably put all of the west side under water I 10 / Buffalo Bayou downtown Houston will be seriously under water. I am shocked but they explained the give and take from it .

I think they are doing controlled releases to make some room. Someone at one of the news conferences said that water levels would rise some in the immediate area of the water's path. They also said that levees on the north side would be topped and some flooding would result.

The interesting thing about these weather disasters is how much you can learn about the geography and the demographics of the area by following the news. I learned a lot about New Orleans and Southern Louisiana during Katrina and a lot about Galveston and surrounding areas during Ike. Never been to those places or Houston, but I could probably find my way around them now.

[Breedlove]

This is scarey , yes across from where I live Town lake a large man made lake to retain water is near over flowing . We have heard the Addicks reservoir is backing up into Cinco Ranch and will be in Katy soon .

I am not knowledgeable on this but old news articles have said that if the Barker / Addicks dam goes everything in it's path is toast . Downtown Houston will be under water.

If true our mayor needs to say something.

On the Bright side a dry air area from up by Dallas is trying to wrap around the storm , won't kill it but will really weaken it . Otherwise tomorrow we got a tropical storm headed for the East side of Houston . This could push the rain to La.

[LOL!]

It is misinformation that they are letting the dams go.

A controlled release is not the same as fully opening the gates as implied by "letting the dams go.

Army Corps To Open Dams To Stem Houston Flooding « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

Dams at Lake Conroe and others are also allowing more flow.

[Breedlove]

Does anyone remember Rita , that was right after Katrina . It was said everyone south of 610 south would parish . The roads were packed , no gas no food people pushing cars it was like a syfi movie.

I remember I rode my motorcycle to the Randal's at 290/ Barker Cypress , there were hundreds of people camping in the parking lot . Seen a bunch of Latin American guys pushing a Honda to the gas pumps only to be told no gas. They would only let so many people into the Randal's at a time . 290 was so packed it was like a huge parking lot .
I remember an older lady sitting in her car crying because she had no place to go and she was almost out of gas . That storm ended up going into East Texas and Houston got nothing.

[Breedlove]

This is good info, our Sub Division Facebook said it was to prevent further flooding in the Katy area


It is misinformation that they are letting the dams go.

A controlled release is not the same as fully opening the gates as implied by "letting the dams go.

Army Corps To Open Dams To Stem Houston Flooding « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

Dams at Lake Conroe and others are also allowing

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Breedlove This is scarey , yes across from where I live Town lake a large man made lake to retain water is near over flowing . We have heard the Addicks reservoir is backing up into Cinco Ranch and will be in Katy soon . I am not knowledgeable on this but old news articles have said that if the Barker / Addicks dam goes everything in it's path is toast . Downtown Houston will be under water. If true our mayor needs to say something. On the Bright side a dry air area from up by Dallas is trying to wrap around the storm , won't kill it but will really weaken it . Otherwise tomorrow we got a tropical storm headed for the East side of Houston . This could push the rain to La.

Fox26 is interviewing the folks (Harris County Flood Control) discussing the rationale for the release of water from both watersheds. The Addicks dam will release 4000 cubic feet per second into Buffalo Bayou and will probably add to the flows into downtown Houston areas. Barker will be released afterwards due to the faster inflow into Addicks.

Addicks will be opened at 2:00 AM, Barker, 24 hours later.

Stay tuned.

[Car-Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meadbh I have to ask, was any consideration given to evacuation?

I was living in Houston when Hurricane Rita came thru. The "city officials" told everyone they should consider getting out of Dodge in advance of the storm. I don't recall how far in advance folks stated to leave but I think it was 24 to 36 hours before it was expected to hit. So we tried. We sat on the freeway for over 10 hours (moving about 1/4 mile an hour) after which we decided to turn around and go home and ride it out. Once we turned around I was home in 20 mins. Now the city is even bigger. Not sure it can be done with only a day or so notice. Now if you could know "for sure" 3 or 4 days in advance, it might work.

The next storm (Ike) a few years later, we didn't even consider leaving. And Ike turned out to be much worse than Rita for the Houston area.

[easysurfer]

Watching on the news. May be up to 50 inches in some parts. Crazy.

[LOL!]

The eyewalls of both Rita and Ike went right over us with 50 to 80 mph winds. We sheltered in place (first story windows covered with plywood). No damage to house, but many trees downed in the neighborhood and loss of power. After a day when the roads were clear and empty we checked that gas stations with gas were open northbound and drove to Dallas where family is located. Also schools and businesses were closed.

We do not expect our house to flood, so we are mostly worried about wind. We would evacuate with high winds scheduled for our neighborhood.

[LOL!]

A great chorus of toads and tree frogs tonight is drowning out the noise of the rain.

[Car-Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LOL! The eyewalls of both Rita and Ike went right over us with 50 to 80 mph winds.

I guess we we're closer to the coast since the eye of Ike passed within 10 miles of us and it was about 110mph. Rita veered off to the east just before landfall so it wasn't so bad for us.